Android Keyboards in 2026: 4 Checked on Play and F-Droid

Updated August 2026 · rebuilt from two Google Play listings and three F-Droid entries, all read on 15 August 2026

A keyboard is handed every character typed into every other app on the phone, so this page keeps to what the two catalogues actually publish about these four and says where each of them stops. It does not rank them on privacy: two of the four have a data handling declaration to read, and in both cases it is a declaration rather than a finding.

For the standing picks across the whole category, the keyboard roundup covers the wider field.

How to read the Ads column. Only the two Play rows use it, and No there means that listing carried no Contains ads label on 15 August 2026. The label exists on Google Play and nowhere else, so the other two rows are not scored on it at all: a merged cell records a catalogue with no such field, not an app found to carry no advertising.

The fullest record here: the longest data safety declaration and the largest ratings base

Google LLC · Rating 4.5 stars from 18,770,423 ratings · Install band 10,000,000,000+, the count Google Play prints and not a count of people · Free to install, with no in-app purchases shown · Play listing updated 14 August 2026 · Contains ads: No · checked 15 August 2026

Google Play listing · 4.5 (18,770,423) · read 15 August 2026

Gboard is Google’s own keyboard, and its Play listing is the fullest record this page reads: 4.5 stars from 18,770,423 ratings, free to install, no in-app purchases shown, and no Contains ads label on the entry. The blunt part sits in the same listing. Its Data Safety section declares no data shared with third parties and, in the same breath, that the app may collect these data types.

That section, read on 15 August 2026, carries 5 lines: no data shared with third parties; this app may collect these data types; data is encrypted in transit; data can’t be deleted; independent security review. Each is a declaration made to Google by the developer rather than an audit result, and the word may belongs to the declaration. Skip it if a declaration that the app may collect these data types is a deal breaker: that line is on the listing, and nothing here qualifies it further. Choose Gboard over Unexpected Keyboard if the weight of a listing is what reassures you: its rating rests on a far larger number of ratings, and its data safety declaration is the longer of the two on this page.

• Good: Its Play entry was updated the day before this check, so the listing text on it is current rather than months old.
• Good: The listing shows no in-app purchases and carries no ads label, so nothing on the entry points at a paid tier.
• Good: Its Data Safety section names an independent security review, which no other entry on this page declares.
• Con: That same section says data can’t be deleted, and declares that the app may collect these data types: a statement of possibility, not a promise of restraint.
• Con: A star average built from that many ratings covers years of releases and every language on the keyboard, so it says nothing about the build shipping this week.
• Con: The install band, 10,000,000,000+, is the count Google Play prints rather than a count of people, so it measures distribution and not satisfaction.

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The one entry read here from both catalogues, so the two kinds of field sit side by side

Juloo · Rating 4.3 stars from 3,499 ratings · Install band 500,000+ on Play, a count of installs and not of people · Free to install, with no in-app purchases shown · Play listing updated 25 May 2026 · Also on F-Droid: version 2.0.4, added 1 July 2026, licence GPL-3.0-only, a New in version 2.0.4 block headed Bug fixes, and no Anti-Feature flag, which records what F-Droid has flagged and is not a finding about advertising (F-Droid entry, read 15 August 2026) · Contains ads: No · checked 15 August 2026

Google Play listing · 4.3 (3,499) · read 15 August 2026

Unexpected Keyboard is the one entry this page reads from both catalogues, which makes it the plainest illustration of what each one publishes. Google Play gives it 4.3 stars from 3,499 ratings, a 500,000+ install band, free with no in-app purchases and no Contains ads label. What this page reads from its F-Droid entry is a version, the date that version was added, a licence, a summary, a description, a change list and a permissions list, and not one of those is a Play field. The blunt part: its Play Data Safety section declares no data collected, and a declaration is the developer’s word to Google rather than an audit.

