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!

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

2023-09-21

Gboard - the Google Keyboard (4.4@13,515,662) Ǥ 19 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$
Microsoft SwiftKey AI Keyboard (4.1@3,988,721) Ǥ 17 3 Datenschutz-Test 7/2019
Bobble Keyboard: Fonts, Status (4.1@427,168) Ǥ 26 8
Smart Keyboard Pro (3.3@22,197; ~EUR 2.25) 6 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ dictionaries available for many languages

Keyboards for Typing

2023-09-22

Tiny Keyboard (5@191) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
Hacker’s Keyboard (4.3@60,359) 3 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2018-12-07 Github; Video Review 6/2018; not only for hackers
Technical Keyboard (4.3@2,762) 11 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2017-09-24
OpenBoard (4.3@2,539) 4 Github; Review 6/2021
Typewise Offline Keyboard (4.3@1,894; ~EUR 25.00) 3 1 Vorstellung 6/2016
Unexpected Keyboard (4.3@1,812) 2 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
BeHe Keyboard - Programming & (4.3@141) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2018-04-04
Simple Keyboard (4.2@9,351) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; Vorstellung 8/2019
Thumb Keyboard (4.2@8,168; ~EUR 2.25) 9 1 LastUpdate: 2014-11-15
Deutsche Tastatur (4.1@3,098) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2021-12-03
Keyboard Designer: Keyboard (4@916) Ǥ 2 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Vorstellung 8/2020
Compass Keyboard (4@56) 3 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2018-03-16 Github; International keyboard
A.I.type Tablet Keyboard Free (3.9@14,306) Ǥ 9 3 LastUpdate: 2019-10-07
1C Big Keyboard (3.8@22,878) Ǥ 10 14
Minuum Keyboard + Smart Emoji (3.8@10,164; ~EUR 3.50) Ǥ 11 1 LastUpdate: 2017-02-18
Simple Keyboard (3.8@1,217) 2 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
Fleksy fast emoji keyboard app (3.5@268,534) Ǥ 21 6 Wikipedia EN
Big Buttons Keyboard Standard (3.4@9,390) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2013-12-18
Indic Keyboard (3@7,938) 5 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ GitLab
DroidTR IME (En/Ru/Tr/Gr Keybo (1@89) 2 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ GitLab
Thumb-Key (0@0; ~EUR 18.00) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
K9Keyboard (0@0) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; T9 keyboard
T16Fling (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2021-04-20 GitLab

Keyboards for Typing & Swiping

2023-09-22

GO Keyboard Lite - Many Theme (4.3@2,634,653) Ǥ 19 13 LastUpdate: 2021-06-01
Grammarly - Grammar Keyboard (4@202,779) Ǥ 15 6
Ginger Keyboard - Emoji, GIFs (3.9@186,074) Ǥ 19 12 Video Demo 3/2015; spell and grammar check
Typewise Custom Keyboard (3.9@13,062) Ǥ 8 1 Intro 2/2020
MultiLing Keyboard (3.9@44) 5 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2015-08-26 / Multiling O Keyboard + emoji (4@35,427) 4 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2020-09-03
AnySoftKeyboard (3.6@26,417) 6 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2022-01-14 Github; Wiki; MobilSicher Empfehlung 10/2019; Vorstellung 6/2020
Chrooma Keyboard - RGB & Emoji (2.8@181,872) Ǥ 22 9 LastUpdate: 2020-06-07 Kurzvorstellung 2/2016; Intro 6/2016
FlorisBoard (0@0) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ / FlorisBoard Beta (0@0) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; Review 8/2021 / Github

