Keyboards & Input Methods

Most users probably live with the pre-installed keyboard app. Either because they are satisfied with it, that they are not aware of alternatives, or that the alternatives known to them are not really alternatives to them. Only few will know all available keyboard apps (even I don't). But even if the following list is far from being complete, they might prove helpful to the one or other.

Important to consider is that such a keyboard app is aware of all input done with it (well, that's its job, right?). Theoretically it could record all input (including passwords and other sensitive data). In case it also holds the permission to access the network, one could imagine some evil things. So better think twice if there are concerns to consider! In this context also be aware of all those trackers (which is where your entered information might end up). This category ranks highest in „average trackers per app“.

The permission to read/write user dictionaries is fully legit here, however – as that's what keyboards use for spell checking and „predictive typing“.

Keyboards supporting Swipe, Type, and Voice

2019-04-06

Bobble Indic Keyboard ❤️ Ғ◎И†Ⴝ, GIFs & Themes (4.6@268,302) Ǥ 27
Kii Keyboard + Emoji (4.4@41) Ǥ 10 LastUpdate: 2014-10-21 Kurzvorstellung 12/2012; XDA Video 1/2013; Phone & Tablet optimized
Gboard - the Google Keyboard (4.3@2,850,835) Ǥ 25 Kurzvorstellung 6/2013; Video Review 6/2013 | 6/2013; Review 6/2013
TouchPal Keyboard-Cute Emoji,theme, sticker, GIFs (4.3@1,512,209) Ǥ 25 Kurzvorstellung 9/2013; Review 10/2013; Testbericht 11/2013; Video Review 1/2014
Smart Keyboard Trial (4.1@65,953) 6 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2017-06-21 / Smart Keyboard Pro (4.4@21,550; ~EUR 2.50) 6 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ dictionaries available for many languages
Perfect Keyboard Demo (4.1@4,065) 6 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2017-07-07 / Perfect Keyboard Pro (4.2@2,813; ~EUR 3.50) 8 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2012-12-20 Review 3/2012; Test 6/2013; Vorstellung 11/2013
SwiftKey Keyboard Free (3.9@71) Ǥ 11 LastUpdate: 2014-05-30 / SwiftKey Keyboard (4.5@3,075,754) Ǥ 13 Test 3/2013; Vorstellung 4/2013; Tipps 4/2014
Samsung Keyboard (3.8@12,633) 34

Keyboards for Typing

2019-04-06

KuKoo App (4.7@41) Ǥ 4 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2017-07-05 keyboard with „copy-pad“ for frequent phrases
Classic Keyboard (4.4@82,600) 9 Kurzvorstellung 7/2015
Hacker´s Keyboard (4.4@43,564) 3 Github; Testbericht 9/2012; Review 9/2012; Video Review 6/2014 | 6/2018; not only for hackers
1C Big Keyboard (4.4@9,929) Ǥ 8
Simple Keyboard (4.4@3,182) 1 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ Github
Technical Keyboard (4.4@1,827) 11 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2017-08-30 Vorstellung 2/2014; XDA Home 2/2014
ai.type Free Emoji Keyboard (4.3@666,707) Ǥ 16 / ai.type keyboard Plus + Emoji (4.4@57,948; ~EUR 4.25) Ǥ 16 Review 6/2012; Kurzvorstellung 8/2012; stores a lot of your personal data you type on their servers, which already leaked once
AnySoftKeyboard (4.3@22,956) 6 Github; Testbericht 12/2009
Minuum Keyboard + Smart Emoji (4.3@10,173; ~EUR 3.50) Ǥ 11 LastUpdate: 2017-02-18 Intro 8/2013; Vorstellung 4/2014; Test 12/2014
Thumb Keyboard (4.3@8,160; ~EUR 2.25) 9 LastUpdate: 2014-11-15 Testbericht 1/2011 | 10/2012 | 11/2013; Video Review 9/2012; Vorstellung 10/2012
Tablet Keyboard Free (4.3@2,494) 1 LastUpdate: 2016-05-30
Flash Keyboard - Emoji & Theme (4.2@1,060,017) Ǥ 33
A.I.type Tablet Keyboard Free (4.2@13,354) Ǥ 7 LastUpdate: 2014-01-09 / A.I.type Tablet Keyboard Plus (4.3@1,291; ~EUR 1.75) Ǥ 7 LastUpdate: 2014-01-09 Review 2/2012
Deutsche Tastatur (4.2@2,638) 0 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2014-02-16
Magic Keyboard Pro (4.2@116; ~EUR 1.50) Ǥ 11 LastUpdate: 2017-09-12
BeHe Keyboard - Programming & More (4.2@111) 1 $Contains no known trackers \o/$
Big Buttons Keyboard Standard (4.1@8,657) 1 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2013-12-18 / Big Buttons Keyboard Deluxe (4.1@1,226; ~EUR 3.25) 2 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2015-10-10 Test 7/2012; Video Demo 2/2013
WRIO Keyboard (+2500 emoji) (4.1@1,034; ~EUR 2.25) 1 Vorstellung 6/2016
Bauer Keyboard (4@279) 1 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2014-01-10 for big fingers
CompassKeyboard (4@56) 3 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ Github; International keyboard
ThickButtons Keyboard (3.9@6,755) 4 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2014-05-09 Video Review 1/2011
Fleksy + GIF Keyboard Free (3.6@91) Ǥ 19 LastUpdate: 2015-10-26 / Fleksy: Fast Keyboard + Stickers, GIFs & Emojis (4.4@257,548) Ǥ 20 Test 4/2014; Video Review 4/2014; Wikipedia EN

