On a daily basis we use the iPhone keyboard on many occasions and that is why you have surely considered changing it for another alternative more than once. In this article we are going to discuss the options that exist in this regard and how the change can be made from the device settings.
Lacks that the native iOS has
The keyboard is undoubtedly one of the most important parts of any iPhone as it is used every day for several hours. To write emails, perform web searches or write text messages through the different applications. Apple with its design bets on a keyboard design that is quite sober, additionally including only a predictive keyboard at the top as well as a part dedicated to emojis. For many people this will be more than enough but for others it will fall short in this regard.
Access to a quick search or various multimedia content is something quite typical that is requested on an iPhone keyboard. In the different conversations, for example, GIFs can be used and there are keyboards that have them. It may also be the case that for your personal taste you need to have a specific font, there are also some specific keyboards that allow you to have this complete experience on your device.
Types of keyboards that can be installed
Apple makes different keyboard options available to users. The first one is the native one, which is developed by Apple itself and integrates perfectly with all the aesthetics of the system. But the company also leaves the door open to third-party keyboards.
Different languages
When speaking in a different language, it is also necessary to have a keyboard that is correctly adapted. Apple itself offers different keyboards to write in different languages and that are exchanged quite easily. In this way they try to ‘fight’ with those third-party companies that try to impose their own keyboards on the iPhone or iPad. And the truth is that with this possibility there are many users who prefer to stay with the native option.
And although it is true that in languages that are Latin the keyboards do not change much, this does not happen when it is transferred to Arabic, Chinese or Japanese where the letters are totally different. Even within the same territory such as Spain we can find differences, for example with the Catalan keyboard that makes the ‘ç’ stand out much more within its vocabulary in a general way.
From third parties
There are many companies that develop their own keyboards for the Apple ecosystem. In this way they try to move Apple’s native option to the background in order to have more functionalities. It is a reality that the native option that Apple presents is quite poor in many ways, although the truth is that it may be enough for most users who are not looking for anything else. In the case of third-party options, you can find extra features such as integration with GIFs or facilitated searches in search engines such as Google.
This is why many users choose to have a more customizable experience with other keyboards. This is where the similarity that can exist with Android comes in by not having to be ‘condemned’ to use a keyboard that you may not like. There are many companies that offer this type of service, as we will see below, making this a much simpler process.
Privacy issues
Apple, of course, always recommends having native keyboards that have been developed by themselves installed. In many cases they do not recommend the installation of third party keyboards due to the problems that can be generated with respect to privacy. In an informative note they give details that any developer can collect the information of the keyboards that are used in the iPhone.
In this type of information, for example, everything you are writing or the searches you are going to carry out is available. This is quite interesting information for all companies that develop an external keyboard. That is why this is one of the main reasons you can have to keep the native keyboard of Apple itself and not opt for that of other companies. As we say, the company makes it very clear from the first minute that you want to make the corresponding changes in the configuration.
How to add new keyboards
Apple makes it easy to switch between different keyboards, both internal and third-party developers. The important thing in this second case is to have the corresponding application installed so that the system itself can detect that there is a keyboard available. In the first case, as they are developed by Apple itself, keyboards will be available in different languages. It should be noted that not all are stored internally on the device, but can be downloaded quickly. To be able to make this change you simply have to follow the following steps:
- On the iPhone go to Settings.
- Enter the ‘General’ section.
- Click on the ‘Keyboard’ section.
- Click on the first section that you will find called ‘Keyboards’.
- Click on ‘Add new keyboard’.
Once here you can find different relevant sections. The first one for the native keyboards you have installed. The second to third-party keyboards that will automatically detect those applications that you have installed as we have previously commented. The last list that is included are all the extra keyboards of the iPhone that can be downloaded from the internal servers of the company that correspond to different languages.
In the end, as we say, it is essential to have a series of applications downloaded to the iPhone so that they can appear in this keyboard section. Once done, you can always comfortably switch between all the keyboards that you have available on your device by following the same steps that we have previously commented.
