This way, you can customize your experience with such detail that your personal preferences are reflected on your device. These apps can replace the default keyboard app on your Android device. Each one of these apps come with various features and designs. We’ll walk you through these keyboard apps and outline the reasons you’d want to use one app or the other.
1. SwiftKey Keyboard – Free
Swiftkey is probably the most popular paid Keyboard app available in the app store. It’s hard to imagine a keyboard app that works better at predicting your language than Swiftkey. After swyping our way through some standard text, we tried introducing the text a second time and were able to implement the original text by touching the predictions. Along with three different layouts: standard, thumb, and compact (useful on large-screen smartphones), Swiftkey comes with 11 skins that can be used to spice up the visual side of text input. Additionally, letting SwiftKey learn from your messages and emails is a good way to ensure that the app recognizes your language preferences. Here’s a list of the features that SwiftKey has to offer:
Auto-correctGesture typingPredictive typing56 input/dictionary languages3 layouts / 11 skinsSmiley-faces (not Emoji)Voice InputCan learn from SMS/Emails
Notable Feature: Write in three languages simultaneously
2. Gboard – the Google Keyboard – Free
The Google Keyboard is the default keyboard app for all Android devices that run stock Android (Nexus devices, etc), as well as on the vast majority of devices that are Google certified. If your device’s manufacturer has replaced the Google Keyboard with a proprietary app, then you might want to consider installing the app from the Play Store. Although in the past the Google Keyboard has lagged behind some third-party apps, over time Google has updated its Keyboard app for Android to bring all the features that users desired such as a better autocomplete engine, gesture typing, and even next-word predictions. On the downside, the Google Keyboard does not integrate social media accounts, cannot learn from the way you use language, nor does it offer any other keyboard skin other than the default. These are the features available to you with Google Keyboard:
Gesture typingPredictive typing59 input languages26 dictionary languagesEmojiVoice Input
Notable Feature: Fine-tuned auto-correct.
3. Fleksy: Fast Keyboard + Stickers, GIFs & Emojis – Free with In-app Purchases
Fleksy (often misspelled as Flesky) is a new Android keyboard app, but this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t pack quite a punch. This app’s developers have tried to come up with the best auto-correct engine ever, and for the most part, they have been spot on. The whole idea behind the Fleksy keyboard was to come up with a very “forgiving” keyboard app. Fleksy is so good at correcting your text that you don’t even have to look at the keyboard to type and the app will detect what you were trying to write in 90% of the cases. In fact, the keyboard can be set to invisible mode (by performing a double-finger swipe downwards), where you don’t see the keys anymore. Just type away and Fleksy autocorrects the text. Combined with a few gestures that help you delete words, change the suggestions, etc, it makes up for a unique and straightforward typing experience. If you are skeptical that typing on an invisible keyboard is possible without a glitch, go ahead and give this app a try, you won’t regret it! At the moment the app supports only two languages (English and Spanish). The developers have promised to update the app to support 26 languages in the future.
Auto-correct2 input languages2 dictionary languages
Notable Feature: Invisible keyboard
4. GO Keyboard Lite – Emoji keyboard, Free Theme, GIF – Free with In-app Purchases
Go Keyboard is a keyboard app for Android developed by the same team that’s behind the popular Go Launcher. If you are looking for a highly customizable keyboard app for your Android device, Go Keyboard should be an option to consider since it allows you to select from over 100 themes and layouts, and it also lets you customize the keyboard’s height, background, and image. One interesting thing about Go Keyboard is that it comes with a T9 predictive dictionary (like the ones available on early Nokia cellphones). If your screen size is not well suited for a full QWERTY keyboard, you can switch to the T9 style and clear up space on your display.
Auto-correctGesture typingPredictive typing40 supported languagesVoice Input
Notable Feature: T9-style keyboard.
5. Hacker’s Keyboard – Free
If you cannot get used to any other keyboard layout other than that of your PC, the Hacker’s Keyboard app is an Android keyboard you’re likely to enjoy. The main attraction of this app is that it shows everything on one screen without the need to switch between letters, numbers, and punctuation. Special keys such as ALT or CTRL are only recognized by some applications. Currently, Hacker’s Keyboard supports 29 input languages and 14 language dictionaries, but you’ll have to download each dictionary separately. Auto-completion works OK, although advanced features such as next-word predictions or gesture typing are absent. These are the main features of Hacker’s Keyboard app for Android:
Auto-correct29 input languages14 language dictionariesVoice Input
Notable Feature: PC-style keyboard.
Best Keyboard Apps for Android – Let Your Fingers Fly
Given the vast diversity that we have encountered in Google’s Play store when searching for the best Keyboard app for Android, it can be said that personal preference plays a big role when deciding on which keyboard app is the best. What are your suggestions based on our experience? Please let us know in the comments below.