Its F-Droid entry, read on 15 August 2026, summarises it as a lightweight and privacy-conscious virtual keyboard for Android, and its description there states that the application contains no ads and is open source. Both are the project speaking about its own work. Privacy-conscious is an aim rather than a finding, and the sentence about advertising is a developer statement, not a catalogue label: the label that can be checked is on the Play side, and that listing carries none. Skip it if a rating built on a large number of ratings is what reassures you, because its own rests on far fewer than the other Play entry here. Choose Unexpected Keyboard over HeliBoard if you want an entry that carries store fields at all, since HeliBoard is on F-Droid only and has none.

• Good: Its two dates measure different things, and the newer of them is the one on the repository side: F-Droid added version 2.0.4 on 1 July 2026, while the 25 May 2026 on its Play listing dates the listing text. This page keeps the two apart rather than calling either one a release.
• Good: Its Play Data Safety section declares no data collected and no data shared with third parties, where the other Play entry here declares that it may collect these data types.
• Good: Licence GPL-3.0-only on its F-Droid entry: a modified build passed on to anyone else has to come with its source under the same terms.
• Con: No data collected is a declaration made to Google by the developer rather than an audit result, and nothing on either entry tests it.
• Con: Neither catalogue gives a release date for it. Play prints when the listing was updated and F-Droid prints when a build was added to the repository, and those are two different events, weeks apart here for the same version number.
• Con: The permissions F-Droid lists for build 2.0.4 include viewing network connections and full network access. A permissions list records what a build may reach, not what it sends, and it sits beside a Play declaration of no data collected with nothing on either entry to reconcile the two.

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The most recent date here: version 4.0, added to F-Droid on 12 July 2026

Version 4.0, added to F-Droid on 12 July 2026 · Licence GNU General Public License v3.0 only, SPDX id GPL-3.0-only · Summary published on F-Droid: Customizable open-source keyboard · The entry carries a New in version 4.0 block listing 11 changes · Permissions listed for that build: read your contacts, read and write the user dictionary, run at startup, control vibration, and one the app defines for itself · Built and signed by the original developer, with F-Droid’s guarantee that it corresponds to the published source; the current builds on the other two F-Droid entries here are built by F-Droid and carry that same guarantee · No Anti-Feature flag, which records what F-Droid has flagged and is not a finding about advertising · No rating, review count, install band, price or Contains ads label is published for any app in this catalogue, and there is no Data Safety section · No Google Play listing: play.google.com returned a 404 for its package on 15 August 2026 · F-Droid entry, read 15 August 2026

F-Droid entry · no rating or install count is published there to quote · read 15 August 2026

HeliBoard carries the most recent date on this page, and its entry says what moved as well as when: F-Droid added version 4.0 on 12 July 2026, with a change list printed above the description. What neither catalogue publishes for it is a rating, a review count, an install band, a price or an ads label. Google Play lists nothing at all for its package, its F-Droid entry has none of those five fields to give, and the permissions that entry prints for this build include reading your contacts.

The description on its F-Droid entry, read on 15 August 2026, reads in the project’s own words: HeliBoard is a privacy-conscious open-source keyboard, based on AOSP / OpenBoard. Does not use internet permission, and thus is 100% offline. That is the project describing its own build, not a finding, and nothing here ran the keyboard. What can be set beside it is the permissions list on the same entry, which names no network permission at all for this version. Skip it if you want a published rating, an install band or a data handling declaration before you install anything: this entry carries none of the three. Choose HeliBoard over FlorisBoard if a recently added version with a documented change list is what decides it, because F-Droid has added nothing newer for FlorisBoard since November 2025 and that entry lists no changes for any of its builds at all.

• Good: The entry does more than date the version. It carries a New in version 4.0 block listing 11 changes, among them add floating keyboard and fix security issue when restoring backup from manipulated zip file, so the record says what moved and not only when.
• Good: The permissions it prints for that build name no network permission of any kind, which is the checkable thing on the record that bears on the project’s own offline claim.
• Good: Licence GPL-3.0-only, so a modified build passed on to anyone else has to come with its source under the same terms, and every version its entry lists carries its own change list rather than only a date.
• Con: The permissions it does list for that build include reading your contacts, alongside reading and writing the user dictionary. That is what the build may reach rather than a declaration of what it collects, and this catalogue has no Data Safety section to set beside it.
• Con: That same change list opens with add background gesture data gathering, and an earlier version’s block on the same entry carries fix issues with active gesture data gathering. The entry does not say what is gathered or where it goes, and this catalogue publishes no data handling declaration to set beside it.
• Con: Its own description says glide typing works only with a closed source library, which it also says is not included in the app, so one listed feature needs a file fetched from somewhere else.

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In beta by its own summary · nothing newer added to F-Droid since November 2025

Version 0.5.2, added to F-Droid on 29 November 2025 · Licence Apache License 2.0, SPDX id Apache-2.0 · Author Patrick Goldinger · Summary published on F-Droid: An open-source keyboard which respects your privacy. Currently in beta. · The entry carries no New in version block for any of the three builds it lists · Permissions listed for the current build: show notifications, control vibration, and one the app defines for itself · No Anti-Feature flag, which records what F-Droid has flagged and is not a finding about advertising · No rating, review count, install band, price or Contains ads label is published for any app in this catalogue, and there is no Data Safety section · No Google Play listing: play.google.com returned a 404 for its package on 15 August 2026 · F-Droid entry, read 15 August 2026

F-Droid entry · no rating or install count is published there to quote · read 15 August 2026

FlorisBoard is the one entry here that fails the freshness threshold this page applies to all four. The three builds its entry lists were added in August, September and November 2025, and nothing has been added since. Google Play lists nothing for its package either, so there is no rating and no price to weigh, and the entry names no changes for any of those three builds.

Read this first. The summary on its F-Droid entry, read on 15 August 2026, still reads An open-source keyboard which respects your privacy. Currently in beta. A keyboard whose own summary calls it beta, and whose newest build reached F-Droid in November 2025, is the plainest thing this page has to tell you. Nothing in the record says the project has stopped. It says that no newer version has been added there.

Respects your privacy in that summary is the project’s claim about the project’s own work, and this catalogue carries no data handling section that could be set against it. Skip it if you want software the people who wrote it call finished: this one is labelled beta on its own entry. Choose FlorisBoard over HeliBoard only if a permissive licence matters to you more than a recently added version and a documented change list, because on the dates their catalogue publishes HeliBoard is the fresher of the two.

• Good: Licence Apache-2.0, which unlike the copyleft licence on the other two F-Droid entries here does not require a modified build to be passed on with its source.
• Good: The three builds its entry lists each request the same three permissions, and the entry describes each of them as built by F-Droid and guaranteed to correspond to the published source.
• Good: The permissions its entry lists for the current build are the shortest read here: show notifications, control vibration, and one the app defines for itself, with no network and no contacts permission among them.
• Con: F-Droid has carried the same version since November 2025, 8 months before this check and by a wide margin the longest gap of the three F-Droid entries read here.
• Con: Its entry carries no New in version block for any of the three builds it lists, so nothing on it says what changed between them, and beta is still the project’s word for the newest of them after that gap.
• Con: Its summary claims to respect your privacy, and what can be set beside that claim on the entry is the permissions list, which names no network and no contacts permission for the current build. That is what the build may reach, not a data handling declaration, and this catalogue publishes none.

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One threshold, applied to all four: an entry counts as current here when the newest date its own catalogue publishes for it falls inside six months of 15 August 2026, and stale when it does not. One of the four fails it.

The two catalogues do not measure the same event. Google Play prints an updated date for the listing as a whole. F-Droid prints the date on which one specific version was added to its repository. Neither of those is a release date, and this page prints no release date for any of the four, because nothing read for it carries one. Unexpected Keyboard is the clearest case: it appears in both catalogues, and its two dates are weeks apart for the same version number.

• Gboard: Play listing updated 14 August 2026, the day before this check. Current.
• Unexpected Keyboard: Play listing updated 25 May 2026; F-Droid added version 2.0.4 on 1 July 2026. Current on both counts.
• HeliBoard: version 4.0 added to F-Droid on 12 July 2026. Current.
• FlorisBoard: version 0.5.2 added to F-Droid on 29 November 2025, 8 months before this check. Stale, and still called beta by its own summary.

