How to Change Your Android Keyboard
How to Install Another Keyboard App
Whether your Android phone came pre-installed with Google’s Gboard keyboard application or another keyboard application by default, you should learn how to switch it to another one. There are many keyboard choices on Android to select from and you can switch between the installed ones at any time.
To switch across Android keyboards, you must have a second keyboard application installed. You will see thousands of free keyboard options that are in the Google Play Store to try out.
I am a big fan of SwiftKey application, which is known for its accurate predictions. Together with its other standout features is the ability to include up to five languages and make use of them at the same time, which is awesome for bilingual users.
If you have a Samsung phone or another android device that comes pre-built with its own keyboard application, you should give Gboard a try. The Google keyboard application has in-built access to emoji and GIF search, access to Google Translate access, and even support for handwriting.
How to Enable New Keyboards on Android
After you have gone to play store and installed a new keyboard application and opened it up, the application should guide you through the process of activating it. In case it does not do that, you will need to follow these steps before you can use it.
The instructions below cover adding a new keyboard to the stock Android 10. The steps might slightly vary and they depend on your phone’s manufacturer or the version of Android that is installed on your device. Try searching for “keyboard” in the Settings app if you can’t find the right menu.
To turn on your new Android keyboard, first, open up the Settings application. Scroll down to the System entry and tap on it. Next, choose Languages & input.
On the page that comes up, tap on the Virtual keyboard. From here, you will see all the active keyboards that are on your device. Tap on Manage keyboards to list every available keyboard application that is installed on your phone.
Simply toggle the slider on for the application that you want to use, and it is ready to go. Android will now display a warning prompt telling you that the app has the potential to collect all the information that you type into it, so make sure you trust the keyboard before continuing with it.
How to Change Your Android Keyboard
Even after you activate a new Android keyboard, you would still need to switch to it. Thankfully, it is very easy to swap to another active keyboard.
First, open up the keyboard by tapping on any text box on your phone. This could be the search widget that is on your home screen, a text conversation, or similar ones. Once the keyboard has been opened, you will see a small keyboard icon come up at the bottom-right of your screen.
Tap on it to open up the Choose input method window. From there, you can select from the keyboard applications that has been activated in your settings. Once you tap one, your keyboard will immediately switch to it.
Depending on your device, this icon might not come up at the bottom right. If so, you will likely find it by pulling down on your notification bar from the top of the screen and tapping on the Change keyboard entry.
Customizing Your Android Keyboard
That is all that it takes to switch to a new Android keyboard. However, you should also take a look at the application settings to ensure that they work for you. For instance, most of the keyboard applications offer the ability to change the layout, change the app theme, and many more customization options.
You can do this by opening up the keyboard application from your app list. If it does not come up here, go back to Settings > System > Languages & input > Virtual keyboard and tap on your keyboard to open up its options.
