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8 Best iPad Keyboard Apps To Get Extra Features

by Kaushal

The stock keyboard app on your iPad comes with many amazing features like flick gestures, multi-touch shift support, and the recently released ‘long press to move cursor’ etc. However, if you are coming from Android, you might miss the useful features such as swipe typing, GIF and gesture supports etc. Thankfully, iOS allows you to download third-party keyboard apps on your iPad to get these features. I have compiled a list of best keyboard apps for iPad. Let’s check them out.

Do You Know?

The stock keyboard app on your iPad (except 12.9 in iPad Pro) has a Hidden feature called, Flick Gestures, which allow you to swipe down for the alternative symbols on that key. Useful, if you hate toggling between numbers and letters on the keyboard. You can activate it by going to Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Flick Keys.

Best iPad Keyboard Apps

1. Grammarly Keyboard

First up with have Grammarly keyboard. Chances are, you might have already heard of Grammarly, the popular Chrome extension, that corrects your spelling and grammar on the go. Last year, the company has also released their first iOS keyboard app.

The keyboard app works just like their service. It checks the input text for grammatical or spelling mistakes and notifies you of any potential errors before you hit enter. For example, if you make an error while typing and miss a punctuation, Grammarly suggests the correct word and punctuation, you just have to tap the button to correct it. It’s that simple. It also automatically corrects the spellings for most words, which is better than the iPad’s built-in autocorrect.

Read: Best Keyboard Apps for Android

best keyboard apps for ipad- grammarly

You can use the Grammarly keyboard if you use your iPad for school work, presentations, emails and much more. And yes, from Firefox to Facebook, it works on most apps. Grammarly is free to use for the most part, but you can also log in and purchase additional features for a small amount.

Features

  • Spellings and Grammer Check
  • Keyboard Clicks
  • Emoji
  • Auto-correction

Best for – Students, Professionals

Install Grammarly Keyboard 

2. Fleksy Keyboard

Next in the list is a Fleksy keyboard. Although iPad isn’t meant for one hand usage, however, if you want to use it with one hand, well you can, with this app.

While Fleksy takes a little getting used to at first, what I like about the app is the tons of customization that it offers. The app lets you customize the keyboard with different themes and extensions. You can change the look and the way you interact with the keyboard. It supports GIFs and stickers which you can search within the keyboard and send it directly.

best keyboard apps for ipad- Fleksy

The app is free on the App Store and offers a few in-app purchases mainly for theme and customization.

Features

  • One-Handed keyboard
  • GIFs, stickers
  • Cursor control
  • Number row
  • Word predictions

Best for– One hand usage.

Install Fleksy 

3. TouchPal

If you want a fancy-pants keyboard, this next app TouchPal keyboard is for you. This keyboard offers multiple themes for the Keyboard, ranging from minimal to extravagant themes. You get graffiti, Mechanical Keyboard, printer, Christmas, etc. And if that’s not enough, you can even create your own custom theme in the app.

TouchPal supports night mode, key sounds, multiple languages, and text art. Text art looks cool when you type the letters but the letters are replaced with ASCII characters which resemble their corresponding letters. For example, S is replaced with a $ sign, H with #, a with @ etc. Don’t use this keyboard while entering passwords though.

best keyboard apps for ipad- TouchPal

Features

  • Text art
  • Night mode
  • Autocorrect
  • Adjustable keyboard height.

Best for – Social media and for informal conversations.

Install TouchPal

4. Blink Keyboard

Next up, Blink. This keyboard app unlike other apps in this list focuses on ease of typing rather than themes. You can change the Keyboard layout and choose from QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ, German, Spanish, and JKLC.

A unique feature of blink keyboard is that it can split the keyboard into two halves thus making typing easier on the iPad. You can fully customize the layout according to your thumb position and hand size. Also you can set alternative character for each key and enable it by swiping down. The only downside with this app is it only has support for 5 languages.

best keyboard apps for ipad- Blink

The app is free and some features like fonts and unlimited alt characters can be purchased as in-app purchases.

