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How to change Android default keyboard app

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 07 Sep 2017 10:36

How to change Android default keyboard app

Very often the new Android phone you purchased ships with a rather bad keyboard app. However, with Android, changing the default keyboard app is quite an easy task.
Here's our guide on how to do that in Android (7.0 and onwards).

Download a new keyboard app for your Android


There are hundreds of free keyboard apps available for Android, so you might want to take a look at our list of best Android keyboard apps before proceeding.

Approve the keyboard app


Now, head to your phone's Settings and find the Languages & input selection. Tap that.

Android settings

Now, in that menu, tap the Virtual keyboard selection.



Android languages and input

There, you can see all installed and approved keyboards you have in your Android. To remove/add keyboards, choose the Manage keyboards option at the bottom.

List of allowerd keyboard apps in Android

Now, on the Manage keyboards page you can simply turn on and off the keyboards you have installed. You can have multiple ones left switched on, so you can switch the keyboards within the apps if you want to .

Manage installed keyboards in Android

After you have made the adjustments, exit the Settings.

Set the default keyboard


Now, if you left more than one keyboard in use, you might want to change the default keyboard. For this, go to any app that has text input field and go there (like WhatsApp messaging screen).

Tap the keyboard icon in order to select the default keyboard for Android

At the right-bottom corner of the screen you can see a small keyboard symbol. Tap that and it opens up a selection screen for default keyboard.



Select default keyboard for Android

Now, choose which keyboard you would like to use and click "Ok".

And voila, you've successfully changed your default keyboard.

To find out what keyboard to install, read our recommendations: Best Android keyboard apps

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