Google is preparing a Material Design 3 refresh known as “Expressive” and as we edge closer to release, we are starting to see early versions of the design leak in a bunch of apps. We’ve seen it used in the Android settings app, and more recently in Google account settings. Now, Google is preparing such a refresh for its keyboard app too.

Thanks to a source inside Google, Android Authority was able to explore a mature version of the in-development Gboard feature, and we’ve seen evidence of a design change that some users might not like.

In December 2024, Google rolled out a redesign for Emoji Kitchen as part of the last Pixel Drop of the year. The redesign was previously available for Gboard in beta, but it has now rolled out widely for Pixel phone owners.

If you open Gboard and tap on the smiley face emoji next to the space bar, you may notice something subtly different with the emoji picker. There’s now an arrow that appears to your Emoji Kitchen suggestions. Previously, there was a gear icon that appeared in this location.

Google offers an excellent keyboard app in the form of Gboard, available to all Android devices. It’s an app that does the job, so most users don’t think much about it, even though they may use it daily. Thankfully, Google does think about Gboard and what improvements it could make to the keyboard app. We’ve spotted references to several new features in the latest Gboard beta, like optional rounded keys, flicking keys to enter symbols, and more.

As a proud Gen-Zer, I enjoy memes quite a lot, so when I found out that Google is working on an AI-powered meme generator for Gboard, I was excited to try it. The feature promises to take a prompt, pick a base image, and write a fitting caption for it. Even though current AI is still just glorified autocorrect, it seems good enough that it should be able to generate memes just fine. Unfortunately, in reality, the end product is downright terrible.

Thanks to a source inside Google, Android Authority was able to explore an in-development version of the feature.

AI is a big focus for Google right now. Perhaps you’ve noticed. It’s impossible to go on Google Search these days without seeing an “AI Overview” at the top of your search results. Google is repeatedly touting Gemini as the next great AI assistant, and Google’s recent Pixel 9a announcement also came with the news that Google’s Pixel Studio app can now generate AI images of people.

Google wants to sprinkle in AI anywhere it can, and to some extent, I’m OK with this. I want to see Gemini continue to improve and become the Google Assistant replacement Google wants it to be. I’d love to learn more about Google’s ambitious Project Astra, and I’m curious to see how AI will further impact Android and Wear OS.

Apple made the baffling decision a few years ago to hide the comma and period keys on its iPhone keyboard. Now, it looks like Google could offer this same “feature” in Gboard for Android, and I’m not sure why.

Gboard is the most popular keyboard app on Android right now, offering handy features like clipboard functionality, built-in translation capabilities, and more. Google introduced undo and redo buttons to the beta version of the app a while back, and it looks like this feature is finally ready for prime time.

9to5Google reports that Gboard’s undo and redo buttons are now available in the most recent stable versions of the app (version 15). We can confirm that the feature is indeed available in the stable version of Gboard. Check out the screenshots below.

As with most Google products, I’m constantly switching between Gboard and its many alternatives. I spent a good period with the open-source keyboard HeliBoard, which reveled in its simplicity and privacy-forward concept. However, as I’ve recently jumped aboard the Pixel and new Galaxy train, I decided I should probably commit to Google’s keyboard for the foreseeable future.

For the most part, it’s been brilliant using Gboard on modern Google and Samsung handsets, but it still wasn’t as comfy a cushion as I wanted. So, to maximize my Gboard typing game, I’ve reevaluated the app’s practical features, settings, and shortcuts and tweaked these to better suit my typing style and boost my productivity.

Google is testing a design change for the Gboard app that is not going over well with users. Over the last few hours, several disgruntled users have shared screenshots of the updated layout, which features much more rounded keys than before.

As per the images shared on Reddit and X, the design change doesn’t seem to be consistent across devices. In some cases, Gboard’s rectangular keys have been replaced with new pill-shaped keys, while for some users, the keys appear completely circular.

Google Pixel phones have loads of AI features, and recent devices offer a proofreading feature in Gboard. Unfortunately, the feature is restricted to English right now, but there’s good news if you were hoping for more languages.

Google has started testing a new Assistant Voice Typing experience for the Gboard app with its latest beta release. The new voice typing UI appears as a toolbar above the keyboard that makes it easier for users to start and stop voice typing, minimize the keyboard, and view supported voice commands.

The new Assistant Voice Typing UI appears to be rolling out to some beta testers with version 15.0.03.717871796 of the Gboard app. It’s available on several of our devices and, as you can see in the attached screenshots, Gboard shows a two-page tutorial highlighting how it works.

Google is working on an improved Assistant Voice Typing experience for Gboard, which could soon allow users to rewrite texts using voice commands.

Mistakes happen. You could say that they’re just a consequence of being human, but as we’ve all seen very clearly over the past year, AI makes plenty of mistakes, too. That’s one of the reasons we love apps that offer ample opportunity for us to make corrections, like the open-source HeliBoard keyboard and its handy undo button. But if you’d rather not go the third-party route with your Android keyboard, you’re in luck, as Google’s own Gboard is picking up a very similar undo tool.

Google’s been thinking about bringing an undo button to Gboard for a while now. Development progress on the button was first spotted a solid 18 months ago, but so far there hasn’t been any way for you try it out for yourself. And while there still isn’t in the main Gboard release, testers signed up for Google’s beta program have started to notice the undo button’s arrival in the new 14.9.06.x build, according to 9to5Google.

Google’s once again opening Android up to a new class of devices, and following efforts like Android TV and Wear OS, last week we saw the company formally announce Android XR. As we look forward to seeing what the first XR headsets taking advantage of that software will do, we’ve been tracking some early efforts of Android apps to support the new platform. Now the latest we’re putting under the microscope is Gboard, as we think about how a keyboard in XR should even work.

Google rolled out the final Pixel Drop of the year late last week, which included plenty of new feature improvements for existing apps. One of those tweaks included nebulous Emoji Kitchen changes for Gboard. Now, users can finally get a taste of what these tweaks entail.

Google wants to ensure that Emoji Kitchen options are easily accessible, so users can now view a list of suggestions above the Recently Used section and tap on the new arrow to access an additional Browse screen with a more extensive list of combos. You can tap on any emoji combination to reveal which two original emojis were used to create it.

I’ve long believed that Gboard is the Android keyboard king. After all, it’s made by Android’s creator, offers a laundry list of helpful features, and is entrenched deep within Google’s ecosystem. However, my recent experience with another keyboard makes me question this belief.

I often seek out new, exciting alternatives to established apps, even those I thought I would never ditch. With Gboard next on the chopping block, I stumbled across an app called HeliBoard — a simple Android keyboard that focuses on privacy and simplicity. Despite my initial quibbles, I’ve not yet felt the need to switch back to Gboard. In fact, I may never look back.

If you’re that person in the WhatsApp groups with a sticker for every occasion, you’ll want to start playing with Gboard emoji combos. Emoji Kitchen lets you easily combine two standard emojis to create a sticker that’s a mix of the two or perhaps something even weirder. There are an extraordinary number of combinations to try — at least 100,000 and counting — so you can’t get bored of fusing the emojis for interesting results. We’ve been having a play around with it ourselves, so we’ll run you through how to use it and the best Gboard emoji combos we’ve found so far.

How to use the Gboard Emoji Kitchen

You might be ready to use Emoji Kitchen already, but we’ll help you get started if you’re not. Your Android device needs to have Gboard installed and set as your default keyboard, and the Emoji Kitchen settings need to be enabled. Here’s what you do.

Open any social media site today, and you’ll find a slew of tweets, shorts, messages, videos, photos, and more — almost all written with lower capital letters and barely any punctuation. For me, that phenomenon started as a fun observation many years ago, became very irritating as I noticed it more and more, and eventually settled into an unavoidable reality.

People these days don’t use punctuation like they should, despite how much this can irk sticklers for grammar like me. This is especially true for the younger generations, who grew up in the mobile-first age with a smartphone in their hands before they ever saw a full physical QWERTY keyboard.

Your new Pixel 9 is a powerful, capable smartphone — that just also happens to also be great at generating images of animals wearing clothing. Pixel Studio is a fun, AI-powered tool that lets you tap into your creative side, without requiring a lot of annoying “skills” or “experience” before you’re able to create some very impressive imagery. Today we’re checking one new way that Google could soon start let you use all the pictures you make with it.

The next time you start typing on your Android phone, you might notice something a little different with Gboard. The Dynamic Color theme for Gboard has received an update.

First spotted by 9to5Google, the accented non-letter keys for Gboard on the Dynamic Color theme have changed. The change applies to both the light and dark versions of the theme.

Google Japan is known for its quirky keyboard inventions, such as a keyboard cup and a “stick” keyboard. Now, the division has revealed arguably its craziest keyboard yet.