Everything typed anywhere on the phone passes through the keyboard, so the data question is the one that matters most in this category. This page cannot settle it, and the reason is worth stating plainly rather than papering over with reassurance.

• Two entries have a Data Safety section on Google Play. Read on 15 August 2026, Gboard’s declares no data shared with third parties, says the app may collect these data types, says data is encrypted in transit, says data can’t be deleted, and notes an independent security review. Unexpected Keyboard’s declares no data shared with third parties and no data collected. Every one of those lines is a declaration made to Google by the developer rather than an audit finding, and where the declaration says may, the may stays.
• F-Droid publishes no data safety section. For HeliBoard and FlorisBoard there is no equivalent declaration to read, so nothing here sets those two against the Play entries on data handling. No declaration is not a clean declaration.
• What each F-Droid entry does carry about reach is a permissions list, and the three read here differ. FlorisBoard requests two permissions plus one it defines for itself. HeliBoard requests five plus one of its own, among them reading your contacts, reading and writing the user dictionary, and running at startup, and it does not ask for the notifications permission FlorisBoard does. Unexpected Keyboard is the only one of the three asking for network access. A permissions list is what a build may reach. It is not a record of what a build sends, and none of the three entries publishes an observed record of that.
• All three F-Droid entries use the word privacy about their own projects, two of them in the summary and one in the description below it. That is a project describing its own aim. It is not an audit.
• An open source licence is a fact about the code: what may be read, changed and passed on. It is not a privacy guarantee, not an ad-free guarantee and not a quality guarantee, and nothing above treats a licence as evidence about behaviour.

The fields this page read are listed in the How we verify box above, and that list is what everything here rests on. It is not an inventory of the entries themselves: each one also carries a description, a build size, a signature, a build log, project links and, on two of the three, a per version change list. Where this page says a field is absent, it means absent from the catalogue, and it was checked on the entry rather than assumed.

Checked 15 August 2026: this page was rebuilt from what two catalogues publish, both read on 15 August 2026: the Google Play listings for Gboard and Unexpected Keyboard, and the F-Droid entries for Unexpected Keyboard, HeliBoard and FlorisBoard. Google Play returned no listing at all for the HeliBoard and FlorisBoard packages on that date, and the page now says so instead of leaving the gap unexplained. Not one figure was carried over from the previous version.

Entries removed: FUTO Keyboard, Acti and the section on Gboard Rambler, together with the list of keyboards with no 2026 news that named Microsoft SwiftKey and Typewise, and the note excluding an AI-branded theme keyboard sold as 2026 Keyboard. The 2026 claims the page carried for those came from a technical report, from press coverage and from release notes, none of which was re-read on this pass, so none of it survives here. No block was deleted: every section whose subject left now carries copy sourced from the two catalogues.

Retracted: the previous version reported FlorisBoard’s newest build as 0.6.0-alpha02 on IzzyOnDroid, dated January 2026. F-Droid, read on 15 August 2026, lists 0.5.2 as the newest version, added 29 November 2025. The alpha version numbers and the swipe benchmark percentages went with the sections that carried them. Also retracted: the caption phrase “captured in-app by us on Android 14”, which credited two of the screenshot galleries to this site rather than to the projects. The site rule is verified rather than tested, and that phrase does not meet it in a caption any more than in prose.

Added: one decision table, since the page carried none at all, and a dated How we verify box naming both sources. The two entries Google Play does not list are not scored in its Price, Ads and Rating columns. All three are Play fields, and a No in an Ads column would read as a finding about the app rather than as a gap in the catalogue, so each of those two rows takes one merged cell that says which fields are missing and why. Neither of their sections prints an ads label of any kind. The verdict capsule was rewritten rather than added: the one the page carried opened on what shipped in 2026 and named two entries this pass withdraws. The title no longer promises new keyboards either: none of the four carries a release date in anything read for this page, because a listing update and a version being added to a repository are neither of them a release. The screenshot galleries are not in this pass: the two with the retracted caption had to go, and the three published by the projects themselves were held back with them so that every entry keeps the same skeleton. They can return in a media pass. The FAQ that shipped before this pass used the first person seven times across three of its five items; the replacement FAQ uses it nowhere.