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Sometimes tiny tweaks to tech can make life much easier. Google just released an update to Gboard that does just that. With this update, Gboard lets users “feel” the keys as they tap them.
Gboard for iPhone now has what’s called haptic feedback, meaning that when you tap a key on the Gboard keyboard, you will feel a slight vibration. This feedback makes it seem more as if you’re taping an actual physical keyboard instead of a virtual one on a glass screen.
Typing on a glass phone screen can be challenging, but with this update to Gboard, you may find typing much easier. You’ll be able to feel when you’ve tapped a key, which may help you type faster and make fewer errors.
Gboard is Google’s keyboard, available free in the App Store: Gboard for iPhone and iPad.
Don’t miss => Gboard: The Keyboard with (Almost) Everything You Could Want
Haptic feedback in Gboard works not only for touch typing but for swipe typing as well. If you use Gboard to swipe across the keys to type (instead of tapping each individual key) you’ll feel the haptic feedback when you’ve finished swiping a word.
This update to Gboard was released last week by Google. In order to get haptic feedback on your Gboard keyboard, you must update the app and enable Haptic Feedback in the app settings.
If you use Gboard, you may want to try haptic feedback to see whether you find this update to be helpful for your typing. If you find it doesn’t help, or you find it to be annoying, you can always disable it.
Note that haptic feedback helps you feel the keys as you press them, but you won’t hear them. Haptic feedback on Gboard doesn’t make noise as you type so you can still type silently on your iPhone.
How to Get Haptic Feedback for Gboard
To get haptic feedback for Gboard you must first update the Gboard app to the latest version. Go to the App Store app and tap Updates in the lower menu. Find the Gboard app and tap Update.
Note that if you use Gboard on your iPad, haptic feedback is not available (as of this writing), even with the update. As of this writing, Gboard for Android does not yet have a haptic feedback update.
You must enable haptic feedback in the Gboard app on your iPhone after you update. The updated Gboard app does not automatically turn on haptic feedback.
After the update has downloaded, open the Gboard app and tap Keyboard Settings in the menu. Scroll down to Enable haptic feedback on key press and slide the switch to On.
Open an app that allows typing, such as email, text messages, Facebook, Twitter or any other app where your keyboard appears. Start typing to try out the haptic feedback. You should feel a slight vibration when you tap a key, making typing on your iPhone feel more like typing on a physical keyboard.
If that doesn’t happen, check to see whether you are actually using Gboard as your keyboard. With they keyboard open, press and hold the globe icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. The keyboards you have enabled on your iPhone should appear in a menu. Tap Gboard to use that as your keyboard.
You can set Gboard as the first keyboard in your iPhone globe menu by going into your iPhone Settings => General => Keyboard => Keyboards. There you will see the keyboards you have on your iPhone in the order in which they appear in your Globe menu.
Tap Edit at the top of the screen to rearrange the order in which the keyboards will appear in the globe menu. Move Gboard to the top by pressing on the three stacked lines on the right of the screen and dragging Gboard up to have it appear first in the globe menu.
Tap Done when you’re finished rearranging your keyboards.
Your Thoughts
Do you find typing on a glass screen to be challenging? Do you like the idea of feeling the keys as you type? Do you use Gboard as your primary keyboard?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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* Woman typing on iPhone image by Paul Hanaoka via Unsplash and Creative Commons