Google’s keyboard app for Android, Gboard, is available on not only smartphones but also tablets, foldables, smartwatches, TVs, and even cars. Google had to do a lot of work to optimize Gboard for each form factor, but there’s always more that can be done to make the keyboard app look and perform even better. The company is now rolling out an update that further optimizes the Gboard for large-screen Android devices.

Earlier today, I spotted a new UI for picking emojis, stickers, GIFs, and emoticons in the Gboard app while using my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, a book-style foldable, in its unfolded state. I turned on my OnePlus Open and checked if the new picker UI was also there when it was unfolded, but it wasn’t. However, after updating from Gboard version 14.5.05-beta to version 14.6.02-beta on my OnePlus Open, the new picker UI showed up.

For comparison, here’s the old Gboard UI for picking emojis, stickers, and GIFs on foldables:

This old picker UI is notably what you currently get on smartphones. In contrast, here’s the new Gboard UI for picking emojis, stickers, and GIFs that’s rolling out on foldables:

As you can see, the old picker UI places the search bar and categories at the top below the text field, whereas the new picker UI places them underneath the tab header on the left. The search bar is slightly larger and now says what you’re searching for, while the categories are now labeled instead of just being denoted by icons. Furthermore, the categories are now in a vertically scrolling carousel instead of a horizontally scrolling one.

On foldables, the toolbar where you switch between the emoji, sticker, GIF, and emoticon pickers is still placed at the very bottom above the navigation area. On tablets, though, this toolbar is moved to the very left side. The emoji kitchen section is also located in slightly different positions on foldables and tablets. On foldables, it’s located above the vertically scrolling carousel of emojis, just like on the old design. On tablets, however, it’s been moved to the left of the emoji carousel.

Overall, Gboard’s new UI for picking emojis, stickers, GIFs, and emoticons is better optimized for large-screen devices like Android tablets and book-style foldable phones. The new picker UI on foldables lets you use your left hand to switch between categories or tap the search bar and your right hand to pick a specific emoji, sticker, GIF, or emoticon. The new picker UI on tablets is similar but adds further optimizations to take advantage of the extra width of many tablet displays.

According to Gboard modder Radosław Błędowski, Google introduced a flag to enable this tablet-optimized picker UI two years ago. However, we haven’t seen any reports of this UI rolling out before, and in our testing, it appears to be new, at least on book-style foldables. If you see this new picker UI in the Gboard app on your tablet or foldable, let us know in the comments!

Google is testing a new keyboard switcher button that could arrive with Android 15 QPR1. This button will let users change the current keyboard with a single tap or open the keyboard switcher menu with a long press. In preparation for this change, Google seems to be disabling the long press gesture to switch between keyboards in the Gboard app.

Currently, the Gboard app lets you switch between keyboards with a long press of the spacebar if you use two or more languages or keyboard layouts. New code spotted in the latest Gboard beta (version 14.6.02.665297282) suggests that Google plans to deprecate this gesture in a future update, likely to give users a more consistent experience when the revamped keyboard switcher button arrives with Android 15 QPR1.

Google also seems to be working on offering users more control over Gboard’s auto-correct feature. We’ve spotted code related to two new options that will let users choose whether they want auto-correct to fix words only or correct words and sentences. The latter is a new addition and could be similar to the Proofread feature Google added to the app last year.

<string name="0_resource_name_obfuscated_7f140061">Auto-correct words only</string>
<string name="0_resource_name_obfuscated_7f140063">Auto-correct words and sentences</string>

However, the Proofread feature requires users to tap a “Fix it” button in the toolbar to correct typos, grammar, and punctuation. This new setting might implement changes automatically, but we’ll have to wait until the rollout to know for sure.

Additionally, the latest Gboard beta introduces an edit button to the toolbar customization menu. As you can see in the attached video, the menu has a new button with a pencil icon in the bottom right corner and you have to select it to rearrange icons. It should prevent users from accidentally rearranging icons in the toolbar or customization menu.

Although none of these changes are live in the current Gboard beta release, Google could roll out the new edit button soon. You will likely have to wait a while for the new auto-correct option, though.

Google might soon introduce a new customization feature in its first-party keyboard app that will let users switch to a different font. This feature is currently in development, but we’ve managed to get an early look at it in the latest Gboard beta.

Gboard version 14.4.06.646482735 beta includes evidence pointing toward an upcoming Font setting in the keyboard Preferences menu. As you can see in the following screenshots, this setting will let you switch from Google’s default font for Gboard to the System default font for a more consistent look.

It appears the feature won’t let you pick any custom font for the Gboard app, and you will have to rely on switching to a different system font to change the keyboard’s look. Since only a few OEMs, like Samsung and OnePlus, offer support for multiple fonts in their Android skins, this feature won’t amount to much on devices that don’t offer custom font support.

As mentioned earlier, the ability to switch Gboard’s font is currently in development and it’s not available in the current beta release. Google will likely roll it out with a future update, but we don’t have a definite release timeline at the moment.

Google Lens is one of the more useful apps on a smartphone, using your mobile camera for text recognition, object searches, and more. Now, one of the best Lens features is coming to Gboard.

9to5Google reports that Google is now bringing a so-called Scan Text feature to Gboard. We can indeed confirm seeing this feature in the beta version of Gboard.

This is pretty much just a stripped-down version of Google Lens’s optical character recognition (OCR) functionality. Nevertheless, you can find it by tapping the tools menu in Gboard (the first icon on the left, above the keyboard), and either selecting it or dragging it into the Gboard toolbar as a shortcut.

Once you’ve activated the feature, Gboard will ask for your camera permission (see the second image in the gallery above). The camera viewfinder will then occupy the bottom half of your screen. From here, you can simply take a photo of text, highlight the desired text you wish to grab, and tap “insert” to add it to your current text field.

It’s worth noting that this Scan Text feature doesn’t offer other text-related Google Lens features like web searches or translation functionality. But this is still a great way to copy/paste real-world text as the need arises — no need to add it to your clipboard first.

Gboard has finally heard its users and is fixing how landscape typing works on the keyboard. The latest beta version of the Gboard app for Android (version 13.6.06.574113912) now comes with a new landscape mode that removes the keyboard’s massive layout and replaces it with a new floating window.

Typing in landscape using Gboard is extremely annoying right now. It stretches across the phone and is especially painful to use for things like in-game chats. With phones getting bigger and using more modern aspect ratios, Gboard has long required a better typing solution for landscape orientation. It looks like Google is finally ready to roll it out widely.

The Google Pixel 8 phones come with a host of software features, but it’s unclear how many of these additions will be coming to older devices. Now, it looks like at least one Pixel 8 feature is coming to the Pixel 7 range.

Phandroid spotted an updated Gboard support page for Google Assistant voice typing. The page notes that the Pixel 8’s ability to automatically switch languages in Google Assistant voice typing is “coming soon” to the Pixel 7.

There’s no mention of specific Pixel 7 models, so we hope this means the Pixel 7a will get this feature too. There’s also no mention of the Pixel 6 series getting this functionality.

This is nevertheless a handy feature for multilingual people, as you previously had to manually switch to a different language keyboard if you wanted to voice type in two or more tongues. Nevertheless, Google notes that the manual option is still available, just in case automatic language detection isn’t working properly or if you prefer that approach.

There’s no word on when this option will be rolling out the Pixel 7 range, but we hope to see more Pixel 8 features coming to older Pixels in the near future. Now, how about pro camera controls for the older flagship phones?

Google Japan’s latest DIY innovation is a hat shaped like a giant keycap. It’s obviously something you will never be able to buy, but it looks like you can make one yourself if you’re so inclined.

So how does this head-turning device work? Well, Google Japan’s Gboard team has a video that explains it all. Essentially, you wear the Gboard hat and rotate it from side to side. After adjusting the characters to be input according to the angle of the head, you press the device to confirm.

Google says (machine translated), “The shape that covers the head makes it a wearable device ideal for places with strong sunlight or in combination with free hairstyles.” No, this is not a very late April Fool’s Day joke.

The company has released DIY blueprints on GitHub to help anyone create an authentic version of the Gboard hat using a 3D printer. There’s also a production guide for those who want to keep things simple and make the hat using just cardboard and scissors.

Specifications of the Gboard hat include a 6-axis inertial sensor, one push switch, USB-C for charging, Bluetooth for connecting to other devices, and one key with 20mm travel.

In the future, Google Japan is considering various different designs for the hat for different occasions.

Google has been working on a variety of generative AI tools for months now. One of the latest of those tools is now rolling out for beta users of Gboard and will help you fix your grammar mistakes.

As discovered by 9to5Google, a “Proofread” option has appeared in Gboard version 13.4, which is currently in beta. This option reportedly appeared on the outlet’s Pixel Fold where it sits in Gboard’s toolbar as a “Fix it” prompt.

When the feature is activated, the user appears to be greeted by a pop-up that explains how Proofread works. As its name suggests, Proofread processes whatever you type, identifies errors in spelling and grammar, and provides suggestions for fixes. You can also use the “Fix it” button to fix the errors for you automatically.

If you use Grammarly for writing, all of this probably sounds pretty familiar. This tool is essentially Google’s version of Grammarly designed for Gboard. It’s important to note that the pop-up mentioned earlier warns that your text is being sent to Google, which is what allows for the processing to happen.

On the surface, it sounds like a more advanced version of the autocorrect Gboard currently offers. It’s unknown when Google will roll this feature out to the general public.

This actually isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Proofread feature. Back in August, mentions of a Proofread feature appeared in the Gboard v13.3 beta. There was also a mention of generative AI stickers and a “Handwriting” mode for writing with a stylus.

Gboard is an excellent Android keyboard and my primary choice across all my phones. It’s one of the best free Android apps you can install on any phone, with many helpful features like multilanguage support, Emoji Kitchen, and more. Gboard is about to become even better, as Google is working on adding many generative AI features such as proofreading, emojis, and more to the app.

Gboard v13.3 beta includes new functionalities, as spotted by 9to5Google and the GappsMod Flags Telegram channel. These include generative AI features such as proofreading support, emoji generation, and more changes. There are also several new gestures for stylus input. These features are added to the beta for testing and are hidden behind experimental flags, but they could be released in the stable channel in the future.

Proofread with Gboard

Proofread with Gboard is an upcoming feature that leverages generative AI to help you spot errors in your writing.

While Gboard has spelling checks and autocorrect that we are all familiar with, Proofread with Gboard goes one step ahead as it claims to use generative AI. From demos, we can see how it presents a string of corrections across your entire typed message, correcting spelling, grammar, and punctuation along the way. The proofread feature within this beta is available in US English only.

As the dialog box mentions, your interactions with the feature will be sent to Google and stored on their servers for 60 days.

Emogen: Generative AI stickers

Similarly, Google appears to be using generative AI to let you create emoji-style stickers.

Essentially, users can describe the sticker they want, and AI will est to generate something from that prompt. The feature within this beta is available in US English.

Gboard’s existing Emoji Kitchen feature merges two existing emojis. Emogen may take it many steps further, creating emoji stickers from descriptive text prompts. So if you ever found yourself not amused by the humorous combinations on Emoji Kitchen, you can create something out of thin air with Emogen.

Generative AI ‘tone’

Yet another way that Google could leverage AI on Gboard would be to use it like Gmail’s “Help me write” feature. You can write out your initial text and have Gboard suggest changes to suit certain tones, like making the text more formal or informal.

Stylus handwriting and gestures

Gboard is also working on making the virtual keyboard friendlier for large-screen devices that use a stylus. There is a new “stylus handwriting” and several new stylus gestures.

Gboard already has a “Handwriting” mode that converts your handwriting into text. But the “Write in text fields” option lets you do this and more in the new beta. It enables you to write directly in any text field, making using a stylus across the UX easier.

Other new gestures in the beta include:

• Scratch out a text to delete: Use your stylus to scratch out a letter, word, or phrase to delete.
•  Insert: Use your stylus to draw a caret or arrow where you’d like to add new text.
• Join: Draw vertical lines to join separate words.
• New line: Draw down, then left with your stylus to move text to a new line.
• Circle text to select: Draw a circle around a letter, word, or phrase to select it. Then tap the selection to see more options.

You can see a demo of the features here:

These new features are exciting! Some would mainstream AI by reducing the steps needed to use generative AI to help with everyday conversations. Hopefully, these features make their way to the stable release of Gboard soon.

Gboard has been around for ages now, offering features like swipe typing, emoji/GIF search, one-handed mode, and theme support. One feature that’s been missing for a long time is a split layout though, being handy for tablets and foldables (or for those using their phones in landscape mode). This layout means you can comfortably reach all the letters when typing with two hands.

It’s a strange omission but Android Police has now spotted a reference to a split layout in the Gboard beta (version 11.5.05.427194903) on the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Check out their screenshot below.

The reference mentions the ability to duplicate some keys when using the split keyboard layout in Gboard. The split layout itself isn’t available yet, however, but the mention essentially confirms that Google is indeed working to bring it to Gboard.

This would be a long-overdue and welcome move, as Galaxy Z Fold 3 owners are stuck with the default Samsung Keyboard (or third-party keyboards) if they want a split keyboard layout. In fact, this was one of the complaints we had in our Galaxy Z Fold 3 second-opinion review. This addition would also be great for tablets, giving users a more comfortable way to type with two hands without downloading third-party keyboards.

It wouldn’t be the only way Google caters to large-screen Android devices, as the company has also pushed out Android 12L recently. This Android update brings UI enhancements for big screens, a native taskbar, more intuitive split-screen multitasking, and several other tweaks.

Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

There’s a lot of love for the blob emoji designs in the Android community. The cute, bubbly, yellow faces invaded our screens many years ago, stole our hearts, then disappeared somewhere around 2017. Still, five years later, I find myself wanting a genderless, skin-tone-less, thumb-shaped blob more than any modern realistic emoji. I have too much reality in my life, thankyouverymuch, I don’t need the smiley I send to my friend to be an exact replica of my face, eyes, mouth, nose, teeth, and hair.

But I digress. We’re not here to discuss the verisimilitude of modern Android emoji. Instead, we’re going to talk about how we can bring the blobs back, for one more glorious run.

First, you need Gboard

There may be various hacky ways to recapture the blob magic, but the easiest and most straightforward one is through Gboard. Google’s official keyboard offers two manners of accessing blobs, so you’ll want to be running it as your default keyboard.

If you’re using a Pixel, then Gboard is already installed on your phone and it’s the default keyboard (unless you changed it). You don’t need to do anything.

Users of other brands of Android devices should download Gboard (Play Store) and launch it. When you do, you’ll get a pop-up asking if you want to make it the default keyboard. For the purpose of this article, you should. But also know that Gboard is, in my opinion, one of the best keyboards on Android and iOS. It’s fast, it’s full of useful features, and it has blobs. What more can you ask for?

Read more: New emoji are coming, but I just want the blobs back

Emoji blob sticker packs

With Gboard installed, tap on the emoji button and look for the stickers tab — it’s the middle one at the bottom. Next, choose the + button on the top left of the keyboard and scroll down until you see these two sticker packs: ‘The Blobs Live On” and “Long Live the Blob.” You’ll immediately recognize the familiar yellow heads.

Choose Add. These two packs are now in the top row of Gboard. You can open each pack and pick something to send in your chats. The best part is that these blobs are animated, so they’ll be shared as a GIF in supported apps. The bad part is that there are only 24 stickers per pack, so your choices are quite limited.

If you’d rather skip all this adding of packs business, you can also use the search function inside the main sticker tab (upper left of the keyboard) to look for what you want. Typing “angry blob” will show you all the stickers that fit that description, for example.

Related: How to make your own stickers in WhatsApp

Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

It’s been 21 months since the launch of Emoji Kitchen, Gboard’s mash-up feature that lets you combine two different or similar emoji to make a goofy and unique sticker. During those months, cats ran around freely like they owned the place because they were supported by the “kitchen,” but dogs weren’t. The tragedy. The travesty.

With every update and new batch of supported emoji, dog lovers like me have dug into the keyboard trying to see if their beloved pupsters were given justice, to no avail. Today, all is right with the world again as doggos are finally combinable with other emoji.

The update is rolling out to users of the beta version of Gboard, and it isn’t just limited to dogs . Other additions to the combo feature include the gift box , trophy , penguin , raccoon , poodle , tree log , banana , and orange .

To try it out, you need to be running the latest Gboard beta and go to Gboard’s Settings > Emojis, Stickers & GIFs and enable Emoji Stickers. Then, open any app that supports stickers — WhatsApp, Google Messages, Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, Signal, Facebook Messenger, etc. — and type the dog emoji followed by another. Not all of them are supported, but most of the smileys are, as well as plenty of animals and nature-centric ones. Other categories are less represented.

Related: How to create a custom emoji on Android

Gboard Emoji Kitchen doggo examples

The wait for the cute little dog emoji, while long and brutal, has been worth it. It can be mixed with hundreds of others for the most awesome, adorable, terrifying (don’t try the spider), ridiculous, and disturbing results. For example, you can make a cowboy doggo, put a puppy in a gift box, ask him to fetch you the newspaper, or appoint him as branch manager. Don’t give him a lemon, though.

I’ll leave you with some of our favorite combos.

Google’s Wear OS platform has become a punchline to quite a few jokes over the years. Unfortunately, the company’s seeming lack of interest in the operating system hasn’t helped matters.

However, maybe 2021 is going to be the year Google gets its act together when it comes to its smartwatch software. Case in point: today, Google is launching a Wear OS version of Gboard, it popular keyboard app that appears on smartphones.

Unbelievably, this is the first new app launch for Wear OS from Google in years.

Message the way you want to with the new Gboard on #WearOSbyGoogle.
Multiple ways to message like voice, QWERTY keyboard or gestures
Enhanced suggestions and corrections
Multi-language support

See what’s new: https://t.co/RjjtZO23Tv pic.twitter.com/dggR6HxsFc

— Wear OS by Google (@WearOSbyGoogle) May 6, 2021

Prior to this Wear OS Gboard rollout, smartwatch users needed to rely on “Google Keyboard,” a generic system with limited functionality. As the tweet above describes, the Gboard app brings a few new features, such as quick access to different input types (including voice), better suggestions, better autocorrect, and multi-language support.

Google says this rollout is happening “in the coming days,” so stay tuned if you own a Wear OS-powered watch.

Google hints that there will be more Wear OS news rolling out over the year. We fully expect to see at least some wearable news from the 2021 iteration of Google I/O, which is only two weeks away.

Update, April 10, 2020 (04:15 PM ET): It appears either the update described below was a mistake or Google has quickly realized that people hate it because it’s already starting to revert back to the way it used to be.

Users are now reporting that the Google-branded spacebar is no longer there and the Google search function has returned. Here’s hoping it doesn’t revert back.

Original article, April 10, 2020 (08:44 AM ET): Gboard quickly established itself as the leading keyboard app on Android, delivering a fast experience with some sensible Google integration as well. However, a new tweak to the app has riled up plenty of users.

The spacebar in Gboard now has ‘Google’ branding in it, and users on reddit and Google’s Android Help forum have almost universally criticized the company for the move.

Google also seems to have removed the integrated search shortcut, now showing an arrow key to control visibility of toolbar elements instead. And no, you can’t hold on the spacebar to activate search — it does let you switch to another keyboard if you’ve got it enabled though.

We’ve spotted the changes over here at Android Authority too, and we’re guessing it’s a server-side update as some of us haven’t enabled automatic app updates. So rolling back to an earlier of Gboard likely won’t help you.

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Some users with multiple languages enabled in Gboard haven’t reported seeing the change, so you could try adding an additional language if the Google branding really annoys you.

It’s not exactly unheard of for keyboard apps to display branding in the spacebar though, as Swiftkey also follows this practice. Then again, Swiftkey isn’t under as much scrutiny as the search giant.

Do you think Google went too far with its Gboard spacebar branding? Or is this decision way overblown?

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Welcome to the 305th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:

• YouTube Music has a new in feature in testing and it’s actually an old feature from Google Play Music. It’s basically the ability to upload music and keep there as part of your music collection. The feature should allow Google Play Music subscribers to migrate their music to YouTube Music as well. This is another nail in Google Play Music’s coffin. Hit the link to learn more.
• The police used a location tracking app to find an arsonist this last week. It’s a fairly entertaining story. The arsonist and his son used the Life360 app to track each other’s whereabouts and the police used that data to prove the arsonist was at the fire when it started. On the one hand, it’s a unique story. However, it’s also a little concerned that a location tracking app just gives up its data like that. In any case, hit the link to read the whole story.
• Live Caption is headed everywhere, apparently. The Samsung Galaxy S20 is set to get it and, as it turns out, so is Google Chrome’s desktop browser. At least, it seems to be based on some commits to Chrome’s open source code. The commit included the Speech-On-Demand API (SODA) and that’s basically the framework for Live Caption. However, the desktop version may end being more powerful. Hit the link to learn more.
• Gboard had an interesting update this week. It lets users mash two emoji together to make a fun, third emoji. The Emoji Kitchen feature takes the face on one emoji and superimposes it onto a different emote. For instance, you can take a smiley face and attach it to the standard heart emote for a smiley heart. The feature is out for Android users now and we’re not sure when or if iOS users get the feature.
• The US government purchased the rights to a bunch of location data from a commercial app this week. They made no effort in hiding it either. Apparently, the government uses this information to see smartphone signals near the border to investigate potential illegal immigration. However, the app does track a bunch of people, not just illegal immigrants. Hit the link to learn more.
• Google Play Protect kicked 800,000 malicious apps out of the Play Store last year before any of them received installations. Hit the link to learn how.

Lucid Adventure

Price: Free to play

Lucid Adventures is a new mobile gacha RPG. You start out as a hero with all of his abilities stripped away and you help him recover all of his lost power. The game features side-scrolling battles, a story mode, online PvP, and the usual array of gacha RPG mechanics. We also quite like the ability to create a second team specifically to buff the first team. However, the game does suffer from quite a few translation, grammar, and punctuation errors and the graphics could definitely be better. The pull rates are decent, though, and as long as the game continues to improve after launch, it should be a fun one to play for a while.

Malwarebytes Call Protection

Price: Free

Malwarebytes Call Protection is a new app in beta from Malwarebytes. The name says it all, really. The app tries to identify and prevent spam calls and text messages. It uses crowd sourcing efforts to find the phony callers and block the calls before you ever see them. The text side of the app blocks texts from both spam numbers and also texts with suspected spam links. It’s in early access beta right now and, in the interest in transparency, I actually didn’t get a single spam call while using the app so I didn’t get to see it in action. The app is free so it doesn’t cost anything to try.

Symphogear XD Unlimited

Price: Free to play

Symphogear XD Unlimited is a mobile gacha based on the anime of the same name. It’s another mobile gacha RPG with the usual mobile gacha RPG mechanics. You obtain various characters from the show and do battle against opponents. The game officially launched on February 14th so we didn’t get to test this one out very much before the actual launch. However, there are tons of videos on YouTube of the Japanese version so we have a good idea what to expect. It should be another relatively fun gacha game for fans of the genre and especially for fans of the anime.

Steno Notes

Price: Free / $2.99

Steno Notes is a new lightweight note-taking app. It offers a clutter-free UI so there isn’t much between you and your notes. The UI features some basic, but functional and colorful organizational features. Additionally, you can create, edit, or delete notes rather quickly. You also get a light and dark theme, the ability to organize notes with hashtags, and there is a folder system for more granular organization. The premium version is $2.99 if you want to support the developer.

Shadowgun War Games

Price: Free to play

The big release this week is Shadowgun War Games. The game was in beta for months and in closed beta for weeks before launch. It’s an online shooter featuring characters with various special abilities. It plays quite a bit like Overwatch where the entire experience is online PvP and each character has a thing they’re good at. However, the game is quite new and a lot of the future features aren’t there yet (like more characters). Additionally, some players reported some networking issues while trying to get into matches. As long as Madfinger Games keeps improving the title like with the update launched yesterday, this should be a shoo-in for a top 15 game of 2020.

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YouTube

There are thousands of apps in the Google Play Store, many of which directly compete with Google’s offerings. A recent finding reveals Google might not be playing fairly with some of those competitors, with a specific problem popping up with the Fleksy app.

According to an in-depth report by TechCrunch, it looks like Google has unfairly judged the Fleksy app — a Gboard competitor developed by Spanish company ThingThing. In what ThingThing CEO Olivier Plante calls an “abuse of power,” Google has required Fleksy to hold an age rating of PEGI 12 compared to Gboard’s PEGI 3 rating for using an inappropriate middle finger emoji.

A PEGI 3 rating means the app may contain cartoon violence, but it is suitable for most ages. A PEGI 12 rating means the app contains mild bad language and slightly more graphic fantasy violence. The real issue here is that Gboard uses the same middle finger emoji that requires Fleksy to hold to the higher age rating.

This double standard was no accident, either. The Google Play Store’s age-rating system requires developers to fill out a questionnaire regarding their app’s content. The app then receives a suggested age rating based on the results.

For years, Fleksy has held the PEGI 3 age rating in the Google Play Store. But this month, Google reissued the questionnaire to ThingThing multiple times until it eventually blocked Fleksy’s latest update without explanation.

After ThingThing reached out to the Play Store for some clarity on the situation, Google cited the aforementioned emoji as being “not appropriate for all ages.” ThingThing eventually accepted the higher rating, but Google is still not happy. The Play Store team wants to push it even higher, citing the same issue.

Related: 9 best Android keyboards for all kinds of typists!

When Plante called out the double standard, Google did not respond. Until this all gets sorted out, Fleksy will continue to be labeled “T for Teen” on the Play Store while Gboard is rated “E for Everyone.”

There could be a million reasons for Google’s behavior, but all of which would be speculation at this point. TechCrunch reached out to Google for a response to the discrepancy, and at first glance, a spokesperson agreed it was fishy. Time will tell if Google corrects this anti-competitive behavior against Fleksy or if it doubles down on its Play Store age rating stance.

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Google’s Gboard virtual keyboard app has been pretty highly rated for its accuracy and feature set. A keyboard, however, is only as good as the language database built into it. Gboard’s latest update adds support for fifty new languages.

While most keyboards manage English just fine, Google is aiming to reach out to a much larger audience. As the maker of the world’s most popular operating system, it is in Google’s best interest to cater to the largest potential audience. Gboard currently has support for over 500 languages. The latest update adds support for fifty more (h/t Android Police). We’ve got the full list of additional languages below.

I have to admit I haven’t even heard of most of these languages. Are you going to be benefitted by the latest update to Gboard? Let us know in the comments section!

Gboard became a key fixture on Android in the short time after its release, delivering a solid typing experience and plenty of neat extra features. Now, Google has revealed that the keyboard app supports 500 languages.

This milestone means that over 90 percent of the world can use Gboard to type in their first language, according to the official Google blog. This is an important achievement, as the ten most common languages are spoken by half the world, the company says, but thousands of languages are used by the other half.

The most recent additions to Gboard include Nigerian Pidgin, Rangpuri, Balinese and Pontic Greek. You can check out the full list of supported languages at the Gboard support page here.

Google also revealed that Gboard supports over 40 writing systems, ranging from Roman and Cyrillic to writing systems only used for one language. So just how does the company go about implementing support for a new language?

Adding a new language to Gboard

The search giant creates a machine learning language model in order to train Gboard on the new language. But a text corpus — a database of texts in the desired language — is required to train this model. If a text corpus isn’t available, Google shares a series of writing prompts with native speakers in order to create one.

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From here, Google designs a keyboard layout for the new language. If there isn’t a lot of information available online for this new language, the company simply analyzes the text database in order to determine the most frequently used characters.

“Once we’ve built support for a language, we always invite a group of native speakers to test and fill out a survey to understand their typing experience,” the company concludes.

It’s been a solid 2018 for Gboard, as it also received AI-powered GIF/emoji suggestions, a slew of Asian languages, and unified media search. Google also launched Gboard Go for low-end devices, delivering the same core functionality but skimping on features like GIFs.

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Update (November 19, 2018, 10:30am ET): Shortly after publishing their findings, XDA-Developers was able to get Gboard to work on Chrome OS. Unfortunately, the feature is still premature and is filled with performance bugs.

If you want to try it out for yourself, you’re first going to need to install Chrome OS 72 which is currently available in the Dev and Canary channels. Next, open a Chrome window, head to chrome://flags, and then enable the #arc-input-method flag. After a quick reboot, head to the Play Store, download Gboard onto your computer, and then set it as your default keyboard. Just remember that Gboard is still buggy and it tends to freeze and stop working quite frequently.

Original article (November 17, 2018, 11:54am ET): The best way to fix Chrome OS’ bare-bones software keyboard is to just bring Gboard over. While Google is at it, why not also bring some of that delicious Android 9 Pie support? According to XDA-Developers, that is exactly what Google looks to do with Chromebooks eventually.

XDA-Developers noticed that their HP Chromebook x2 on the Chrome OS 72 Canary channel jumped from Android 7.1 Nougat to Pie, skipping over Android Oreo. The Google Pixelbook also received the Pie update on the Canary channel back in October, so it might be only a matter of time until other Chromebooks get the update.

XDA-Developers

Based on what we saw on the Pixelbook, the changes with Pie are mostly aesthetic. The Android Settings page has the same colorful Pie look, while the Google Assistant pop-up is more prominent than before. The update also includes more Material Design aesthetics, which means plenty of white.

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Android Pie also means Android keyboard support, something that Chrome OS really needs. XDA-Developers noticed a new “Keyboard apps” section in the Input Method settings, but the listed keyboard options could not be enabled. Those keyboard options include Gboard, which would be a significant upgrade over the stock keyboard in Chrome OS.

Even though Gboard could not be enabled, its appearance in the Chrome OS 72 Canary channel means that support for it and Android Pie should roll out to Chromebooks very soon. For now, this is all a work in progress that could further propel Chrome OS into something even more useful.

Gboard is already very familiar with GIFs, stickers, and emoji, since you can search for them from within the keyboard. However, today’s update automatically surfaces relevant GIFs, stickers, and emoji without the need to search for them.

According to Google’s blog post on The Keyword, Gboard uses AI to automatically suggest the aforementioned content. For example, when you type out a phrase like “Good morning,” the “G” logo on the top-left corner of the suggestions strip changes to a GIF button. Tapping the GIF button shows you relevant GIFs, stickers, and emoji.

If the automatic search feature sounds familiar, that is because we saw something similar being tested back in September. The feature was a server-side test at the time, but it looks like it is now ready for prime time.

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Google also said Gboard will suggest more types of content in the future and that the feature privately processes suggestions with on-device AI. Given the criticisms towards Google when it comes to privacy, it would have been unwise to process any suggestions on some faraway server.

Finally, Google said Gboard’s automatic search feature is now rolling out in English to Android users. The feature will not roll out to iOS users, though it will support additional languages in the near future.

Emoji seem to have taken over the world, with emoticons quickly becoming a dying tongue around the inter webs. And for good reason; these little icons offer a convenient and friendly way to express emotions. Even turds look cute when pictured as emoji! But what about Android emoji support?

You may recall that for a while emoji just showed up as lame squares, and in some cases that continues to be the case. This is because the first major phone maker to adopt these was Apple, in an attempt to attract more users from Japan (where emoji first became popular). It didn’t take long for this to explode and become the amazingly popular trend it now is, with most smartphone users adopting the cute hieroglyphs.

Want to learn more about how emoji came to be? We have gone through the whole story in a separate post, which you will find right above. What matters here is that Android now has support for emoji (and has for a while, of course), but your experience will vary depending on multiple factors. Our plan here is to take you through an extensive guide on the Android emoji experience. Shall we get started?

Not always supported!

While Android does officially support Android emoji, these cute icons don’t exactly work with every device. Emoji officially entered the Android world with version 4.1 Jelly Bean, but those were black and white versions of the colored symbols. It wasn’t until Android 4.4 KitKat that Google decided to integrate colored emoji to their operating system. Then came Android 7.0, which brought compatibility with Unicode 9 emoji.

This means your experience will vary depending on the device and software version you are touting. It’s worth noting the vast majority of people are somewhere above Android 4.1, though. According to Statista, only about 2% of Android owners were using anything under Android 4.1 as of September 2016. This means most of you can enjoy emoji at least to a certain extent.

You probably know whether your phone sports emoji support or not, and how these would look. Are you seeing a bunch of squares when iPhone users send you messages? Do you see simpler icons in black and white? You know the deal.

Apps with Android emoji support

Regardless of whether your phone supports emoji or not, the experience won’t be as streamlined as we wish. Some applications will get emoji support only with certain Android versions. The guys over at caniemoji.com have put together a table clearly showing where each of the most popular apps stand. Let’s take a look.

We will go through some of the most popular apps with native Android emoji capabilities.

Facebook Messenger

This tool, which has replaced every other form of communication for many of us, comes with integrated support for Android emoji. There is a button on the bottom corner of the screen, when you open a conversation, which shows four little faces. Just tap on it and you will be presented with a plethora of emoji to use on your conversations.

Furthermore, if you are worried about having emoji support for text messaging, you will be glad to know the app can also replace your stock SMS app.

WhatsApp

In WhatsApp you can simply open a conversation and tap the happy face icon located on the bottom-left corner of the screen. There’s all kinds of emoji there!

Hangouts

We know it’s hard to get people to use Hangouts, but also know the true Android fans out there stay true to Google’s messaging service and utilize it whenever they get a chance, so we just had to add this service here.

Getting to the Android emoji is easy. Open a conversation and look at the bottom-left corner of the screen. There will be a happy face there, which will unveil all supported emoji with simple tap.

Google Messenger

Most Android phones nowadays come with Messenger pre-installed, but that wasn’t always the case. Some phones still prefer going with alternative apps. The good news is anyone can get this application from the Google Play Store.

This SMS app is simple, yet feature-full. But let’s get to the point – one of its wonders is native emoji support. Simply open or start an SMS conversation and look towards the bottom-right section of the screen. Once again, the smiley face will be there. Tap it to see all available Android emoji.

Google Allo

Allo is Google’s own WhatsApp-like service. The application links to your phone number and Google account, offering all kinds of neat messaging features. Among them is full emoji support. These can be found on the bottom-right corner of a conversation screen.

Snapchat

Snapchat and its disposable nature also make for a good emoji conversation. You can even create your own Android emoji characters! They call these “Bitmoji”, but that is a whole other story. The point is you can totally make use of all those happy faces within the app.

They become available when creating a snap or sending a message. Within the message screen, simply open a conversation and the option will appear on the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Skype

Still using Skype? You can enjoy emoji too! Just open any thread and find it on the bottom-left area of the screen, next to the text input option.

Keyboards with emoji support

Sometimes you just don’t want to deal with app solutions. All these services have emoji options in varying areas and deal with them in different ways, making for an inconsistent experience. Using emoji straight from the keyboard may be a better alternative. There is a sea of keyboards with emoji support out there, but we will give you a few of the most popular ones to get you started.

Gboard

Want to stick with Google applications? This is the tech giant’s very own alternative and works like a charm, especially when trying to send cute turd emoji to your friends. The main feature here is the ability to search for these, as opposed to simply browsing through them. If you know what your emoji looks like, you can just type in a description and find the right icon (e.g. poop).

The process takes a couple steps. Find the comma button, located towards the bottom-left area of the keyboard. Press and hold, then select the smiley face. There will then be a search option right above the emoji, if you would rather conduct a search.

Swiftkey

Swiftkey continues to be a favorite among many an Android user, mostly for its magical prediction and customization prowess, but it is also great for sending Android emoji. Just press and hold the enter button (bottom-right area of the keyboard) to see all your options.

Swype

Swype is another very popular keyboard. And yes, it does also feature emoji support.  It is not the most convenient way to emoji, but support is there. Simply start typing something like “smile” and the respective emoji will appear in the prediction options.

This is the only paid app in this app. It costs $0.99, but they do offer a free trial. However, it was recently announced that the Swype keyboard will no longer be updated for Android, so you might want to bypass this in favor of the other keyboards in this article.

Wrapping up

You are now ready to join the Android emoji party! How hit the comments and tell us which emoji are your favorite. Also, how do you use Android emoji? From apps? From keyboards?

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Up until now, Gboard featured two types of stickers based on your Bitmoji-like Mini avatars: Sweet and Bold. Starting today, Gboard users will have a third pack of stickers that are stylized to match Android’s stock emojis.

The good news is that the Sweet and Bold Mini stickers packs will not go away. Much like those two packs, stickers in the new Emoji pack attach to messages as images. The Emoji pack even lets you select different types of head coverings, eyewear, and other accessories for your stickers.

Creating your Mini is simple enough. Open up the sticker section of Gboard, locate the Mini option, and take a selfie. Google uses machine learning and neural networks to create an avatar that roughly replicates your look. The processing even allows your Mini to include user-specific details like skin tone, hair color and style, eye color, face shape, and facial hair.

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Nothing is perfect, however. If you feel like Google’s machine learning got it wrong, you can customize the look of your Mini before you start sending off stickers to friends and family.

The new Mini Emoji sticker pack is rolling out to Gboard on Android and iOS. Google did not say how long it will take for the sticker pack to make it to everyone, so this appears to be a staged roll-out.

Google’s Gboard is one of the better smartphone keyboards at the moment, delivering a host of convenient features. Now, it looks like we can add smart replies to the list, according to XDA-Developers.

Smart replies are activated in Gboard by viewing a notification that has a quick-reply box, the publication reported. From here, you should see a prompt below the notification, asking if you want to enable smart replies. Once you’ve tapped the prompt, you have to give Gboard the required permissions to enable the functionality.

XDA-Developers

As for compatible apps, the publication reports that Gboard smart replies work with Android Messages, Facebook Messenger, Facebook Messenger Lite, Google Allo, Google Hangouts, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and WeChat.

It looks like Google is still adjusting the machine learning model for smart replies, as the latest update took place in May, according to XDA-Developers.

Nevertheless, it joins a handful of features that have recently been added to Gboard. These features include morse code, over 20 additional languages, unified media search, and the ability to create GIFs.

Smart replies a long time coming

Gboard’s new functionality comes a few months after Google quietly revealed the Smart Reply app. The latter was a standalone solution for smart reply features, so you could use any keyboard app in conjunction with Smart Reply. The keyboard solution also differs by offering smart replies in the word suggestion area (as if they were auto-corrected/auto-completed words), whereas Smart Reply offers suggested responses as dedicated buttons in the notification shade.

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The Gboard feature also comes over a year after Google first implemented Smart Reply functionality in the Inbox app, followed by the Gmail app. So clearly the Mountain View company has been working on it for quite some time.

Would this feature be enough for you to switch to Gboard if you aren’t already using it? Do you swear by a different keyboard app? Let us know in the comments below!

Google replaced the native Android keyboard with Gboard back in 2016. The new virtual keyboard app was highly praised for its integration of new features like Google search, image search, and GIF search built right into the keyboard itself.

But Gboard only came in U.S. English at first, and then slowly added more languages. Notably absent were Chinese and Korean, the former spoken by over a billion people as their first language.

Luckily, Google has finally added support for Chinese, Korean, and 20 additional languages to Gboard. Starting today, Gboard now supports over 300 language varieties, which covers 74 percent of the world’s population.

In the GIF below, you can see the Gboard in action translating Latin characters to Chinese, otherwise known as pinyin:

Chinese and Korean are, according to Google, the two most requested languages for Gboard. The languages have been supported on the iOS version of Gboard for some time now, and also within the beta version of Gboard for Android, but now they are getting a full rollout.

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Google is also adding some lesser-known languages to Gboard, like Ndonga, Harauti, and Bislama. The company committed to adding even more languages in the future.

Interestingly, Google itself and the many apps the company created on the Google Play Store are unavailable to Chinese citizens. So even though Gboard now supports Chinese, most people in China using Android devices will not have access to it.

With the rollout of Android Go, a simplified version of Android designed to run on incredibly inexpensive hardware, people all over the world will be getting their first smartphone ever. It’s imperative that the software and its many apps support the wide variety of languages in places like Africa and India, or else they won’t understand how to use the device.

You can see the full list of languages Gboard supports here, and you can install the app if you don’t have it already here.

Google released beta version 7.0.2 of its Gboard keyboard application. Even though it introduces features like email auto-complete and universal media search, not every feature works as advertised.

Starting with email auto-complete, you can start typing someone’s email address and have it pop up among the suggestions. Tapping on it will instantly fill the text field with the person’s email address.

9to5Google

However, Android Police had mixed results with the feature. It took anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes for email auto-complete to work, though the feature did not work on some phones. Even when the feature worked, some email addresses were not in the suggestions field.

Remember that this is beta software, so the issues could be due to the buggy nature of the update.

Next up is universal media search, which lets you search emoji, stickers, and GIFs at once. Tap on the emoji button on the keyboard and find the magnifying glass on the bottom row to get to the feature. This is a great feature for those, including myself, who cannot keep up with all of the available emojis, stickers, and GIFs at our disposal.

The beta update also includes support for additional languages, such as Korean, Japanese, and both Chinese (Pinyin and Cantonese) keyboards. Just tap the Google icon, go to More options, tap Settings, and add a new keyboard under Languages.

Speaking of keyboards, the new update does not let you change the main language management screen. Also, the layout for picking new keyboards is slightly different and lets you select multiple keyboards to add simultaneously.

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Finally, an APK teardown found that Gboard might eventually auto-detect when you use other languages and offer suggestions in those languages. The feature might not kick in right away, since Gboard wants to know whether you regularly type in a different language or are just retyping something.

You will have to join the Gboard beta program if you want to try out the new features. Once you do, update the Gboard app on the Play Store and you will be good to go.

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Google Gboard gets new GIF creation features… on iOS

The Google Gboard keyboard has allowed users to create their own GIFs since last September. This turned videos recorded with the smartphone camera into GIFs, but it was buried in the emoji menu. Thanks to a …

The person who uploaded the file found it in the Google Play Store—it’s only showing up there for low RAM devices, apparently—and amended the build.prop. The uploader said the Go version of the app occupies around 40 MB of RAM compared to 70 MB in the regular app, but its lightweight nature means there are a couple of sacrifices, including GIFs, stickers, and emoji search.

If you’re running Android 8.1 Oreo and want to check it out, you can install it now over the regular Gboard version—just note that you’ll have to uninstall updates via the Google Play Store to get back to the regular version. Find it at APK Mirror here.

It’s a big day for those using the beta version of Google‘s Gboard app, since they now have access to native handwriting support, as well as hints of many more features down the road.

Handwriting support is not new to Android — Google currently has a separate Handwriting Input app in the Play Store. What is new is that the latest Gboard beta removes the need to download a separate app by natively supporting handwriting.

You do have to dig a bit to enable handwriting, since you have to add it as a new keyboard layout. Once you do, you can switch between the regular keyboard and handwriting, with the latter giving you space to scribble your letters with your fingers.