Features

  • Split keyboard
  • Customizable layouts
  • Quick gestures

Best for – Split keyboard users.

Install Blink Keyboard

5. Flicktype

Flicktype is the most distinct keyboard in both looks and usage. While you do get the standard QWERTY layout, there is no spacebar or enter key. I would recommend trying this keyboard at least once before passing it up.

Swipe gestures are used to type efficiently instead of the spacebar and enter keys. As you type, your letters don’t appear and the keyboard shows password field dots instead. This feature helps you focus your attention on the text rather than the keyboard. The dots form a sentence as you swipe right, even if you press a wrong key, it is auto-corrected by the keyboard.

Another unique feature of Flicktype is the eyes-free typing, which speak back to you when you type. So, if you know someone with a Visual impairment, well, you should recommend this, to them.

best keyboard apps for ipad- Flicktype

Features

  • Quick swipe gestures
  • Quick emoji
  • Support for Apple Watch
  • Speak back when you type

Best for – blind or vision impaired

Install Flicktype

6. SwiftKey

Swiftkey is one of the most popular keyboard apps for both Android and iOS. And what makes it popular is support for over 150 native languages.

Swiftkey comes with almost every features a keyboard app can have. You get sleek themes, clipboard manager, and most importantly Intelligent Keyboard. It tracks your typing and offers valuable insight into how the keyboard improved your typing. You can see saved keystrokes, typos corrected, words typed, words predicted, distance flowed, etc. If you sync the app with your social media accounts, it would recognize your typing patterns and sometimes would finish your sentences for you.

best keyboard apps for ipad- Swiftkey

Features

  • Native and local language
  • GIFs and Emojis
  • Usage stats
  • Clipboard
  • Swipe typing.

Best for – People who type in their native and enjoy oy bunch of options in their keyboard app.

Install SwiftKey

7. Gboard

You can’t ignore Gboard when you talk of mobile Keyboards, Gboard (earlier known as Google keyboard) is one of the smartest keyboard apps out there.

The biggest selling point of Gboard is the Google search integration right on the keyboard. You can not only search from the keyboard itself but also send links directly.

Apart from the standard layouts, Gboard also supports lesser-known niche layouts like DVORAK, and COLEMAK. You can select up to three languages at a time which makes switching easier. Gboard also offers glide typing (swiping your finger across letters) and offensive word blocker, something that’s is missing the iOS stock keyboard app.

Gboard has a collection of stickers and you can create custom stickers within the app and add it to your keyboard. All the themes just like the rest of the app is absolutely free and you can replace your stock keyboard with it. Plus, it has voice input so that’s great.

best keyboard apps for ipad- google keyboard

Features

  • Cursor control
  • Search integration
  • Glide typing
  • Multiple layout support
  • Choice input
  • Custom Stickers

Best for – People Switching from Android to iOS

Install Gboard

8. Reboard

The last app in this list and certainly the most versatile one. Reboard allows you to create custom themes. You can choose different fonts for your keyboard app which include mostly symbols that resemble letters. You can create your own list of text shortcuts with its inbuilt text expanding feature.

The most important feature of this app is the app integration with other applications and services. There are around 27 different apps and services and you can enable or disable them as per your convenience. Some of the services include YouTube search, web search, clipboard, contacts, translator, Wunderlist, calculator, Google Drive, Slack, etc. You can use all of these apps right from the keyboard which makes it so much more convenient.

best keyboard apps for ipad- reboard

Features

  • Inbuilt app integration
  • Theme builder
  • Text shortcuts

Best for – Power users who want more from their keyboards.

Install Reboard

Which are the best iPad keyboard Apps?

These were my picks for the best keyboard apps for iPad, Grammarly works great if you want perfect English in your emails and reports or in general conversation. Flicktype offers a completely different way of using the keyboard and is meant for quick informal messages. Gboard, and Swiftkey offer a consistent and reliable interface with some intuitive features like cursor control and user stats respectively. Also, check out Giphy, if you like to send your custom GIFs, without having to even leave the app. Tell us which keyboard do you use on your iPad.

Also Read: Best PDF Reader for iPad and iPhone

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