Blog
KeyboardKit 9.0 RC 4
The KeyboardKit 9.0 Release Candidate 4 is out! 🚀 It’s a pretty big update that builds on previous release candidates, improves many things, and adds support for OpenAI-based word prediction.
KeyboardKit 9.0 RC 2
The KeyboardKit 9.0 Release Candidate 2 is out! 🚀 This update builds on the Release Candidate 1 and improves a few things before the upcoming release.
KeyboardKit 9.0 RC 1
KeyboardKit 9.0 Release Candidate 1 is out! 🚀 This article will take a look at all the new things that will make KeyboardKit better than ever before, and how to best upgrade from KeyboardKit 8.
KeyboardKit 9 soon available
The release of KeyboardKit 9 is just around the corner, with many architectural changes and new features that will make KeyboardKit better than ever!
BiAffect - New Podcast Episode
BiAffect was just featured on the Live Well Bipolar podcast, where the BiAffect team talked about how they approached using a custom keyboard to track mental health through keystroke dynamics.
KeyboardKit 8.9
KeyboardKit 8.9 is out! This a massive update that is built with Xcode 16 and that improves how to set up a keyboard extension, renames services, and adds a bunch of new features.
KeyboardKit 8.8.9 - important gesture updates
iOS 18 caused scroll view supporting gestures to stop working, which you can experience in 8.8.8’s emoji keyboard. KeyboardKit Pro 8.8.9 is therefore built with Xcode 16, to make the gestures work.
Keyboard switcher experiments
The next keyboard 🌐 key that is used to switch keyboards, has behaved a bit strange. Let’s take a look at two opt-in experiments that were introduced in 8.8.7, that aim to fix improve its behavior.
KeyboardKit 8.8.7 - important patch
This blog seldom mentions patch updates, but KeyboardKit 8.8.7 is special. It makes the URL action work as before, with iOS 18 support, improves dictation, adds support for auto-ignoring unwanted autocorrections, and adds some important experiments for the next keyboard button.
iOS 18 breaks the selector-based way of opening URLs
iOS 18 causes the selector-based way of opening URLs from a keyboard extension without the main application, to stop working. This post describes how KeyboardKit will fix it.
Xcode 16 breaks rich button gestures in scroll views in iOS 18
Xcode 16 causes a breaking gesture bug, where multi-gesture buttons stop working in scroll views in iOS 18. This affects the emoji keyboard. This post describes how KeyboardKit will fix it.
The KeyboardKit Discord Server is now open to all Pro users
The KeyboardKit Discord server is now available to all Pro customers, regardless of tier. This means that all Basic, Silver and Gold customers can now join the Discord.
KeyboardKit 8.8 is out
KeyboardKit 8.8 is a massive update that adds a lot of features, improves autocomplete & emojis, renames services, replaces settings with context persistency, adds all new settings screens, etc.
Subscribe to the KeyboardKit newsletter
Even though this website and our social media channels are often updated with news and updates, the KeyboardKit Newsletter lets you subscribe to periodic updates.
BiAffect - Tracking Mental Health Through Keystroke Dynamics
Say hello to BiAffect - a medical keyboard that tracks mental health through keystroke dynamics and proud winner of the Mood Challenge For ResearchKit.
KeyboardKit 8.7
KeyboardKit 8.7 is out. This is a massive update that improves autocomplete, adds next character prediction & persistent settings, improves the design and layout handling, and much, much more.
KeyboardKit 8.6
KeyboardKit 8.6 is out. This is a HUGE update that adds 5 new locales, support for diacritics, makes it easier to identify the host application, improves autocomplete and many layouts, and much more.
KeyboardKit App 3.1 is out!
A new version of the KeyboardKit app is out! The new 3.1 version adds many new features, such as support for a numeric input toolbar, iPad Pro keyboard layouts, and 68 locales in total.
KeyboardKit 8.5
KeyboardKit 8.5 is out. This is a big update, that renames and moves many types into namespaces, adds many new features and makes many small adjustments and improvements.
KeyboardKit 8.4
KeyboardKit 8.4 is out. This version uses Swift 5.9, adds support for visionOS, drastically improves the docs, makes many emoji features open-source, introduces modifier-applied styles, and more.
Custom Keyboard Extensions Can Disappear in iOS 17
People have started reporting that their custom keyboard extensions have disappeared in iOS 17. This article discusses some concerning findings after investigating this problem.
iPad Pro Layout Support
KeyboardKit 8.3 is out. It adds new features, fixes some bugs, and also adds iPad Pro layout support to KeyboardKit Pro.