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Gboard gains support for stickers and a ton of new languages

Gboard is gaining support for a ton of new languages. Google's own keyboard app recently rolled out a new update that brings support for 40 more languages. This pushes the total number of supported languages to …

Another interesting change is with the visual tweaks made to emoji. The emoji themselves haven’t changed, but visually, they seem much larger. According to Android Police, it looks like your keyboard height, as well as other undefined factors, play into the size of the emoji.

Interestingly, the Gboard beta also includes several features that could debut in future versions, such as a fullscreen handwriting keyboard, in case folks need a bit more space to scribble their letters. Also on deck is the ability to make and share GIFs through Gboard with the Motion Stills app. For the uninitiated, the Motion Stills app captures short videos and turns them into GIFs. The app was exclusive to iOS for a bit before making its way to Android a few months ago.

Finally, the update automatically adds a space after punctuation marks. Other software keyboards already support the feature, so this is more of an effort for Gboard to keep up.

If you want to test drive the changes and additions for yourself, you will need to wait for Google to push the download to your device. Alternatively, you can hunt down the APK and download it to your device.

Gboard is gaining support for a ton of new languages.

Google’s own keyboard app recently rolled out a new update that brings support for 40 more languages. This pushes the total number of supported languages to over 120 with one of the most notable newly supported languages being Japanese. In the past, you’ve had to use an alternative input method to type in Japanese and other non-Latin based languages. But, Google has been slowly integrating these languages and is now adding a large group of languages all at once.

If you’re a current user of the Japanese Input offered by Google, you’ll need to go through some additional setup to see Japanese in Gboard. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t automatically switch you over but setting it up is pretty easy. Just open up Gboard from your app tray, tap “Languages”, hit “Add keyboard” and find Japanese. You can scroll through the list of languages or use the search function at the top right. Once you select Japanese, the app will give you the option for a 12-key or QWERTY layout and multilingual typing if you have more than two languages enabled.

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11 best Android keyboards for all kinds of typists

For most people, the default keyboard on your phone does everything you need. However, some folks want more customization and features or are looking for something that not everybody needs. Enter the third-party Android keyboard. …

Are any either of these features game changers for you? If your language was added, how does the experience of using Gboard now compare to before updating? Let us know down in the comments.

Gboard, Google’s official mobile keyboard, is rolling out a new version that adds a feature that was previously included in the beta version of the app. The new version will allow users to add stickers and Bitmoji to their chats when they tap on the emoji button.

In order to use these new features, Gboard owners will also have to snag sticker packs from the Google Play Store, along with the Snapchat-owned Bitmoji app. Then, if you want to access these new images when you chat with family or friends, you just tap Gboard’s emoji button, and then either the sticker button or the Bitmoji button. After that, you can search through the available stickers or Bitmoji and pick the one that you like the most.

Google has also signed up a number of major pop culture licenses for its sticker packs, including Star Wars, Disney, the NBA, Hello Kitty, Garfield, Power Rangers, and more. Of course, Google will add even more sticker packs for Gboard users in the coming weeks and months. You can search and add new packs from the Google Play Store, or you can simply tap on the “+” button when you’re in the sticker tab of Gboard to find new packs directly from the app.

Will you be using stickers and Bitmoji in your Gboard chats? Let us know what you think about this new feature in the comments!

Gboard, Google’s official mobile keyboard, comes with a few perks, such as a beta version that allows folks to try out new features before they are available to the masses. Those people have more stuff to try out today, since Google updated the Gboard beta to include support for stickers and the Snapchat-owned Bitmoji.

When typing a message to someone, you will now see a sticker tab that you can access from the top button bar or overflow menu, depending on where you move it to. You can also press the emoji button on the lower left part of the keyboard and press the sticker tab at the bottom.

Regardless of how you choose to get to it, the sticker tab gives you access to the installed sticker packs and Bitmoji app. You can search for stickers and Bitmoji, though keep in mind that stickers will only work with apps and text areas that support Gboard’s GIFs and images. At the time of this writing, Allo integration is not yet live, though that will likely change either with an update or a server-side switch.

As for other changes, the shift and backspace buttons now have outlines, with the shift key filling up when typing capital letters. Other tweaks include the Dictionary page no longer including add-on dictionaries and a redesigned Themes page within Settings.

If you want to give the latest Gboard beta 6.5 a try, you will need to first sign up for the testing program. From there, just wait for the update to be available on your device and you’ll be good to go.

Update, 08/14/2017, 11:10 ET: In addition to the new Indian languages Google announced voice support for earlier today, the company has also revealed a number of other languages now compatible with Gboard and Voice Search. In a blog post titled “type less, talk more,” Google highlighted 13 more languages now supported as part of its efforts to make the internet more inclusive. These are:

• Amharic (Ethiopia)
  
• Armenian (Armenia)
  
• Azerbaijani (Azerbaijani)
  
• English (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania)
  
• Georgian (Georgia)
  
• Javanese (Indonesia)
  
• Khmer (Cambodian)
  
• Lao (Laos)
  
• Latvian (Latvia)
  
• Nepali (Nepal)
  
• Sinhala (Sri Lanka)
  
• Sundanese (Indonesia)
• Swahili (Tanzania, Kenya)

Further, Google also said that you could now use voice dictation to “express yourself with emoji” in the US in English. “You can now say something like ‘winky face emoji’ to express yourself,” wrote Google in the post. “Or even ‘Colbert emoji’ to your friends when the occasion calls.” Look out for these features rolling out from today.

Previous coverage: Google has announced the launch of voice search in eight additional Indian languages. Along with Hindi, the new languages include Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

Starting today, users will be able to use these languages to dictate queries in Gboard on Android as well as in Search through the Google App. These new languages will also be made available in the Cloud Speech API and will soon be extended to other Google apps and products, including the Translate app. Voice search in these new languages will be available in Google Search on iOS as well.

In order to perform a voice-based search, users will need to set their language in the Voice settings menu in Google app.

According to Google, using voice to dictate a message is up to three times faster than typing. Also, voice input for each of these languages is expected to get better over time, as more and more native speakers use the product.

The new language support will also enhance voice typing on Gboard, helping users to respond to emails on the go and send texts within messaging apps. To enable Voice Typing, users can install Gboard from the Play Store and choose their language from the Settings.

One of the more popular keyboard options available for Android, the beta version of Google’s homegrown Gboard keyboard received an update that brings incognito mode, along with other features and visual redesigns.

Starting with Gboard’s incognito mode, the feature will not remember any words and, as such, will not store those words in Gboard’s history. This feature was previously limited to Android O, but the update brings support for Android 6.0 Marshmallow and up. Interestingly, Gboard’s incognito mode seems to only work in Chrome, with no indication as to whether the feature will be usable in other apps.

Moving right along, Google slightly redesigned the icons when the Gboard is resized for one-handed use, though functionality remains the same. Even so, you can no longer see how small or large the letters are when resizing the keyboard, a weird change but one that could be exorcised in future updates.

Google also slightly redesigned the Gboard toolbar with a new GIF button. This now gives folks three different ways to find and send GIFs in Gboard, though these options are all hidden.

Finally, Google gave the Theme page in settings a small uplift, with the page no longer separating Custom, Recently used, Colors, and Landscapes. Instead, the theme page is displayed as a grid, with the “Show more” option for all sections expanding them rather than taking you to a different page.

As is the case with updates, Gboard’s 6.4 beta might not show up right away in the Play Store, but we have the download link below in case you are interested.

Google’s official keyboard app, Gboard, is an amazing option that has been steadily improving to compete head to head against the other top options on the market. The keyboard has used machine learning for a while now to predict the next word that you might want to type, and has more recently added things like inserting a google search or auto translating text right in your conversation. Google is still updating this application, and they have just added the ability to predict emojis from drawings as well as predicting full phrases based on what you have typed so far.

Now why would you want to draw an emoji when you can just swipe through the options? Part of me thinks Google is just adding it as a fun option and likely uses the data to better understand human drawings. They enacted a similar test to collect data back in November of last year when they had users draw images and tried to guess what they were through a game it called Quick, Draw!, and more recently AutoDraw, which uses AI to take your rough sketches and turn them into cleaner, Google generated drawings. If you can’t remember what an emoji is called and just know the shape, it could also be a quick option, so go try it out.

Another feature Gboard has added is the ability to predict full phrases instead of just your next word. This is incredibly useful, since it could theoretically predict your entire sentence after the first word. Typing has never been faster, and it would be great if we were able to send full messages in an instant.

The Android update for these new features is rolling out now, and Google says the iOS update is coming soon.

Last week, Google started rolling out an update to its digital assistant that added typing support. What this means is that you can just type in Assistant to perform a task instead of using your voice. Google has now made the feature even better, as it has added a new suggestion row that contains various search phrases.

