Mobile Phones > Android 56 56 people found this article helpful 9 Best Keyboards for Android in 2024 Spruce up your texts with these top-notch keyboard apps By Jody Emlyn Muelaner Jody Emlyn Muelaner Writer University of Bath Dr. Jody Muelander is a former freelance contributor to Lifewire who's writing has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and aerospace industry reports. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on January 19, 2024 Android Switching from iOS Trending Videos Close this video player Some keyboard apps for Android are better for one-handed use, while others are fastest when typing with two thumbs. Most on-screen keyboards need you to look at the keys, but a few allow touch typing. Regardless of your needs, here are some keyboards for Android you should look into. 01 of 09 Fleksy: Officially the Fastest Keyboard What We Like World record speed of 88 words per minute. Great text prediction. Uses the QWERTY layout you already know. What We Don't Like Need to change to number mode for speech input. Special characters poorly supported. Despite not fully supporting glide typing (it's in beta), Fleksy is still one of the most popular, and officially the fastest keyboard. Download Fleksy 02 of 09 MessagEase Keyboard: Great for One-Handed Typing What We Like Great for one-handed use. Takes up less space on tablet screens. Type without looking. Macros for commonly used text. Shortcuts to select, copy, and paste. Great integration with Google’s speech recognition. What We Don't Like Takes quite a while to get up to speed. MessagEase is a totally different way of typing. The nine most frequently used letters in English get their own large key, while other letters and punctuation marks are accessed by sliding over one of these keys in one of eight directions. It sounds complicated, but with a bit of practice using the built-in tutor, it quickly becomes instinctive. Some users report typing speeds of over 80 words per minute, although about 30 would be typical. Download MessagEase 03 of 09 Gboard: Google's Official Android Keyboard What We Like Runs flawlessly in any app. Often comes preinstalled. Built-in speech recognition that really works. Glide typing—get faster with the layout you know. What We Don't Like Hard to use one-handed. No gliding between words. No touch typing. Special characters poorly supported. Gboard is a simple standard QWERTY keyboard with good predictive typing and built-in speech recognition. If it’s not already installed on your device, you can download it from the play store. Download Gboard 04 of 09 SwiftKey: A Good Alternative to Gboard What We Like A good swiping alternative to Gboard. Punctuation accessed more quickly. What We Don't Like Predictive text doesn't always give you want you want. Microsoft developed their own keyboard for Windows phones called Word Flow, which was perhaps the best keyboard app for touch typing. It still holds the record for blindfolded typing on a touch screen phone at 58 words per minute. Microsoft has now dropped Word Flow and bought SwftKey, although it doesn't have the one-handed touch typing that Word Flow had. Download SwiftKey 05 of 09 Grammarly: Built-in Grammar and Spell Check What We Like Check everything you write. Sync's with your Grammarly account. Simple QWERTY keyboard. What We Don't Like No swiping. Not the fastest keyboard. Grammarly doesn't work with other keyboards. If you depend on Grammarly to check your spelling and grammar, you might want to try this keyboard. Unfortunately, you can't use Grammarly with other keyboards, as it's not the fastest keyboard to type on. However, if you're happy with a simple QWERTY keyboard and you don't swipe, this might be perfect for you. Download Grammarly 06 of 09 Minuum: The Most Compact Keyboard for Android What We Like Works with one thumb for one-handed use. Works well with two thumbs for faster typing. QWERTY-based, making it easier to learn. What We Don't Like Relies heavily on predictive text. You might find you have to keep expanding it to a full-sized keyboard to type what you actually want. Not the fastest, although users report 30 to 60 words per minute. Definitely not suitable for touch typing. Minumm compresses the QWERTY keyboard into a thin strip along the bottom of your screen, so if screen space is your most important feature, then this might be the keyboard for you. When you do need to use Minumm, it relies on predictive text to work out which key you actually wanted to press, which can be hit and miss. Download Minuum 07 of 09 DOTKey: True Touch Typing on a Touchscreen What We Like True touch typing at over 65 words per minute. The built-in tutor helps you learn the system. What We Don't Like Impossible to type one-handed unless on a tabletop. Confuses regular touch typing. Not as fast as other keyboards. The most radically different approach to typing on a touch screen and perhaps the most ergonomic, Dotkey is designed to work with 3 fingers from one hand and doesn't require on-screen buttons to be accurately selected. Instead, each finger can perform a number of gestures, such as a tap, a short swipe, or a long swipe. Multiple fingers can also perform these gestures at the same time. This system results in a much more ergonomic flexion and extension of each finger, rather than the repeated abduction and adduction required for thumb typing. Download DOTkey 08 of 09 Chrooma What We Like Colorful themes. Changes color depending on the app you're using. Plenty of themes to choose from. What We Don't Like Occasional lag can make it very slow. If you like to style your phone with different themes, then Chrooma may be the perfect way to keep your keyboard coordinated with your theme. Download Chrooma 09 of 09 Ginger Keyboard What We Like Lots of emojis, GIFs, and games. Grammar and spell check capabilities. Includes Swipe capabilitles. What We Don't Like Can be distracting. Premium price is steep. Themes are not great. Ginger is a good keyboard if you use a lot of emojis, as it will gives you quick access to them all. Ginger also offers the standard grammar and spell check capabilities, as well as predictive text. However, it's not the best keyboard you can get, and it can be distracting at times. If emoji and GIFs are not your priority, then there are better keyboards to choose from. Download Ginger Keyboard Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit