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The best iPhone keyboard apps in 2024, The iPhone’s default keyboard may not meet everyone’s needs. Its limited features may leave some users wanting more variety and flexibility, especially on larger devices like the iPhone 15 Pro Max or smaller models like the iPhone SE (2022).

We have conducted research and compiled a comprehensive list of the best third-party keyboards for iPhone, that can significantly enhance your texting experience. These keyboards offer a wide range of features and customization options, such as adjustable key size, swipe typing, themes, and easier access to emojis. Most of these keyboards are available for free, while some offer premium subscription options. Either way, you’ll easily be able to find a keyboard that suits your needs and preferences.

Microsoft SwiftKey AI Keyboard

app store screenshots for microsoft swiftkey ai keyboard

Microsoft’s SwiftKey AI keyboard is a highly rated third-party keyboard that is favored by many people. The keyboard is powered by the company’s Copilot AI and is designed to learn your writing style. This allows it to recognize informal language, nicknames, and even your favorite emojis, which sets it apart from its competitors. The keyboard also offers various personalization options, including different themes, which enhance its appearance and appeal to the user.

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The best iPhone keyboard apps in 2024

Also Read : Best Linux desktop of 2024

Typewise Custom Keyboard

typewise custom keyboard for ios with three different ad layouts

Typewise has a unique take on key shapes. The app keeps the QWERTY design but switches the traditional rectangle-shaped keys for hexagonal ones — which Typewise says creates more surface area so you can type more accurately. While there is a slight learning curve, Typewise includes a built-in game to practice typing. With swipe gestures, dark mode support, and autocorrect modification, this is a great alternative for those tired of the conventional keyboard. Newer versions include automatic language detection, which switches the app between selected languages, an undo button, and replacement for often-used phrases.

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grammarly app for ios three screenshots

The Grammarly iOS keyboard app offers sophisticated grammar review that goes beyond the usual spell check to provide advice on punctuation, spelling context, and misused words. It also helps you build your vocabulary and offers synonyms, which makes it an ideal app for students or business people. Grammarly also has emoji, a smart autocorrect feature, and allows you to build your own dictionary. You also get features that include swipe typing, home screen widgets, and focus filters that mute vibrations and sound effects.

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Facemoji AI Emoji Keyboard

facemoji keyboard app

The Facemoji Emoji Keyboard is a free tool that allows you to add a touch of personality to text messages and media posts. With a wide range of emojis, , and stickers available, you can easily create unique and engaging content for platforms like WhatsApp, TikTok, , Messenger, Facebook, Snapchat, and SMS. Whether you want to express your emotions through colorful emojis or add some flair to your text with stylish fonts, the Facemoji Emoji Keyboard has something for everyone.

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Phraseboard Keyboard

phraseboard keyboard tripartite marketing screens

Phraseboard aims to take the pain out of the tedious job of typing the same responses and phrases repeatedly by allowing you to save them so you can select one of your prewritten answers to reply rapidly. You can create your own customized phrases and sort them by category. You can even quickly access the Phraseboard widget to create new phrases no matter what you’re doing with your iPhone. All your phrases sync with iCloud. The basic app costs $2, and subscriptions are available for some premium language and functionality features.

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Gboard – the Google Keyboard

gboard google keyboard screens

Gboard is a keyboard from Google and includes everything you’d ever want within a single app. Whether you’re sending GIFs or emojis, searching Google for information, sending directions, or anything else, Gboard has you covered. With Gboard, you can search and send anything from Google, including information on nearby restaurants, videos, images, weather forecasts, news, sports scores — you name it. The app also offers Glide Typing, which allows you to type messages faster and more accurately.

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Fleksy- GIF, Web & Yelp Search

fleksy web page searches

Fleksy offers users a fun and interactive way to type in their own style. You can customize your Fleksy keyboard with powerful extensions and more than 50 colorful themes. Some of the themes cost $1, but many are free. More than 800 emoji come with the app, and it also has its own built-in GIF search engine. The keyboard supports several languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Hebrew, and Dutch. It learns your typing habits as you go, enabling it to give you accurate predictions, which helps reduce typos.

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Fonts

fonts keyboard for iphone

Are you tired of sending your friends and family the same old boring messages? Spice things up with the Fonts keyboard app! You can customize your messages with a wide selection of fonts to fit your unique personality and style. Whether you’re feeling flirty, professional, or just plain silly, there’s a font for every mood. The Fonts keyboard works through iMessage, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, Clubhouse, TikTok, Telegram, Roblox, WhatsApp, , Discord, and more.

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Color Keyboard – Themes, Fonts

color keyboard for ios themes and fonts

The king of keyboard customization is Color Keyboard. Sure, it gives you emoji and autocorrection and even allows you to tap and hold the space bar to move the cursor, but what really sets this keyboard apart is the option to change anything you want about the keyboard’s look. You can change the background using solid colors, gradients, textures, and even your own pictures.

You can also customize the buttons by changing the colors and borders, adding shadows, customizing the fonts, and changing the sounds. If your aim is customization, Color Keyboard takes things to the next level, but you have to subscribe to access everything, starting at $3 per week and rising for longer intervals and premium features.

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Bitmoji

bitmoji your personal emoji illustrationsBitstrips

Bitmoji, a popular keyboard app, is ideal if you want to send an emoji that resembles you rather than using standard emoji or text. Bitmoji allows you to customize and send a personalized emoji, all from your keyboard. Use Bitmoji with any of your favorite chat apps, like iMessage or Snapchat. It’s never been easier to adapt a dynamic avatar with an ever-changing collection of stickers and moods. You’ll need your Facebook login information to sign into Bitmoji and initiate the avatar creation process.

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GIF Keyboard

gif keyboard for finding perfect gifsTenor

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a GIF can truly help get your point across. Get access to the massive library of animated and musical GIFs for free. From there, you can search for specific GIFs or use keywords to find animations that suit your mood. The GIF keyboard app is compatible with WhatsApp, , Facebook, Messenger, iMessage, and just about any other messaging app or social media site.

To send a GIF, press your finger on your chosen GIF and hold it down to browse options. Once you’ve found one, share its link, the GIF itself, or a video, or save the media to your photo library. You can also customize the tool to match your specifications and save your favorite GIFs using the keyboard.

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All Symbol Keyboard Fonts Aa

all symbol keyboard typing appMelonSoup

For the visual among us, the All Symbol Keyboard is an exciting alternative to humdrum alphanumerics with all the custom fonts, symbols, fancy letters, special characters, and emoticons you could ever want — compatible with any app on your iPhone. It works with Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and many others. Whether you’re looking for high-impact symbols to enhance your keyboard, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter posts, or even your username, launch the app and start typing. Premium versions provide unlimited access to features like the All Symbol Keyboard (every single symbol) and Facemoji library, but there’s tons of free stuff to get you started.

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The best emoji keyboards for and iOS

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Gone are the days when words were enough to fully express our thoughts and feelings. Emoji, a recently accepted form of pictographic communication that now serves as a kind of Esperanto for the internet age, plays a major role in interpersonal and international communications. Most major keyboards for both Android and iOS feature built-in support for emoji, but they are hardly front and center. If you’re looking for a keyboard to truly satisfy your emoji obsession, you may need a dedicated emoji keyboard to carry out the task of conveying your emotions visually via a text environment.

When you download a keyboard app in iOS, you must add it to your list of keyboards. To do this, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboards. Then, scroll to the Third-Party Keyboards section and choose the keyboard app. Then, tap on the keyboard app and toggle on Allow Full Access. For Android 10, you can install your new keyboard directly via the Google Play Store to your Android phone, if it is compatible with the app, and then launch and follow any directions it has.

Here are a few of our favorite third-party keyboard apps for iOS and Android.

Gboard

gboardImage used with permission by copyright holder

Gboard is a highly functional keyboard from Google that concentrates on handy features like emoji search, GIFs, stickers, and glide typing. Best of all, it has the Google search app integrated into the keyboard — no more switching apps. Just search for anything from the weather to your neighborhood bodega and send, all from this nifty keyboard.

Emoji>

emoji for iosImage used with permission by copyright holder

Emoji> offers a ton of emoji characters you can use via the keyboard, and they’re split into different categories, making it easy to find the emoji you’re looking for. The keyboard also provides animated stickers and the ability to set up specific emoji as favorites, so you can access them at a moment’s notice without having to search for the ones you want. Updates include compatibility with iOS 14 and all of its attendant emoji, including smiling face with tear, disguised face, ninja, pinched fingers, heart and lungs, black cat, polar bear, seal, dodo sandal, bubble tea, and toothbrush. New emoji widgets are also on hand.

Microsoft Swiftkey

swiftkeyImage used with permission by copyright holder

Swiftkey is not an emoji keyboard per se, but it is the next best thing — an excellent keyboard that comes pre-loaded with hundreds of emoji for you to use. Swiftkey is already a great favorite because of its valuable predictive typing, which can also be applied to emoji. When you type a word or phrase, for example, the app suggests emoji that you can quickly use. The most recent versions include renaming the app to Microsoft Swiftkey, a new Messaging Center on the keyboard toolbar, haptic feedback, one-handed mode, 400 new languages, and new language layouts.

ai.type Keyboard Plus

best emoji keyboards aitype1

ai

best emoji keyboards aitype3

As its name implies, ai.type was developed around , aiming to assist people in typing quickly and accurately. It also allows you to personalize the keyboard to fit your individual needs, enabling you to adjust the keyboard’s layout, theme, and color scheme. This means you can set an emoji front and center and select from an extensive inventory of more than 1,000 characters.

Similar to many other keyboard applications, the keyboard can also propose emojis depending on what you type. The most current versions are compatible with the new Emoji 12.1 for 2020 and 517 new emoji. Around 23 new gender-neutral emoji icons have been added. Some of these include a gender-neutral firefighter, astronaut, a person in a wheelchair, and a judge. You’ll also have access to fun emoji objects like an otter, ringed planet, beverage box, and pinching hand.

Fleksy

fleksyImage used with permission by copyright holder

If you want to add a bit more fun and animation to your typing, Fleksy could be the keyboard that you’ve been looking for. Fleksy is compatible with a wide variety of extensions, letting you quickly add new features as necessary. Maybe the most remarkable thing about Fleksy is how simple it is to get to your emoji. You can browse through dozens of emoji in each section and change categories with a quick tap at the bottom of the keyboard.

Just like many keyboards, you can also establish a variety of attractive themes. Updated versions include features like Next Word Prediction, prepared in 28 languages, and Emoji Prediction so you can inspect the suggested emoji in regards to your conversation’s context.

Go Keyboard

best emoji keyboards go keyboard2

go keyboard

best emoji keyboards go keyboard3

Go Keyboard is a personalizable keyboard that permits you to put emoji, emoticons, stickers, and GIFs in noticeable areas. The app converts text into emoji and emoticons, and you can pick from over 1,000 emoji and stickers, plus over 10, 000 different themes. It supports over 60 other languages, too. If that’s not enough to impress you, you can also type with gestures and various fonts, as well as individualize your keyboard with your own personal photo theme. The Fancy Font feature gives you the opportunity to select your preferred keyboard font.

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Best Alternative Apps You Can Use In 2024, Facebook-owned WhatsApp Messenger is the most popular messaging app on the planet. The company releases new features regularly to ensure it remains on top. However, people have different tastes and not everyone may like how WhatsApp works or looks both internally and externally.

Meta-owned WhatsApp has a policy and it makes it clear that the company collects lots of telemetry data from your device. Hence, if you are someone who wants to move on to a more personal or secure messaging app, here are the 12 best WhatsApp alternative apps you can use in 2024.

1. Telegram Messenger

Telegram Messenger has been known as the best WhatsApp competitor for a while now and nothing’s changed. The open-source messaging app is still the best WhatsApp alternative out there. Along with the usual messaging features that both WhatsApp and Telegram pack, the latter brings other features like supergroups of up to 100,000 people, public channels, usernames, the ability to share files of up to 2 GB, passcode lock, self-destructing messages and end-to-end encryption in secret chat among other things.

Telegram Interface

Then, there are Telegram Bots, which really enhance the experience. The bots not only bring you important info on the go but there are several game bots that let you play games inside the messaging app. Other than that, unlike WhatsApp, Telegram can be used on multiple platforms at once, so you can start texting on your phone and then continue it on your PC. I also love the voice call feature here which works quite well.

Availability: Android, iOS, , Windows, macOS, Linux, Web (Free)

2. Signal Private Messenger

Signal Foundation, the organization that powers the end-to-end encryption technology in WhatsApp Messenger and Facebook Messenger, offers its very own messaging app dubbed Signal Private Messenger. As you’d expect, Signal brings a number of security benefits when compared to WhatsApp. It offers self-destructing messages, screen security (prevents anyone from taking screenshots), and more.

Signal interface

Plus, Signal brings encryption to its backups, calls, group calls, and every other data in the app. Even the files that you send using Signal are protected. Furthermore, according to Apple’s App Store listing, Signal doesn’t link any data to your identity.