Alternative Input Ideas

2023-09-22

mazec3 (jp) -Handwriting (5@566; ~EUR 9.00) Ǥ 6 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ / mazec3 Handwriting Recognition (2.6@181; ~EUR 14.00) Ǥ 6 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$
Graffiti Pro for Android (4.1@1,021) 3 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ / Graffiti for Android (3.9@3,262) 2 LastUpdate: 2013-03-13 Like in the good-old Palm days
Selvy PenScript (4@187) 5 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$
EVA Facial Mouse (3.6@25,629) Ǥ 9 5 LastUpdate: 2019-11-21 Github; emulate mouse cursor by eye tracking
Dotterel (0@0) 3 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; stenographic input
Fcitx5 for Android (0@0) 2 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github

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

Remote Keyboards

2023-09-22

… can be found in the category Control your Droid from your Computer

Other Keyboards

2023-09-17

Irregular Expressions Keyboard (4.8@107) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2021-08-05 Github; write expressive messages in various font styles
MessagEase Keyboard (4.5@7,843) 4 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$
kboard (4.1@1,618) 4 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2022-02-09 Github; XDA 2/2019; Intro 2/2019; a keyboard to end conversations
同文輸入法 (4@393) 10 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; Chinese IME
NovaKey - Keyboard (3.5@899) 6 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2016-06-23
YidKey KD (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2019-01-22 Github; Yiddish keyboard
Secret Encrypted Keyboard (0@0) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; Keyboard for secure E2EE communication
Czech Diacritic Keyboard (0@0) 15 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2019-06-19 Github
FutharkBoard (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
8vim Keyboard (0@0) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; vim-like keyboard and editor
Otobi Keyboard (0@0) 4 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2020-12-18 Github
Unistroke Keyboard (0@0) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; like Palm's Grafitty
Stroke Input Method (筆畫輸入法) (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; minimalist Chinese keyboard
Sithakuru (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Codeberg; Libre Sinhala Keyboard
BlitzTypeKeyboard (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2019-10-18 Github; custom keyboard with special keys for the WOT Blitz game
Fcitx5 for Android (Clipboard Filter Plugin) (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github

Keyboard Helpers

2023-09-24

Free Physical Keyboard (5@294) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2018-10-28
Nabla : Type Math Symbols (5@19) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; easily type math symbols
More Physical Keyboard Layouts (4.8@755) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
Keyboard Switcher (4.5@1,060) 5 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2021-02-03 GitLab
物理キーボード配列変更 (+親指Ctrl) [日本語配列] (4.5@27) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ / 物理キーボード配列変更 (+親指Ctrl) [英語配列] (4.7@26) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; Caps to Ctrl (keyboard layout) / Github
Key Mapper GUI Keyboard (4.1@1,266) 4 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
External Keyboard Helper Pro (3.8@3,550; ~EUR 1.75) 7 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ configure your external keyboard
Inputting Plus: Ctrl + Z/F/C/V (3.8@1,390) Ǥ 6 1 LastUpdate: 2019-01-22
Hoplite Polytonic Greek Keyboa (3.8@273) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2020-09-24 Github; extension for polytonic Greek input
Guileless Bopomofo Keyboard (3.8@19) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
Full colemak (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2020-12-07 Github; keyboard layout with dead keys etc. for physical keyboards
Neo2 External Keyboard (0@0) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2021-03-24 Github; Neo2-Layout when using a physical keyboard
Traditional T9 (0@0) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; T9 IME for Android devices with hardware keypad

Further Readings:

5 best keyboard apps for Android (4/2022)
5 Best Private Android Keyboards You Can Trust + 3 Expert Tips (6/2020 - 3/2023)
Android-Apps ersetzen: Tastatur (2/2020 - 12/2021)
Video: Tastatur-Apps: Was sie über Sie erfahren und welche App wir empfehlen (10/2019)
How to Connect a USB Keyboard to Your Android Phone (7/2019)
Best keyboard apps for Android (4/2019 - 3/2023)
Leserfrage: Empfehlenswerte Tastatur-App für Android (12/2017)
Die besten Android-Tastaturen: Swype, SwiftKey und Co. im Überblick (12/2014 - 5/2021)
Best keyboard for Android apps (9/2014 - 3/2023)

2023-09-25

IzzyOnDroid