How to (not) navigate back to the keyboard from the app
Keyboard extensions may sometimes want to open the main app to perform some operations, or provide a larger UI for settings. Getting back to the keyboard is however unfortunately not as easy.
KeyboardKit Discord Server
Let’s kick off 2024 by launching a brand new KeyboardKit Discord Server, where customers can join to discuss keyboard-related ideas, troubleshoot problems, etc.
KeyboardKit 8.2
KeyboardKit 8.2 is out, with localization improvements and support for Northern and Inari Sámi.
Critical extension crashes in iOS 17.1
This blog post contains important information about a keyboard extension crash that may occur in production in iOS 17.1 (and perhaps even in iOS 17.0).
KeyboardKit 8.1
KeyboardKit 8.1 is out, with some autocomplete and localization improvements. Pro users will also be able to choose language at setup, instead of being bound to the license. Let’s take a look.
Dictation navigation change is reverted
A change that was introducted to make the dictation back navigation work again, is being reverted.
Black Week Deal
As part of the Kankoda Black Week campaign, KeyboardKit Pro is 50% off through Sunday 26th!
Text input crashes in iOS 17
This article discusses a crash that can occur whenever a text input in a custom keyboard extension receives focus in iOS 17.
How to type into a text input within a keyboard extension
This article discusses how to type into a text input within a keyboard extension.
KeyboardKit 7.9.7 Hotfix
A KeyboardKit 7.9.7 hotfix is out, that adds a fix for an occasional crash that can happen the keyboard hosting controller is deinitialized.
KeyboardKit 8
KeyboardKit 8 is finally out! This is a huge update with lots of changes and improvements. Let’s take a look at what you can expect.
KeyboardKit 8 - Release Candidate 3
KeyboardKit 8 RC 3 is out for public access! It adds more migration guides, makes system keyboard previews easier to use and makes the emoji keyboard resolve automatically even for custom views.
Exciting news about the KeyboardKit Pro license model
KeyboardKit 8 will make some really exciting changes to the KeyboardKit Pro license model, that will make it possible to finally offer immediate license activation, free trials, and a monthly plan.
KeyboardKit 8 - Release Candidate 2
KeyboardKit 8 RC 2 is now out for public access! This is an update to release candidate 1 (rc1) and adjusts a few things to prepare the library for the upcoming release.
Gurray - Australian Indigenous Keyboard
Say hello to Gurray - a keyboard for indigenous communication, developed by Australian Anomaly Software for the WCC Language Program.
Type Devanagari - a Sanskrit Keyboard
Say hello to Type Devanagari - a Sanskrit keyboard, developed by indie dev @NatashaTheRobot.
KeyboardKit 8 Release Candidate
KeyboardKit 8 RC 1 is out! This is a huge update with lots of improvements. Let’s take a look at what you can expect.
KeyboardKit app 2.1 is out
A new version of the KeyboardKit app is out! It adds a bunch of new features, such as a new theme and new settings.
KeyboardKit 7.9
KeyboardKit 7.9 is out! This release prepares the library for the upcoming major version bump, by deprecating a lot of stuff. It also adds a bunch of new features, adjusts things and fixes a couple of minor bugs.
New Colorful theme
The upcoming KeyboardKit 7.9 will introduce a new theme with a bunch of style variations. Say hi to Colorful!
Hayatar Armenian keyboard
Say hello to Hayatar - an Armenian keyboard built by Rotterdam-based Arshak Aghakaryan that aims to improve the Armenian typing experience.
The new KeyboardKit app is out
The brand new KeyboardKit app is out! Download it today and let us know what you think.
KeyboardKit 7.8
KeyboardKit 7.8 is out! This release adds more action, style and theme features and fixes a couple of minor bugs and annoyances.
The new KeyboardKit app is now in open beta
The brand new KeyboardKit app is now in open beta! Download it today to try it out and let us know what you think, before it goes live.
KeyboardKit 7.7
KeyboardKit 7.7 is out! This release provides a much better fast-typing experience by introducing a release outside tolerance, tweaks the emoji keyboards and has many other nice features and fixes.
KeyboardKit 7.6
KeyboardKit 7.6 is out! This release fixes a dictation-related problem when submitting apps to the App Store Connect and has a bunch of dictation and emoji-related features and fixes.
Dictation changes
KeyboardKit 7.6 will fix a dictation-related problem, where you had to add dictation permissions to your app when submitting it to the App Store, even if you didn’t use the dictation feature.