Signal privacy policy

It’s a great app for anyone who wants to securely converse with other users. That’s why, Signal is quite popular with journalists. Signal Private Messenger is for people who are looking for a simple and secure messaging app and if you are looking for something like that, it is the best WhatsApp alternative for you.

Availability: Android, iOS (Free)

Best WhatsApp Alternative Apps You Can Use In 2024

Read More : 12 Best Linux Distros You Should Use

3.

Discord is no longer just a platform for chatting with your fellow gamers. While you can explore a variety of Discord servers to engage with your interests, Discord’s DM functionality is often overlooked by many. You can use Discord’s personal messages feature to send messages, emojis, emotes (if you have Discord Nitro), GIFs, images, and even documents. Furthermore, you can make voice calls, video calls, or even browse together after sharing your screen.

Discord Interface

Combined with neat integrations from Spotify, Twitch, , Battle.net, , Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Live, and GitHub, Discord has got you covered for all your messaging needs and is arguably better than WhatsApp.

You can also create group chats on Discord with a total of 10 members. If you need more capacity, you can always create a server. If you ask me, I’d recommend uninstalling WhatsApp right away and installing Discord. You will find the link to download Discord below and I can assure you that you won’t regret the decision.

Availability: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web (Free)

4. Messages by Google

This might be an odd one but hear us out! Google’s RCS messaging service has improved by leaps and bounds since it was first introduced. Although it may not be the most widely available service in the world and is limited to just Android users, almost every Android device should have this feature. Just download the Google Messages app, go to the settings, and enable RCS (Rich Communication Services).

Google Messages Interface

RCS is a secure way of sending messages across devices; messages sent with RCS are encrypted and can carry more information across than SMS, and the Google Messages app comes tailored with lots of handy dandy features such as smart replies, stickers, GIFs, suggested actions, and integrates very well with GBoard. The one major con of RCS comes due to Apple not adapting the service despite multiple jabs from Google. This means if the party on the other side uses an iPhone, your messages would be sent as regular SMS.

AvailabilityAndroid, Windows, Web (Free)

5. Bridgefy

One of the main problems with online messaging apps like WhatsApp is that they rely on an internet connection to work. And if you are out camping in the woods even the normal  messaging apps will not work. That’s where offline messaging apps come into play. These apps don’t require a mobile network or internet connection to work.

Bridgefy Google Play Store page

Rather, they create a peer-to-peer Bluetooth mesh network or Wi-Fi direct-based network on your phone and allow you to send messages to your nearby friends. If you are looking for such an app then you should use Bridgefy. Bridgefy offers three main types of messaging services; Person-to-Person mode, Broadcast mode, and Mesh mode.

You can send messages to a friend, broadcast them to the entire group, and even use users as nodes to send messages to long distances. It is quite helpful during music festivals, sports events, natural disasters, and other such situations where you won’t be getting reliable mobile service.

In fact, Bridgefy and other such apps have become a bastion for protesters around the world as they allow them to evade internet censorship imposed by their governments. The app is free to download and use and is the best offline WhatsApp alternative in my opinion. You should check it out.

Install: Android (free), iOS (free)

6. Kik

Kik is a great messaging app for users who don’t want to use their number to operate a messaging application. While chat services like WhatsApp require users to use their number, I know many users who are not comfortable with sharing their personal numbers to these platforms.

Kik Messenger Interface

For those users, Kik is a great service as it only requires you to use your email ID. Once you sign up for the service using your email ID, Kik will create a unique user name for you which you can share with other Kik users to chat.

The best part about using Kik is that you are not losing out on any messaging features. You still get access to all the important features including text messages, emojis, stickers, Gifs, photo sharing, video sharing, and group chats among other things.

Another unique feature of Kik is that it supports bots which is something that you do not get on WhatsApp. Using bots you can play quizzes, get fashion tips, the latest , and more. That said, the main USP of Kik remains its non-requirement of a phone number and if that’s something you want, definitely check it out.

Availability: Android, iOS (Free)

7.

While Snapchat technically is not just a messaging app but rather a social media app, I use it more and more as a messaging application thanks to some unique features that no other messaging application can offer. For example, I can send messages which can self-destruct after a set period of time. It also notifies me when someone takes a screenshot of my chats with them. Finally, it offers the best face mask collection of all the apps that I have ever used which makes this app fun to use.

