How to prevent those annoying texting typos

Review your text message records and you will find a series of errors that make your message look like a ransomware. Spoken errors, random spaces, and funny autocorrect errors are so common that you can find the entire website that specifically covers them. Here’s how to prevent these keyboard betrayals – and type faster in the process.

Why do you make so many typing errors on your phone?

The mobile phone screen is small, while our thumbs are large. This makes us naturally more prone to errors when we poke our phone keyboard with our thick fingers. "It's completely different from typing on a computer," said Angana Ghosh, product manager at Google Gboard. "There is less space on the screen of a phone."

Why can't the keyboard make up for our shortcomings? The problem is that developers have to cater to your typing style, and that varies from person to person. “People hold their phones differently (one-hand and two-hand)” Ghosh said, “and there are many ways to type—one-finger tap, two-thumb tap, gesture typing, predicting users.” It makes it difficult for us to type accurately, and it also makes it difficult to create a good mobile keyboard.

Some people even think that our standard QWERTY keyboard itself is inefficient, both on mobile and desktop. “Historically, the choice of keyboard layouts has been based on the ratio between its efficiency and the efforts required by the user,” said Olivier Plante, the company CEO behind the popular Fleksy keyboard. “In the near future, we will see the introduction of a new layout adapted to digital interfaces and gesture-based typing,” he said.

While several companies have introduced very different keyboard paradigms, such as gesture-based 8pen, they are not really popular. Even the "sliding" typing on standard QWERTY layouts available on many of the most popular smartphone keyboards has not become common. Not many people want to learn to type from scratch—even if that improves their efficiency in the long run—we stick to the keyboard layout we are familiar with.

Thankfully, many keyboard manufacturers have redoubled their efforts to make up for the lack of touch screen typing. But to take advantage of these benefits, you may need to install a new keyboard.

Select a new layout

To reduce errors, you need a keyboard with many settings that you can adjust to suit your typing style. This usually requires downloading a third-party keyboard from your phone's app store.

Android phones can customize the keyboard more than iPhones. However, you can find a dedicated layout for both systems. Here are some of the keyboards we recommend.

1. Gboard (for iOS and Android): Technically, Gboard is the default keyboard on Google Android phones, but on iPhones and heavily modified Android devices like Samsung Galaxy series , it requires a third-party download. Gboard offers sliding typing, emoji suggestions, voice input (via Google’s extremely powerful voice recognition), and many settings to customize the layout to reduce errors. However, the Android version offers much more settings than the iOS version.
2. SwiftKey (for iOS and Android): SwiftKey is first about text prediction. While most keyboards provide a bar at the top that suggests it thinks the words you are trying to write, SwiftKey's biggest goal is to make these suggestions as accurate as possible. Not only does it learn from what you type on your phone, but you can also connect it to your Google or Microsoft account so it can learn your emails, text messages and other writing content. It also offers sliding typing, and on Android, its layout is extremely customizable.
3. Fleksy (for iOS and Android): If SwiftKey is a little too invasive to you, then take a look at Fleksy. It does all the processing on your phone without sending any of your data to Fleksy's servers. Unfortunately, its automatic prediction feature is not that good, and it doesn't have the option to swipe typing. However, on iOS, it is the most customizable of all three keyboards, thanks to the way it uses extensions to adjust its layout. Fleksy's Android version has customization that is comparable to other keyboards.

These keyboards should be a good starting point, but if none of them are suitable for you, feel free to browse your app store to see what's available.

Installing and enabling third-party keyboards

After downloading a new keyboard, you need to enable it from your phone's settings—this requires more clicks than you expected.

If you are using an iPhone, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboard and click "Add New Keyboard". To enable some of its features, you may also need to click on the keyboard in the results list and then switch to "Allow Full Access". Next time you enter the app and want to start typing, you should be able to switch between keyboards by tapping and holding down the globe or emoji icon in the lower right corner.

On Android, go to Settings > System > Language & entries > Virtual Keyboard , then click "Manage Keyboard" and open your new download. Go into an app and bring up your keyboard, you can switch between options by clicking the small keyboard icon (in the navigation bar) in the lower right corner of your phone’s screen. However, these instructions may vary depending on your Android phone model.

Custom keys to simplify typing

If you use one of our recommended keyboards on Android, or use Fleksy on iOS, you will find quite a few customization options in the settings for that keyboard. It's not just about colors and GIFs—many of these tweaks allow you to change the size, shape, and layout of your keyboard to make typing easier.

In particular, check the settings for some of the following adjustments.

• Resize the keyboard . You may be able to move the keyboard to the left or right side of the screen to make it easier to type with one hand or split it in half to make it easier to type with both hands. Some apps also let you zoom in or out of the keyboard completely — as Ghosh says, “The bigger the better!” Larger keys provide easier targets for clumsy thumbs.
• Add number lines. If you type numbers frequently, you can add a row of numbers at the top. This will allow your keyboard to take up more screen space, but it also allows you to access numbers without having to click or long press extra keys.
• Enable gesture. Some keyboards offer more gestures than others, but overall, this setting allows you to delete words by swiping left, capitalize letters by swiping up or from the Shift key, and take advantage of other shortcut keys.
• Slide to type. Sometimes called "sliding typing" or "gestic typing", which allows you to type by sliding your fingers between keys. Once you get to know it, it may actually be faster than clicking to type.
• View topic. Theme is not just for interesting colors and patterns. Some also add outlines on the key border, which may help you better aim when trying to click on the key.
• Add words to your dictionary. Are non-standard words often used, such as "homeskillet" and "awesomesauce"? You can add these words to your personal dictionary so your keyboard doesn't keep "correcting" you. Some options, such as Gboard, also allow you to add your contact's name to your keyboard with just a tap of the switch.
• Sync your dictionary. Many keyboards allow you to sync personal dictionaries extracted from your Google, Microsoft, or other accounts. Doing this will reduce the autocorrect errors, especially if you have multiple devices or just get a new phone. If you enable this feature in SwiftKey, you can also give the keyboard access to your emails and text messages, allowing it to learn more information faster.
• Opdate code snippet sharing. By default, Gboard and SwiftKey share their typing anonymous code snippets with their servers to make their predictions better for everyone. If you want to turn it off, you can do so in the settings of your keyboard. This won't change your experience, though, but you may feel guilty about knowing that you've contributed less to the overall improvement of your keyboard. Or not.

Dive in depth on your keyboard settings and see what other features it offers. You may find that your biggest annoyance is actually something that can be solved, resulting in an easier and more accurate typing experience.

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