KeyboardKit 7.5
KeyboardKit 7.5 is out! It improves the dictation and theme engines and makes them easier to use. It also greatly improves the way KeyboardKit handles locales. It now correctly changes the primary language, which affects text direction, spellchecking and more.
New Dictation Engine
KeyboardKit 7.3 added a beta version of a new dictation engine, that lets you start dictation from a keyboard, perform dictation in the app, then handle the result in the keyboard. Let’s take a look.
New Themes and Styles
The upcoming KeyboardKit 7.4 adds many new style variations to the existing themes, as well as a brand new Aestetic theme from the community.
New Emojis
The upcoming KeyboardKit 7.4 adds new emojis that were added in iOS 16.4, macOS 13.3, tvOS 16.4 and watchOS 9.4, as well as new emoji version tools.
Test licenses and additional bundle IDs
KeyboardKit Pro 7.3 introduces test and development licenses and additional bundle IDs, which can be added to a base license at a discounted price.
KeyboardKit 7.3
KeyboardKit 7.3 is out, with many new features. Say hello to dictation support, theme collections, theme variations…and more.
KeyboardKit 7.2
KeyboardKit 7.2 is out, with many appearance and autocomplete news. It makes the KeyboardKit Pro autocomplete available on all platforms and make it easier than ever to style your keyboard.
Autocomplete is coming to macOS
The local KeyboardKit autocomplete provider will soon be available on all platforms, which means that macOS and watchOS (stubbed) will have it as well.
Improved autocomplete
The KeyboardKit autocomplete experience will be drastically improved in the next minor version. Let’s take a look at what it does and how you can try it out and provide feedback before it goes live.
KeyboardKit 7.1
KeyboardKit 7.1 is out! This minor release fixes a few bugs that were introduced in the 7.0 release, adds a brand new autocomplete experience, improves the locale picker context menu and makes it easier than ever to setup KeyboardKit.
Improved locale context menu
KeyboardKit 7.1 will patch a few things that were overlooked in the 7.0 release. One such thing is improving the locale context menu that is presented when long pressing a locale switcher button.
KeyboardKit 7.0
KeyboardKit 7.0 is out! This major release cleans up and streamlines the library and adds a bunch of new features and improvements that will help taking KeyboardKit to the next level.
How to open your System Settings app screen
KeyboardKit has utilities to easily let you open your app’s System Settings screen. However, you may have noticed that it behaves a little random, and sometimes open the System Settings root instead of your app. Let’s take a look at how to improve this.
KeyboardKit 7 RC
The KeyboardKit 7.0 Release Candidate is finally out and ready to be tested! There many changes and a fair share of breaking changes, so make sure to test it and reach out with feedback, bugs etc.
What to expect in KeyboardKit 7
With KeyboardKit 6.9 out, work will now begin on the next major version. Keyboard 7 is a couple of weeks away, but here are some things to expect from it.
KeyboardKit 6.9 is out
KeyboardKit 6.9 is out, with many new features, as well as changes and deprecations that will help you prepare for and transition to KeyboardKit 7.0, which will be a big step forward for the library.
KeyboardKit 6.8 is out
KeyboardKit 6.8 is out, with many new locales and a new pro keyboard layout provider setup. This release adds 5 new locales, which brings the number of supported locales to 60!
KeyboardKit 6.7 is out
KeyboardKit 6.7 is out, with a bunch of new emoji capabilities as well as various adjustments.
KeyboardKit 6.6 is out
KeyboardKit 6.6 is out, with a brand new gesture engine, new emoji capabilities and a bunch of adjustments and bug fixes to make the typing experience better than ever before.
Keyboard Typing Explained
KeyboardKit is getting a new gesture engine that will make the typing experience a lot closer to the one in native iOS keyboards. But have you ever considered what is involved in typing on a software keyboard? It’s actually a complex combination of gestures and features. Let’s take a closer look at it.
KeyboardKit 6.5 is out
KeyboardKit 6.5 is out, with a bunch of changes to the Pro license model. The release also improves the library documentation by introducing namespaces.
KeyboardKit Pro can now get all text from the proxy
KeyboardKit Pro 6.4.2 has been extended with new text document proxy extensions that let you read all text from the proxy.
KeyboardKit 6.4 is out
KeyboardKit 6.4 is out, and it’s a pretty big one! It provides a new locales, makes a bunch of stuff available on more platforms and converts a bunch of extensions to protocols, so that they show up in the documentation and more types can use them.