Snapchat Interface

Other messaging features are also here such as the ability to create group chats, voice calls, group voice calls, gifs, and more. I also love Snapchat because it is one of the most innovative chat services on the market. The features that users on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger normally enjoy are generally copied from Snapchat. So, if you want to access these cool features and be the first to receive the latest chat features, Snapchat is the app to use.

Availability: Android, iOS (Free)

8.

Skype is without a doubt one of the best business chat applications out there that you can use right now. With the power of Microsoft behind it, Skype has left all the other business chat applications in the dust. However, that progress has worked against Skype when it comes to personal chats as the business moniker that it has earned keeps normal users away. But let me tell you that Skype is one of the best chatting applications on the market especially if you make a lot of video and voice calls.

Skype Interface

I especially find Skype useful when I am using it to make overseas calls as the sound and video quality on Skype is far better than its competition. I also love Skype for its group video call functionality.

While most other apps don’t support group video calls, the ones that do often lag when you add more than three to four people. If you are someone who makes a ton of video calls with their friends and family, I can certainly recommend Skype over WhatsApp or any such chat application.

Availability: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Web (Free)

9. Keybase

Keybase is an open-source secure chat application, which is great for users who want to communicate securely. Since this is an open-source app, there’s no private company that is looking at all your data. Anyways the data is end-to-end encrypted so at no point in time, the message is exposed to nefarious actors.

Keybase Interface

The app doesn’t even allow you to take the screenshot of the chats. The messaging app works more like Slack than WhatsApp, however, it’s not aimed at businesses. Rather, it is mainly targeting users who are concerned with their online privacy.

My favorite feature of Keybase is that you don’t need anyone’s number or email ID to connect with them. This allows you to remain in contact with users whom you don’t want to share your personal information with. Finally, this is one of the few messaging apps that offer a native application for the Linux operating system. If you value your privacy, you should definitely check it out.

Availability: Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, and Windows (Free)

10. Viber

Viber is another popular messaging and VoIP app that really stands toe-to-toe with WhatsApp when it comes to features. Firstly, the app offers end-to-end encryption in calls, messages, and shared media. Moreover, the messages saved on multiple devices are also encrypted, which brings us to the fact that the messaging apps pack in multi-device support, which WhatsApp lacks.

Viber Interface

Like WhatsApp, Viber lets you make video and voice calls but the app goes one step ahead with its Viber Out feature, which lets you make international calls to non-Viber users at nominal rates.

Talking about the messaging features, Viber includes support for stickers, file sharing, last seen, voice & video messages, public accounts, backup to Google Drive, and more. There is also a sticker store and Viber games, which are basically games you can play inside Viber. If you consider everything, you’ll notice that Viber is an app that is very similar to WhatsApp. It packs in most of the features from WhatsApp and then some more.

Availability: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows (Free, with rates for Viber Out)

11. Session

Session is another great contender for one of the best WhatsApp alternatives if your priority is securing messaging. It is a privacy-focused messaging app that promises no metadata and only messages. The open-source app encrypts messaging as well as calls to ensure that nobody has access to your messages on the internet. Session uses Libsodium cryptography to encrypt your chats and its public keys are stored locally on your device.

Session Interface

You don’t need an email or mobile number to start using the messaging app. All the messages on the app are sent via a decentralized onion-routing network similar to Tor. Despite being a privacy-focused app, Session’s user interface is quite customizable with themes and dark mode. You get groups, video calls, voice messages, attachments, voice calls and even group calling functionality on this WhatsApp replacement app.

Availability: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux (Free)

12. LINE

Another WhatsApp alternative you can use is LINE, which is a highly popular cross-platform messaging app that packs in a ton of features. Like WhatsApp, the app features end-to-end encryption, support for voice and video calls & messages, and more.

It also brings quite a few unique features when compared to WhatsApp like LINE Out (lets you make international calls to non-LINE users), a sticker store, a cool Keep feature (lets you save your favorite messages, photos, etc.), and more. It also features a timeline in the app, where you can see any status updates and photo changes from your friends.

Line Interface

Other useful features of LINE include passcode lock, filter messages, themes, LINE Pay for payments, and more. There’s no doubt that LINE is a very capable and feature-rich messaging app, however, it does feel a little bloated. So, fans of WhatsApp’s simplicity might not like LINE much but if you aren’t bothered by that, you should give LINE a shot.

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