Gboard – the Google Keyboard Reviews

by TheBirchWoodTree

Would be amazing if it weren’t for the insufferable bugs. Apple changed the way their keyboards used special characters and I didn’t like it, so I wanted a new keyboard. I’ve already sold my soul and everything to Google (because I do like google products a great deal) so I decided to get this. But wow.
First, if you type too fast for more than about 10 seconds, it starts freezing. The letter pop ups stop disappearing and typing becomes slow until it fixes after about 10 more seconds.. and then does it again immediately. You can only fix this by completely restarting Gboard you’re typing in.
Second is more major: for no reason, seemingly random, it’ll cause no keyboard to pop up when you click a text field. Just nothing. No apple keyboard, nothing. Nothing can fix this short of turning the device completely off and back on, taking a minute or two.
After trying to live with these bugs for the last half a year, telling myself “they’ll fix it soon!” I finally gave in and deleted Gboard . I hate apple keyboard, typing this review on it now just feels horrible, and I’m going to look for another keyboard right after. I think bugs that big going unfixed for that long is inexcusable.

by Yeonne Greene

The only reason to use Gboard at all is because Apple refuses to include haptic feedback with their built-in option. The autocorrect almost never catches any words and it constantly adds apostrophes where it shouldn't. The key spacing is inferior on this app, which only exacerbates the autocorrect issue; I am constantly pressing "b" or "v" instead of "space" and it Never. Ever. Corrects. It. Not once will it ever fix this typos, so I look up at my message and have to delete it and start over because not only does it not catch this while typing, it also does not recognize the issue when I select that text. Picking the letters out one at a time would be slower than starting over.

And the icing that just makes this extra mediocre is that there is no way to set the keyboard background to use the system scheme, so it is always an awkward block of opaque color where Apple's would be a seamlessly integrated and translucent pane.

So, yeah. If I did not find keyboards without haptics basically unusable I would not be using this app. Hear that Apple? Microsoft? Literally anybody other than HapticKeyboard? Fix this.

by Bad Burger King App

First: needs to allow you to pick a keyboard as primary that isn't American English. As this particular keyboard doesn't interface with certain game chats making a horrific experience. Also, allow for the ability to remove American English keyboard.
Second, the auto correct and word suggestions need a complete overhaul. The saving of ridiculous word choice that you may have either accidentally picked or were auto suggested and then become permanent is not only Frustrating but I suspect the leading cause for the declines in literacy in US. The completely irritating way that every since the is auto changed to thee or there or three makes one wonder who in the world programmed Gboard. Also the changing of to so that it's too. Or becomes out everytime. Be becomes need. Or it will pick some of the wall word never used. It's like every commonly used word is the last word that is suggested. And yes I've tried the fixes suggested on the website to change to no avail.
Thirdly, voice to word needs to understand English. You know, the language spoken around the world yet for some reason a person who has no accent can't be understood on Gboard?
I am amazed one of the richest companies in the world puts out a product like this. One expect quality from Google let's fix this and make app that you can be proud of.

by 🐚🔔

So when I found out Google made a keyboard for my iPhone I was so excited because Apple's keyboard is terrible....but now into my 3rd day after installing it and I'm so irritated with it, I'm to the point of uninstalling! As I am trying to type this review, here and now, my cursor just starts freaking out and trying to keep just zooming back to the very beginning of my message and no matter how many times I try to move the cursor back to where it should be, it just keeps trying to rewind to the beginning like it has a crazy, possessed mind of it's own! It also just randomly adds words, deletes words, and it even started typing one text message COMPLETELY BACKWARDS!!!!! (Not to mention the crazy auto correct nonsense going on--I typed "mind" correctly just now only to have it auto "corrected" to "kind", then "I typed" was changed to "ill tempted" and "not to" (as in not to mention) was changed to motto and mention was changed to MEMTION!!! Come on Google, get it together... We know you can do better than this! My messages and texts, instead of being easier and quicker to be able to type and send, are taking me 3x as long because I'm having to fight it to say what I want it to say and do what I'm trying to do!!! It's HORRIBLE! The idea or the concept is great.... IF YOU WOULD JUST FIX THE BUGS!!!!