KeyboardKit Pro is available on Gumroad!
KeyboardKit Pro licenses can now be purchased via Gumroad. This will make purchasing a license much easier than before, when you had to use services like Xoom or PayPal or use bank transfer.
Multi-platform improvements
KeyboardKit 6.4 will unlock a bunch of types, extensions, mocks and tests for all platforms, which will give you more tools if you develop for macOS, tvOS and watchOS.
KeyboardKit 6.3 is out
KeyboardKit 6.3 is out, with new locales, a bunch of locale-specific input sets, new input sets for QWERTY, QWERTZ and AZERTY, standard numeric and symbolic input sets, new locale and layout utilities and more standard KeyboardKit Pro autocomplete provider improvements.
KeyboardKit 6.2 is out
KeyboardKit 6.2 is out, with a bunch of new emojis, input set updates and more improvements made to the standard KeyboardKit Pro autocomplete provider.
KeyboardKit 6.1 is out
KeyboardKit 6.1 is out, with improved preview capabilities, a bunch of autocomplete improvements and support for Kurdish Sorani (Arabic).
KeyboardKit 6.0 is out
KeyboardKit 6.0 is out, with features such as multi-platform support and new features, adjustments and bug ixes! 🚀 This post describes what it contains and how to best migrate from 5.x.
What to expect in KeyboardKit 6.0
KeyboardKit 6.0 is just around the corner! This post explains what to expect in this major bump.
KeyboardKit 5.9 is out
KeyboardKit 5.9 is out! 🚀 It adds support for 11 new locales and makes the library build on more platforms.
KeyboardKit 5.8 is out
KeyboardKit 5.8 is out! 🚀 It adds support for 9 new locales and renames a bunch of things in preparation for the upcoming 6.0.
KeyboardKit 5.7 is out
KeyboardKit 5.7 is out! 🚀 It adds support for 🇧🇾 Belarusian, 🇨🇿 Czech and 🇷🇴 Romanian, adjust emoji keyboard styles on iPad and much more.
KeyboardKit 5.6 is out
KeyboardKit 5.6 is out! 🚀 It adds support for for 🇧🇷 Brazilian, 🇮🇪 Irish, 🇵🇹 Portuguese and 🇹🇷 Turkish and makes it easier to setup system keyboards.
KeyboardKit 5.5 is out
KeyboardKit 5.5 is out! 🚀 It adds overall RTL support and support for 🇦🇪 Arabic, 🇹🇯 Kurdish Sorani and 🇮🇷 Persian.
KeyboardKit 5.4 is out
KeyboardKit 5.4 is out 🚀 It adds almost 300 new emojis, removes AnyView usage in many places and makes it possible to run KeyboardKit keyboards in the main app.
KeyboardKit 5.3 is out
KeyboardKit 5.3 is out. This version adds support for 🇦🇱 Albanian, 🇮🇸 Icelandic and 🇵🇱 Polish and adds a bunch of new Pro and non-Pro features.
KeyboardKit 5.2 is out
KeyboardKit 5.2 is out. This version adds support for 🇷🇺 Russian and 🇺🇦 Ukrainian and bumps the package’s Swift version to 5.5 to enable DocC support.
KeyboardKit 5.1 is out
Sveika, Latvija! KeyboardKit 5.1 is out, with new features and support for 🇪🇪 Estonian, 🇱🇻 Latvian and 🇱🇹 Lithuanian. Sākam rakstīt!
License Price Changes
After 6 months of KeyboardKit Pro development and new features, the license prices will be adjusted at October 31.
KeyboardKit 5.0 is out
KeyboardKit 5.0 is out! Let’s take a look at some of the changes in this new, major release.
What to expect in KeyboardKit 5.0
Work on KeyboardKit v5 has begun. This post explains what to expect in this new major release.
KeyboardKit App
The KeyboardKit app has been finished and sent to the App Store for review. If approved, this app will let you create custom keyboards directly on your phone and iPad.
Project Updates
The KeyboardKit blog is now public, and with that we want post some updates regarding the project.
KeyboardKit Pro
The KeyboardKit family has a new member - KeyboardKit Pro! It’s a closed-source extension to the open-source library and unlocks pro features that are not available in the core library.
Removing UIKit support in KeyboardKit
This post will discuss why KeyboardKit will remove UIKit-specific tools from the library in the upcoming 4.0 release. You will still be able to use KeyboardKit with UIKit, but the library itself will not contain UIKit-specific tools, system keyboards, demo apps etc.