A Gboard alternative for iPhone
Gboard is the keyboard most people mean when they say they replaced the iPhone one. It is also the one most people go back to, because leaving costs something.
This page is about that cost.
Give Gboard its due.
Glide typing on Gboard is very good, the language list is enormous, and the prediction has years of data behind it that no small keyboard can match on day one. Search is built into the bar. If those are the parts you use, the honest answer is to keep using it.
The reasons people give for leaving.
The two that come up most are look and ownership. Gboard on iPhone looks like Gboard, not like iOS, and after a while the mismatch in colour, corner radius and font is the thing you notice instead of the thing you typed. The other reason is that the search features want Full Access, and Full Access is what lets a keyboard reach the network.
Your words are the real cost.
A keyboard that has watched you for three years knows your nicknames, your street and the way you abbreviate. iOS gives keyboards no clean way to hand that over, so most moves start from zero and feel worse for a week before they feel better.
Before switching, check whether the new keyboard can import a dictionary from anywhere, and how long it takes to learn from you if it cannot.
Where EFKey fits.
EFKey is built to look like the keyboard iOS already draws. The colours, the font and the corner radius are measured against the system keyboard rather than approximated, and there is a native theme for people who want no visible difference at all. If you want the opposite, five palettes are there to start from and every colour after that is yours: background, keys and Enter, with a separate set for dark mode.
On top of that sit the parts the stock keyboard skips: a number row, symbols on long-press, and eight gestures on the keys, where holding C copies and holding P pastes. The number row and long-press are free, the key gestures are part of Pro. Words come across from SwiftKey through its OneDrive backup, and EFKey learns yours in about three days.
Where it does not.
There is no Google search in the bar, and there is no way to import a Gboard dictionary, because Gboard does not let one out on iOS. If either of those is what keeps you there, this is not the swap for you.
Prediction on day one is also worse than a keyboard that has been reading you since you got the phone. It closes that gap over a few days and it does not close it instantly.
Quick answers.
Can I bring my Gboard dictionary?
No, because iOS gives Gboard no way to export it. SwiftKey words do come across, through the vocabulary file in its OneDrive backup.
Does EFKey have swipe typing?
Yes, in every one of the 74 languages, and it runs on the phone.
Does it need Full Access like Gboard does?
No. Typing and correction work with Full Access off. It buys haptics and the clipboard.
Keep reading.
Ready when you are.
One conversation is enough to tell.