by RainnyDayBooks

I text a sentence or paragraph. I proof read it....it's all correct. Then when I press send 98% of the words get changed to words that make no sense, or the get changed to misspelled words. No wonder there are so many grammar errors in everyone's text. It's doing it now...I had to change the word send....it kept changing it to sent. And it keeps changing the word " word" to worry. Please fix this.
Update: Are you not concerned at all about your product not working? It's a hot mess of crap you have to go back and fix at least 8 times in one paragraph or sentence because your product changes it. It's your product. Instead of being worried about the bottom line....money , how about a worthy product? I'm getting another texting app like I had before, I never had to change thing. And when it gave me a choice of another word spelled right and I chose it.......it was spelled right....not wrong. Even now the word "was" was changed to would've. Does that make sense? Your one of the biggest tech Giants.....I'm sure you can fix it. And why did it capitalize Giants? I'm not talking about team Giants. I thought it was supposed to predict what you mean. Your app is getting to be a joke.

by Wjreview

The main reason I installed this app is because of the terrible quality of Apple‘s iOS voice transcription. Google's voice transcription is vastly better. I almost never have to make a correction with Google voice transcription. With Apple voice transcription I have to fix one to three words out of every sentence.

Sadly, however, this app on iOS has been extremely unreliable. I don’t know if it is a this app issue, or an iOS issue, but this app keeps quitting right in the middle of voice transcription. It either tells me "I didn’t get that. Please try again." or it just stops and makes me manually restart it. This happens repeatedly with every attempted this app voice transcription in iOS (I am using iOS 14.6).

Despite the frustrating voice transcription problems, this app does a much better job of identifying and predicting words using the keyboard than the iOS keyboard does, and it includes number keys which makes entering alphanumeric strings much faster. So for the time being, I will continue to use this app.

by Dirkadirka

The utility of the keyboard is great, the autocorrect and suggestions work well most of the time. One thing I dislike about the keyboard is that the space bar's touch-zone is maybe too small. Every time I think I'm hitting the top of the spacebar, I'm actually touching the bottom of the "B" key. The keyboard's correction fixes this most of the time, but it is annoying. Another thing is that when using the microphone integration using the spacebar-hold, it almost always has to switch over to the this app app before it can activate the microphone. I understand that it's likely a limitation with Apple's keyboard integration, but it is definitely another thing that holds it back. Also, something that I noticed while typing this review is that while using the this app, the text box does not automatically scroll to keep the cursor above the keyboard while typing, so that’s another annoyance. I will say, though, that the swipe typing is probably the best I’ve seen as far as text recognition. However, swipe typing keeps it from doing one of the things I like most in the default keyboard, and that is if you hit the wrong key, you can move your finger over to the correct key, and it will register that instead.

Overall, it’s decent, but some of the minor issues really do keep me from using it most of the time. Sometimes, convenience is more important than utility.

by M1ght1203

Ok, let me be honest here. I've been a big fan and supporter of Google and it's products for a long time, but with this keyboard, I must say that I'm slightly disappointed. There is this bug where after using the keyboard for awhile, it starts to stutter and glitch out. The only solution currently that's working for me is to either delete Gboard and reinstall, or just turn off full access for the keyboard. I know that this bug has been around for a long time and it still has not been fixed. Even still, I would go out of my way to use this keyboard, but sadly, I think it's time for this to go. Unless the developers do something about this God forsaken bug that has been around for ages, I would not look back at this keyboard again. I think it is a smart move for me explore new keyboards such as swift key or other option. With all this said, I am still a big fan of Google and it's products, but I am hoping for a change with Gboard, so please read this review and take into consideration of these issues. I am looking forward to a bright future for Gboard.

by Mike.S1261

Prior to iOS 13, this app was the best keyboard out there for iPhone. In fact, it still is in spite of the issues. But, ever since updating to iOS 13 (the version of iOS where Apple introduced their own Swipe to Type keyboard), this app has been very problematic. If I type a long email or message on FB Messenger, eventually the keyboard starts lagging to the point of not being usable. I have to save my message or email, restart Gboard , and then I get some more time before lag returns. Then periodically, once a month or so, it requires a complete delete/restart/reinstall, or the keyboard gets stuck in a "crash and reload" cycle over and over and over again with no cure other than deleting it and having to reconfigure my custom keyboard colors again upon reinstallation. I swear Apple must be sabotaging it now that they have their own Swipe to Type keyboard. But this app is so so much better than the native keyboard so I have to deal with the issues. Every update I hope it got resolved, but no such luck.

