There are several ways to customize your iPhone's keyboard. But if you want to get colors other than dark gray and white, you have to use third-party apps.
This article tells you how to use dark mode to change the keyboard color. We've included a quick overview of the three main apps, along with some other tips for customizing your keyboard.
Dark mode
Enabling dark mode is a no-brainer. Launch the Settings app, swipe down and select Display & Brightness. The first option that appears is Light and Dark, tap Dark and voila – the iPhone keyboard turns dark gray with white letters.
Expert advice
You can have dark mode at your fingertips and make switching much faster. Launch Settings, go to Control Center and select Customize Controls.
Dark Mode appears under "More Controls" - tap the plus icon to add the option to Control Center. Now you can switch between the two modes with just one click. However, this method has some limitations if you just want to change the keyboard and that's why you can consider using third-party apps.
The three best keyboard apps
1. Fancy key
With over 28 positive reviews, Fancy Key is among the most popular apps in its category. In addition to different keyboard colors, this app offers keyboard themes, effects, emojis and stickers. Other highlights are the built-in auto-correction option and the swipe function.
FancyKey is a free app and you get a lot without paying a penny, including a pretty sizable font library. But if you want to splurge on your keyboard, FancyKey Plus is available with a subscription. Be aware that the price is a little high and you only get a three-day free trial.
2. Color Keyboard: Themes and Skins
As the name suggests, this app is designed to give your iPhone keyboard a splash of color. The changes also affect the chat background, and Color Keyboard does a pretty good job of matching the font color with the background.
Similar to the competition, the app offers emoticons and some smart features to help you type faster. But what sets the Color Keyboard apart is support for over forty languages. The app is free and there are in-app purchases to get even more features.
3. Cool Fonts
This app is from an independent developer, but that's by no means a compromise. Apart from fonts, it offers a ton of keyboards with different buttons and colors. And it also gives you a keyboard with symbols and emoticons only.
Needless to say, Cool Fonts is free with in-app purchases and works best for people who constantly post on social media. Easy installation is another highlight. Even if you've never used this type of app before, you should have no problem setting it up and running it.
Installation of third-party keyboards
After downloading the keyboard you want to use, you need to install and activate it on your iPhone. Here's what you need to do.
Step 1
Tap the Settings app to access the menu, select General, then choose Keyboard.
Step 2
Tap Keyboards at the top of the screen and select "Add new keyboards". You should be able to see the name of the keyboard you want to use under "Third Party Keyboards". Tap it to make a selection and you're good to go.
Notes: After installing the third-party keyboard, you can easily switch between it and the standard version whenever you need to type something.
Set a default keyboard
Again, everything is done through the Keyboard menu under General. As a reminder, you must take the following path.
App Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards
Once in the Keyboards window, tap Edit, move the keyboard you want to use to the top of the list, and tap Done to confirm. Now your preferred keyboard appears whenever you enter a messaging app, for example. Of course, you can always revert to the standard version.
Switch between keyboard
Since switching keyboards has been discussed, it's worth taking a closer look at how to do this. The following explanation assumes that you have installed several native or third-party keyboards.
So, access the keyboard from any app and press and hold the globe icon. As Apple has abandoned force touch, a light touch on the icon should suffice. A small window will appear and just tap on the name of the keyboard to select it. This is also where you can enable or disable predictive text.
Get your true colors
It would be really cool if Apple included native keyboard colors. But for now, you'll have to make do with dark mode and third-party options. Anyway, a colorful keyboard gives your iPhone a personal touch that can be perfectly matched with the iPhone case.
Have you ever used third-party keyboard apps? If so, what was your experience? Feel free to comment in the section below and share your views with the rest of the TechJunkie community.