Keyboards for Typing & Swiping

2019-04-06

Izzy (4.6@136) 8 LastUpdate: 2015-08-13 typing and gestures (and no, it's not mine though it shares my name)
GO Keyboard Lite - Emoji keyboard, Free Theme, GIF (4.4@2,624,251) 20 Video Review 4/2012
Keyboard (4.4@429,536) Ǥ 22
Ginger Keyboard - Emoji, GIFs, Themes & Games (4.4@167,262) Ǥ 14 Video Demo 3/2015; spell and grammar check
Chrooma Keyboard - RGB & Chameleon Theme (4.4@73,913) Ǥ 22 Kurzvorstellung 2/2016; Intro 6/2016
Swype Keyboard Trial (4.3@87,895) Ǥ 14 Testbericht 11/2013
TSwipe-Pro keyboard (4.3@10,754) Ǥ 15 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2015-08-01 Addons for hardware keyboards available; Phone & Tablet optimized
Adaptxt Free Keyboard (4.1@13,754) Ǥ 23 LastUpdate: 2015-11-26 Review 4/2013; Video Review 6/2013; Vorstellung 5/2015
MultiLing Keyboard (3.9@44) 5 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2015-08-26 / Multiling O Keyboard + emoji (4.3@31,500) 3 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ Vorstellung 1/2014
background keyboard (0@0) 11 LastUpdate: 2017-08-10

Alternative Input Ideas

2019-04-06

EVA Facial Mouse (4.4@19,278) Ǥ 8 Github; emulate mouse cursor by eye tracking
Google Handwriting Input (4.3@102,927) Ǥ 5 Vorstellung 4/2015 | 4/2015; Kurzvorstellung 4/2015
mazec3 (jp) -Handwriting (4.3@505; ~EUR 8.50) Ǥ 6
MyScript Stylus (Beta) (4.2@11,599) 7
Selvy PenScript (4.1@137) 8 $Contains no known trackers \o/$
Graffiti for Android (3.9@3,262) 2 LastUpdate: 2013-03-13 Like in the good-old Palm days

More crazy ideas can be found in the category Personal Assistants (Competition to Siri & Google Now).

Remote Keyboards

2019-04-06

… can be found in the category Remote Droide 2: Control your Droid from your Computer

Other Keyboards

2019-04-08

kboard (4.6@765) 2 Github; a keyboard to end conversations
NovaKey - Keyboard (3.3@875) 6 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2016-06-23
YidKey KD (0@0) 0 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ Github; Yiddish keyboard

Keyboard Helpers

2019-04-10

Keyboard Switcher (4.7@47) 3 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ GitLab
Hoplite Polytonic Greek Keyboard (4.6@90) 0 Github; extension for polytonic Greek input
Inputting Plus: Ctrl + Z/F/C/V (4.2@1,173) Ǥ 6
External Keyboard Helper Demo (3.7@2,207) 7 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2016-06-28 / External Keyboard Helper Pro (4.6@2,933; ~EUR 1.75) 7 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2016-01-07 Testbericht 2/2013; Review 2/2013; Test 7/2013; configure your external keyboard
SwypeTweaks (0@0) LastUpdate: 2015-09-11 Github
Suggestions Toggle (0@0) LastUpdate: 2015-02-11 Intro 7/2014 | 7/2014 (w/ video); Github; quickly disable/enable keyboard suggestions
Macro / Text Expansion (0@0) LastUpdate: 2014-09-12 Github

Further Readings:

Leserfrage: Empfehlenswerte Tastatur-App für Android (12/2017)
Alternativ-Tastatur auf dem Android-Smartphone einrichten (1/2016)
Android-Tastatur ändern, auswählen und aktivieren (12/2014)
Die besten Android-Tastaturen: Swype, SwiftKey und Co. im Überblick (12/2014 - 11/2016)
15 best keyboard for Android apps (9/2014)
Five Best Android Keyboards (6/2014)
What's the Best Android Keyboard? (6/2014)
Vier Emoji-Keyboards im Vergleich: Smileys für alle! (6/2014)
Swype vs. SwiftKey: Vergleich der Tastatur-Giganten (6/2014)
Tippst Du noch, oder wischst Du schon? (9/2013)
The best keyboard apps for Android phones and tablets (6/2013)
Finding Your Type: The Best Android Keyboards (6/2013)

2019-04-10

IzzyOnDroid