by Dowell_db

Maybe I'm just an aging millennial but I can't figure out where to find instructions of any kind for this keyboard.
Does every feature of the infinity video (assuming it's called that) need to be discovered by randomly tapping and swiping with multiple fingers at every possible context point?
Also, how does one search the sticker packs? I see some defaults were selected for me and I can choose new ones but scrolling through all the options is essentially impossible.
I've been using this keyboard for a year or so and there seems to be a lot of functionality hidden behind an interface that I can only assume is supposed to be intuitive to the point of not needing instructions. That's cool, but please make actual instructions available.
Finally, I would absolutely love copy/paste functionality thru the keyboard instead of the hit-or-miss screen tapping. I don't know if it's even possible to access selected text from the keyboard interface (I could see ios restricting that) or maybe it's already available and I just haven't stumbled upon the magical tap/swipe/pray combination yet. Please let me know. Mostly great work!

by 123 Ro

♡︎ I actually really like the Google Keyboard. It's amazing, the only thing that I don't like at times is that, when I as accidentally typed a typo, the keyboard remembers that. For example: I typed "oo-" and now, whenever I type "oo" it autocorrects to "oo-" and it's so annoying! I didn't want it to autocorrect. So basically when I make a typo, it just remembers that typo and autocorrects the correct word to the typo. But I know that this feature is convenient when typing an ACTUAL TYPO it autocorrects :)
Also, one this i like about this is that: you know how I typed "ACTUAL TYPO" a sentence before? Well, now it remembers it and when I type "ACTUAL", the word "TYPO" is in my suggestions! Pretty cool!
Overall, this is a great keyboard, I use it every single time I type. I also love the fact that you can have different keyboard backgrounds, gifs, text faves abd more!! I love it thank you so mcuh google (and i used this app to type this UwU) ♡︎

by Markthereefshark

Hey this app Team!

With regards to a design suggestion, I often find myself using the three word recommendations that dynamically appear as I type. I'm wondering if I can turn off the auto-spacing effect that inserts a space into the textfield after I select a recommended word. The reason I would like the ability to turn this setting off is because I find myself consistently modifying a recommended word to fit the correct part of speech (e.g. "correct" appears as a recommended word but I want to change it to read "correctly"), and I find that having to delete the auto-inserted space to reduce my overall typing speed. This isn't a hugeeeee issue, but I'm constantly wondering if I should just switch back to the default iOS keyboard ;)

Sorry I didn't rate it a full 5 stars. Thought a lesser than perfect rating may have a higher chance at being reviewed by the team. I love the product though! Keep up the good work!

by TFWol

Wall of text since Apple reviews strip any way to organize ☹️ I've noticed Apple's keyboard seems to have gotten worse and worse when it comes to accuracy (both swiping and tapping) along with other annoyances I don't feel like enumerating. >> This keyboard solves just about all of them. The predictive text is super accurate and swipe typing is superior. It just feels so much better to use. I've actually been encouraged to type a lot more because of it. >> At this time I only have a few gripes (keep in mind this keyboard overall still dominates the native one despite the below issues) : >>Major: Moving the cursor via Spacebar only lets you move the cursor left and right instead of freely placing it on the screen. It also won't properly scroll long text in small view fields containing long strings like URLs in Safari. >>Major: Hit or miss depending on Gboard : The keyboard will get in the way if you're typing a lot of words since the screen won't scroll down as you type (super annoying while I was writing this review) >>Minor: sometimes (although rarely) the space scrolling can get stuck and keep scrolling. >>Minor: when searching apps on Spotlight, the keyboard will still stay "Search" rather than "GO" for launching apps. You can still press "Search" to launch Gboard though.

by Dylanbrown7799

I’ve been using this app ever since iOS added the feature of third-party keyboards. It’s got everything I need: slide-typing, a great search bar for quick inquiries, access to millions of gifs, a clean look, easy access to google translate, auto-suggested words, and other useful features that I’m sure I’m forgetting about.
It’s become my daily-driver and it’s hard not using it, however lately that’s exactly what I’ve been having to do. I used to run into the occasional glitch where it would seemingly crash and reboot over and over again, but this was on my previous phone (iPhone 6s) and I figured it was just because support for older versions of hardware were slowly being phased out. Unfortunately I’ve been running into that same glitch on my current phone (iPhone 11 Pro) and I know now that my previous excuse no longer applied.