Here’s how it works. When you launch Assistant, you can tap on the keyboard icon at the bottom of the screen to start typing. When Gboard pops up, you now see the new suggestion row on top with phrases like, “What’s the temperature outside?”, and others. This makes it easy for you to get access to certain info, without having to manually type in the question.

When you tap on a suggestion, it shows up in the text field, meaning you can edit it before it goes live. What’s interesting is that as soon as you start typing, the keyboard will offer you suggestions for the next word along with spelling suggestions. So the new search phrases found in Assistant are only visible when the text field is empty, which happens when you launch the app or right after you enter a question or command.

Keep in mind that the new feature might not be live for all users yet. But don’t worry too much if it hasn’t hit your device, as you probably won’t have to wait for much longer before you get it.

Typing in Assistant is a great feature to have and comes in quite handy when there are are a lot of people around and you don’t feel comfortable talking to your phone. Adding popular search phrases makes using it a lot faster and easier, as you can get info about the weather, for example, with just a tap or two.

Google India has announced a new set of products and features to better serve about 80% of Internet users in India who are not fluent in English.

The translation on Google Translate now is more accurate and easier to understand, especially when translating full sentences. Google explains that this is because of the new Neural Machine Translation technology that has been introduced for translations between English and nine widely used Indian languages — Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam, and Kannada. The new Google Translate feature is available on the Google Translate app, at translate.google.co.in, and through Google Search.

According to the company, neural translation is a lot better than its old phrase-based system, translating full sentences at a time, instead of pieces of a sentence. It uses this broader context to help it figure out the most relevant translation, which it then rearranges and adjusts to be more like a human speaking with proper grammar. Google had introduced the neural machine translation to Google Translate last year.

Just like it’s easier to learn a language when you already know a related language, we’ve discovered that our neural technology speaks each language better when it learns several at a time. For example, we have a whole lot more sample data for Hindi than its relatives Marathi and Bengali, but when we train them all together, the translations for all improve more than if we’d trained each individually.

Also, the Chrome team and the Google Translate team have worked together to bring the power of Neural Machine Translation to web content, making full-page translations more accurate and easier to read to and from English for the same nine Indian languages.

Google has also announced addition of 11 new languages to the list of 11 existing Indian languages supported by Gboard — with transliteration support. Today’s update also includes a new text editing tool that makes it easier to select, copy and paste, plus new options for resizing and repositioning the keyboard so it fits to your hand and texting style.

Gboard has all the bells and whistles of the Google Keyboard — plus Google Search built in. It also allows you to search and use Google Translate right in your keyboard.

Gboard offers auto-correction and prediction in these new languages, plus two layouts for each—one in the native language script and one with the QWERTY layout for transliteration, which lets you spell words phonetically using the QWERTY alphabet and get text output in your native language script.

The company also announced that starting today, it will automatically add translations to local reviews on Google Maps, both on mobile and desktop. When you launch Google Maps, and open reviews, they’ll appear in both the original language as well as the language you’ve set on your device.

Also, when you search for the meaning of a word in English, you’ll get a dictionary straight in Google Search. The company is bringing the Rajpal & Sons Hindi dictionary online in collaboration with the Oxford University Press. This new experience supports transliteration so you don’t even need to switch to a Hindi keyboard.

Just a few days ago, Google gave users the opportunity to sign up to test beta builds of its Gboard app for Android. Not only do beta tests help Google squash some bugs before a full rollout, but they’re also a good way for users to try out new features as soon as possible.

The first public beta build of Gboard for Android rolled out last week, bringing a number of new features that are certain to help users communicate much quicker. Now those changes are available for everyone.

Probably the biggest new addition in this release is Google Translate support. Instead of leaving your messaging app to translate a word or phrase, now you can translate your text right in the Gboard app. Just tap the Translate icon within the quick feature menu to activate. Speaking of other languages, Gboard now supports web, GIF and emoji search for right-to-left languages, such as Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi.

Gboard is getting prettier, too. There are now scenic view themes for Gboard, which you’ll be able to find in the theme selection menu of the app. Google says it’ll add more themes more often from now on, so be sure to keep checking back.

Google also wants you to be able to more easily express yourself with GIFs and emoji. Now as you type, Gboard will show a handful of suggested GIFs and emoji in the suggestion strip. For instance, if you type the word ‘pizza’ in your message, you’ll see pizza emoji and pizza GIF suggestions right above the keyboard.

Finally, voice typing is now much easier in Gboard. In previous versions, tapping on the microphone icon would collapse the keyboard and bring up a voice typing interface, forcing you to tap the ‘x’ icon to switch back to the normal keyboard. Now, tapping the microphone will bring up a new voice typing interface without taking you away from your keyboard.

These updates are rolling out as we speak, so be sure to head to the Play Store link below to grab the latest version!

It seems like Android 7.0 Nougat was just announced, but we are already getting close to the time when Google will likely announce the next major version of its mobile OS at its Google I/O conference in May. Today, a new report claims Google is working on some new smart assistive features for Android that may or may not end up in that next big update.

Copy Less will help cut down on the amount of copying/pasting from one app to another

According to a report on VentureBeat, using an unnamed source, the company is developing a feature called Copy Less. It’s supposed to help cut down the act of copying and pasting content from one app to another. The story cites an example of this feature in the form of an online text chat between two people about where to go for dinner. One person notices a good review of a restaurant in Yelp and types in “it’s at” in the messaging app. The Copy Less feature would then reportedly kick in and automatically paste the address of that restaurant, which can be sent to the friend. The story said it is unclear if Copy Less would be added to Google’s Gboard keyboard or within Android itself.

The same story says that Google is working on other smart messaging features, including one where if you type in an address, Android would recognize it as such. You see, if someone sends you an address in Google’s Android Messages app, you’d need to copy and paste that address into Google Maps if you want to navigate there. But Google is supposedly working on a feature that will turn that address into a link that will take you right to Maps.

Finally, the report claims that new finger gestures are being developed for Android that could enable special shortcuts. One example would be if a person were to use their finger on a smartphone screen to draw the letter “C”. Android would then recognize that as a command to bring up the list of that user’s contacts. It’s worth noting that HUAWEI has already added similar gesture commands in some of its Android phones, including the Mate 9.

Keep in mind that this report has not been officially confirmed by Google, so it should be taken with an appropriate grain of salt at this stage. Even if the report is accurate, it’s also possible that Google could delay, or cancel completely, some or all of these features. In any case, we should learn a lot more about the next version of Android on May 17 on the first day of Google’s 2017 I/O conference.

If you want to be one of the first to try out new features in Google’s Gboard Android keyboard, along with Google Play Services, there’s a new way to do just that. Google has launched beta versions of both Gboard and Google Play Services in the Play Store that can be accessed and used right now.

As with many of the other beta apps in the Google Play Store, you have first agree to download what are early versions of Gboard and Google Play Services, and not the ones that are the official stable versions. As such, the download links warn that users who access these beta version might discover they “may be unstable or have a few bugs”. That’s the price you have to pay if you want to get the first shot at new features.

In case you are not aware, Google Play Services runs in the background and allows other Google Android apps to be updated without the need to update the entire Android operating system at the same time. It also provides Android apps with a number of features like location services, authentication features and more.

Gboard is the replacement for Google Keyboard on Android, and it launched pretty recently in December 2016. You can enable Gboard’s “G button”, in the app’s settings menu, and when you are typing in the keyboard, you can tap that button to open up a search card, perform a Google search, and share the results with others.

Gboard first made its debut on iOS way back in May, and it wasn’t until December of last year that it made its way to Android. Since its launch, the keyboard has been well-received in general except some users reported input lag, sometimes to an extent where the keyboard was unusable. Well, Google has released a new update for Gboard in the Play Store, and it promises to fix those lag issues once and for all.

The search giant renamed Google Keyboard to Gboard back in December, and the biggest addition was the “G button,” which can be enabled in the app settings. Essentially, you can click the button to search on Google without having to leave whatever you were typing. Just like what we saw with Gboard on iOS. Just like other major keyboards, Gboard has multi-language support, and you can type in up to three different languages without having to necessarily switch in between.

The problem is (or was), however, various users started reporting lag issues: the keyboard wouldn’t register your taps, word suggestions and autocorrect would freeze the phone entirely, etc.

The problem is (or was), however, various users started reporting lag issues: the keyboard wouldn’t register your taps, word suggestions and autocorrect would freeze the phone entirely, etc. If you were one of these users, you’d be happy to know that the latest update seemingly eliminates these bugs. After installing the latest version, you should have no problem with text input, switching languages, and word suggestions.

The update is available right now through the Google Play Store, so make sure to click the button below to update your app!