The iPhone’s autocorrect function is a source of endless entertainment and frustration for iOS users. Although most users probably don’t stop and think about it, Apple’s keyboard is, in part, to blame for this comedy of errors. Sometimes you may feel so frustrated that you may even want to turn off the autocorrect feature entirely.
If you’re an Android user, however — or you know someone who is — you know the keyboard that comes pre-installed on your device isn’t the only option out there. Android users, in fact, have been enjoying some of the best third-party Android keyboard apps for quite some time. For years, Swype, SwiftKey, Fleksy, and more took over millions of Android smartphones as the default keyboards, while iOS users looked on enviously. But ever since June 2014, iOS users have been downloading alternative keyboards like crazy. Here are our picks for the best keyboards for the iPhone.
Our favorite iPhone keyboards
Thumbly Keyboard ($2)
Do you find yourself typing with one hand all the time but wish that you could type easily with just one thumb? Well, you’re in luck. Thumbly may be the keyboard you’ve been looking for all this time. The keyboard fans out from one corner of the display, allowing you to do everything with one thumb — even swipe between letters. You can also easily switch hands and disable autocorrect, and there are special swipe gestures that allow you to delete and activate shift and caps lock.
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Phraseboard Keyboard (free)
Phraseboard aims to take the pain out of the tedious job of typing the same responses over and over by allowing you to save them and just select one of those answers to reply quickly. You can create your customized most-used phrases and sort them by categories. You can even quickly access the Phraseboard widget to create new phrases no matter what you’re doing with your iPhone. Don’t worry about needing to re-install this keyboard because all your phrases sync with iCloud.
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Gboard (free)
Gboard is a keyboard from Google for your iPhone. The keyboard is simple in that it includes everything you’d ever want within a single app. Whether you are sending GIFs or emojis, searching through Google for information, sending directions, or something else, Gboard has you covered. There’s no more app switching; just search and send, directly from your keyboard. With Gboard, you can search and send anything from Google, including information on nearby restaurants, videos, images, weather forecasts, news, sports scores, and more. The app also adds Glide Typing, which allows you to type messages faster and more accurately.
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SwiftKey (free)
The SwiftKey Keyboard for iOS is a smart keyboard that learns from you, replacing the iPhone’s built-in keyboard with one that adapts to the way you type. It is loaded with tons of features that make typing even easier, including multilingual typing, support for more than 800 emojis, and speedy swipe typing with SwiftKey Flow. With the app, users can type less, type more accurately, and type in their language. SwiftKey offers support for more than 90 languages including four versions of English, two kinds of Portuguese, Italian, German, four kinds of French, and three kinds of Spanish. The app also allows users to customize their message apps with colorful themes.
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Fleksy (free)
Fleksy offers users a fun and interactive way to type in your own way and your own style. Flesky lets you customize your keyboard with powerful extensions and more than 50 colorful themes. Some of the themes cost $1, but many are free. More than 800 emojis come with the app, and it also has its own built-in GIF search engine. The keyboard supports 42 languages including English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Hebrew, Dutch, and more. It learns your typing habits as you go, enabling it to give you accurate predictions, which helps cut down on typos.
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Minuum ($4)
With Minuum, users can type faster, see more screen, and take control of autocorrect. Minuum is a smart keyboard that learns more with every word you write. You can rely on the powerful autocorrect tool, choose from multiple word predictions, or turn autocorrect off completely. Minuum is a keyboard optimized for typing comfortably on smaller devices. The app makes it easier than ever to type one-handed or in landscape mode. Some of the features included in the keyboard are smart emoji, international language support with 13 languages, keyboard shortcuts, dictionary control, and much more.
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Go Keyboard (Free)
Go Keyboard gives you next-word prediction, swipe typing, emojis, and stickers. This keyboard is very customizable with themes, custom backgrounds, and even key tones and fonts. What makes Go Keyboard stand out is the impressive number of languages it supports. The free version supports more than 40 languages, and there’s even a paid Pro version that supports more than 60 languages. If you’re in a country where you need a keyboard in something other than English or Spanish, particularly if you have a need for hard-to-find foreign languages like Thai, Urdu, and Lithuanian, then this is a keyboard you will most certainly want to try out.
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Touchpal Keyboard (Free)
Touchpal gives you all the usual features you’d expect from a top keyboard. What sets this one apart is the number of available themes. You also have access to more than 800 emojis and can take advantage of swipe gestures called TouchPal Curve. All these features, together with new themes and more than 100 new text art options for your key fonts, make Touchpal the keyboard for those who really want to customize it to match their style.
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Clips (Free)
One of the most useful things for enhanced productivity is access to a clipboard and a history of what you have copied. Instead of having to go back and forth between your document and other things you want to copy, Clips allows you to save a history of things that you’ve copied so that you can quickly paste them into a document or an email. You can access the Clips shortcut and add text, images, and links to websites. After you’ve added all the information, you can then access a list of everything you’ve copied by holding the globe on your keyboard and choosing Clips.
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Color Keyboard Maker ($2)
The king of keyboard customization is Color Keyboard Maker. Sure, it gives you emojis, autocorrection, and even allows you to tap and hold the space bar to be able to move the cursor, which is something that you can do on the iOS keyboard with 3D Touch, but what really sets this keyboard apart is the option to change anything you want about the look of the keyboard. You can change the keyboard background with solid colors, gradients, textures, and even your own pictures. You can also customize the buttons themselves by changing the colors and borders, adding shadows, customizing the fonts, and even changing the sounds. So if your aim is customization, Color Keyboard Maker takes things to the next level.
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