TLDR: Fantastic keyboard, but there’s a current frustrating glitch that renders it unusable.

by ..BirdBoi..

The keyboard is great, before iOS added swipe texting it was an amazing feature to have available. It works just fine for me in most aspects, there are just two main issues I run into with the keyboard. Sometimes after I type a key the highlighted part that pops up to show what key you're hitting will not go away once I tap the key and a lot of them will hover and jumble up they keyboard making it difficult or impossible to navigate. Alongside that issue the predictive and suggested text can be annoying at times. Most of the time it's helpful and accurate and helps me type or fixes my spelling errors but there is a somewhat common issue I have where after I type something out it will change it to something different. For example I could type "for the last time" and it will change to "it's the best side", something I don't say while texting. Not sure what causes these issues but I hope to see them addressed in a future update.

by Michcu

I love this keyboard and it functions so much better than the stock one in my iPhone. Since the new update it seems off. When I search emojis for example "star" not one emoji comes up. It's not suggesting then either 🤷🏼‍♀️ I think Every once in a while it glitches. I clear out the data and it's like new and precise. Only reason I gave 4 is because since this last ios update my keyboard keeps getting stuck on Español. Lol I'm bilingual but for the people who don't speak Español it's a problem. So it takes me twice as long to type in English because it keeps correcting my language to Española. It's given me some good laughs but my clients are not always as amused. Anyway, I have full faith it'll get fixed next update. I'm a this app user for life so I'm excited to see the next board. Let me just say with the two things I mentioned the this app is still so much more than any other board. It's able to read my movement more precisely, it's more convenient, types quick(other board now feel show), it's in time with current day demands for personal and business, and the gif searches are hilarious.

by AMM2025

Overall, this keyboard is amazing. There’s so many unique and innovative features, especially searching emojis, the glide keyboard, google translate, and copying links/contacts/etc., and all the customization available. If you’re looking into downloading tbis keyboard, I’d absolutely push you to do it, regardless of the very occasional bugs.

That said, there is one major bug that needs to be fixed. Significantly recently, whenever I go to use the keyboard on any application, it immediately automatically switches the the default iOS English keyboard. Strangely, the glide typing on the iOS keyboard doesn’t work either, which can cause a major inconvenience in certain situations. This bug has happened a lot before, but recently, when I switch back to this app, it immediately reverts again to the iOS keybord, so I’m almost completely unable to use the this app.

However, this keyboard is overall absolutely worth the install, as this bug won’t necessarily affect everyone.

by AstuaryKing22

I used Swype for years, even once the iPhone days came upon us.. then I randomly got a Pixel 2XL after years of Apple a year ago.. If you're a CHROME user, or mainly default to google(which has been perfect for me) whether you're an iPhone user or "Android"(I've never felt this pixel was a Droid, just a perfected Google phone) you'll know besides losing ichat (if leaving iPhone) that there's really no learning curve or feature displasia, though ichat is almost enough to draw you back alone, it's all I ever missed. I say that to say, the keyboard has been the same as well due to using the this app, adding the amazing (and an on/off option for it, as well as other features to fully customize your keyboard to your LOVING ) Swype feature to the already incredible Google Keyboard.. the ONE and hardest thing I find when trying to go back to iPhone, is losing the full auto-fill option for EVERYTHING.. Passwords, saved bank cards, usernames etc it's always instant no thought.. unless I'm wrong google has perfected user functionality in this area, while my Apple remains trusting taking much longer wanting a face recog, thumb print and then sometimes having to pick pswrds from a whole long list, very inconvenient.

by Watermelon_guy

I love how you can change the theme without paying money and you can even have your favorite image as your keyboard. GIFs are easy to access and the Google search button is quite genius.
First, I have the keyboard theme as a very dark image. That comes with the problem of, when you use the Google search, the results come out too dark and I can hardly read them. There's no setting for this, and I'm disappointed because the Google search is a nice feature. Also, when you try to use the :-) feature, because of my dark theme, I can't see any of the buttons. I have my letter color as white but it still doesn't show up.
Second, there's something uncomfortable about this keyboard. I think the main problem is that the auto correct doesn't move as smoothly as the iPhone keyboard.
Overall this is a really good app.

by Howboutthat?

This works very well on my I-phone!! It's much better (and faster!) than my previous 1-finger method of typing! I was absolutely devastated when I accidentally lost the keyboard for a few days, but finally figured out how to get it back & was very relieved!!
It took me awhile to figure out that you don't have to space between words (in most cases) - the keyboard automatically does it for you. Sometimes you don't have to put in the entire word. Just start the word, & the keyboard will automatically finish it for you.
It IS a good idea to get used to reading as you type, though, or you may end up with "feel" instead of "fell" (or vice versa). Double letters sometimes cause problems. The keyboard usually gives you 2 or 3 choices of words if it puts in the wrong word.
The more you use this keyboard, the better you'll be at using it, & the more of a fan you'll be!!
Have FUN with this keyboard!

by Choklatz

Take a guess what I might have meant in the next paragraph. I typed this with the this app and purposely didn't correct the typos so you can see what I mean. I spend so much time fixing this stupid board but I'm spoiled on swiping. (I corrected above. Below is usual results. I am a college professor. I am not illiterate as this might suggest.)

I've been using this keyboard for a pretty long time. So long I can't guess. I am spilled on swing and just do it automatically now so if I end up on the native iPhone keyboard I end up with one letter of the word because I automatically stay don't. But this keyboard if Buffy. I wants to hang up on one letter and give you just the first letter or the number behind it. I have tried to press note lightly, more carefully, you name it and it still hands up. It also learns your ring which means that it learns your most common wrong series and keeps putting them up as the most likely thing you meant. It also intuits the strangest words that ai would never use. I is almost always spelled ai. It drives me nuts and wastes time.

by Gratefulkels

I originally switched to this keyboard for many reasons, one of the main being that the predictive text is so much more accurate than the regular apple keyboard. Lately, however, (not sure if it's because of updates) it is not accurately predicting the right words and has started to quite frequently predict the wrong ones and automatically replaces what I typed...I'm talking about basic, everyday words I use constantly. It now replaces things I do not want while ignoring things I do, such as capitalization of letters. The autocorrect feature just seems messed up and not what it used to be. I do like the emoji search as well as the option to do a Google search and send without leaving iMessage, and I like the option to add a background picture for your keyboard so it's not the boring gray that comes with the phone. The talk to text is generally pretty accurate, and the option to swipe text is cool although I don't really use it that often. I'd give 5 stars if this predictive text/autocorrect issue is fixed !

by WrongWriter

The layout and abilities of this app are so superior to the competition. But, as so many other reviewers have pointed out, the predictive text when using the glide entry is TERRIBLE. For example, when gliding my finger from T to H to E to enter the word THE this app will frequently enter THREE instead. THE is probably in the top 1% most frequently used words in English. Why would the program logic select THREE over THE, especially when it makes no sense in the context of the other words in the preceding and following it? I have seen other keyboards that will actually go back and change a word it suggested 3 or 4 words earlier in the sentence once the context of the sentence becomes clear. If things like that are possible why can't Google fix this ongoing problem?

I believe the problem had to be addressed in some fashion. The frustration levels I'm reaching over having my flow interrupted every 5 to 7 words to backspace out another wrong word have me ready to jump to a competitor.

by Megdelm

I love the ability to google search, use speech-to-text, customize the photo on the keyboard.. there are so many things I love but Gboard just stopped working. The keyboard won’t show up sometimes. Sometimes, when trying to swipe, the keyboard decides to get sticky and sink off the screen. I just uninstalled it. I will be trying Swift key for a little while to see if that works better. Keyboard used to work really well but newest update is bad bad bad. Also, it would be awesome if Gboard could remember the words I actually use everyday rather than the misspelled version I accidentally typed in one time. Really needs a way to edit dictionary which words are suggested. ALSO! Please suggest emoji replacement as predicted for next word: I love adding emojis that come up in predictive text bar but I want the option to add them AFTER adding the actual word I’m typing. Please update so that I don’t have to type the same word in its entirety to get the emoji to be suggested again. Predictive text needs to be smarter!

by Cewstorm

Good app. Some of the glide typing is easy off and I am not sure if it is self learning, which it does not seem to be since it continues to put in the same wrong words every time even when it is just after our later. That is a big issue for me. Making me wanting to go back to Swift key. This either need to really be juiced up out you will lose me a as that is how I've been typing since having the original Droid Razor.... So not changing. Also..? Sometimes it just seems to change from good typing to regular typing in the middle of a message not sure why it what I hit and should not have do that I can at the very least there it just changed from glide typing to regular not sure why, anyhow not sure what I got so I can avoid it change back of need. Where is detailed manual? Thanks and still had fighting change but many of these issues neg to be addressed very soon. Thanks in advance for your help and coding changes.

Best Chris Winters

by BronzeRecluse

this app is fantastic! I will never go back to a regular keyboard again. The swiping is very accurate. Even if I miss a letter a little bit, this app still knows the word. Also it has learned the way I speak so the predictive text is always right. You can talk-to-type and it always understands what I am trying to say. I have English and Spanish this app and it's completely wonderful in both languages. My favorite feature is that you can type a word to find emojis! If I type 'heart' all the heart options appear, which makes it easier than searching through all the Emojis. My only complaint is everytime I update Gboard , it stops being my main keyboard. I keep having to turn the keyboard on and off in my settings for it to show up again. That is very annoying because I love this app and always want it to be the only keyboard I use. Please fix that glitch. But other than that, Gboard is fantastic!

by Mbritb

First off! this app is like a smart phone for your keyboard! Right there in the keyboard while texting you can do a Google search, emoji search, and gif search. You can slide your finger on the space bar to move your cursor around to edit already typed text. You can tap and hold to type numbers without having to switch to the alt keyboard. You can personalize the background with premade themes/colors or you can make your own by choosing your own photo. I'm also loving the new customizing options! Changing the color of the swiping line, the buttons, the letters, even the sparkle option is cool! I hope they add more options for those! Seriously love this keyboard!! 💖💖💖💖

I do agree with another reviewer. The autocorrecting/predictive text isn't as accurate as it used to be. I mean I wouldn't even know how to spell a word but it's like Google could read my mind and knew exactly the word I meant. But now I have to go back and fix a lot more words than I used to and it's stuff that doesn't even make sense to the sentence. But I'm hoping some future updates will fix that because it really is the best keyboard!!

by Reveiw Stu

The swipe keyboard is so fast if you take the time to learn it! Search bar makes for quick info lookup. I also love the gif finder. Only wish is a better 3D touch cursor. If you press and hold down on the keyboard it goes blank and can be used as a free moving cursor. But that's where that journey ends unfortunately. The iPhone keyboard, if you press more firmly while in cursor mode, highlights and selects text. Could not do that with this app. Hopefully I am just an idiot. I don't see Google doing the ball on that.
You can personalise the background with your own picture of choice. Makes iPhone keyboard seem kinda rudimentary. Love it Google. You guys rock!
Now if they could just make Google tasks have a time with the date my whole life could be synced with Google lol but that is for another time. Seriously. Get this app. You owe it to your fingers. And your poor vocabulary. Just saying.

by Lewis Is Already Taken

I've been using this app on my iPhone 8 for many months because I wanted to be able to type by swiping, a feature the iOS 12 keyboard lacks. I was happy to learn that iOS 13 has added it, but this app really is the superior option. It's much better at interpreting my swipes, and almost always offers the word I wanted as an alternative if it guesses wrong. I don't want to gripe about the native iOS 13 keyboard swiping feature, but I have to say I felt spoiled by this app when I tried out the iOS 13 kyeboard after updating. What is probably the single best feature of this app is the ability to move the cursor horizontally in text, one character at a time, by swiping on the spacebar. This feature alone would make this app worth using, even if it weren't better at interpreting my swipes. Its overall quality truly makes anything else frustrating to use by comparison!