Purchase and installation
I bought the app on Google Play but it will not download. What happens?
Usually it’s because the payment authorization failed for your credit card. Check if you received a mail from Google asking you to fix your credit card (or check your order status on Google Checkout), and try again with another credit card if possible. Note that Smart Keyboard PRO is distributed by Google Payment UK, so please check that you are able to buy in foreign countries with your credit card (especially if you buy from the US). You may need to contact your bank to get this authorization, or use another credit card if possible. If you still don’t manage to buy through Google Play, check this page for other payment methods. You can find more details on the forum.
How can I update the app if I bought it with PayPal and not Google Play?
When you buy Smart keyboard Pro directly with PayPal, you receive an email containing a license key and a download link; you just need to download again from this same link to get updated versions. Note that Google Play can notify you that an update is available even if you didn’t buy from the Market.
I’m trying to update but Smart Keyboard Pro remains in “downloading” state in Google Play app. What can I do?
Google Play app may get stuck in downloading state and can even force close if you try to cancel the download. In that case you need to reset the market data, with the following procedure: Settings > Applications > Manage applications > All > Market > Force stop then Clear data and cache
How do I enable the keyboard?
There are several methods depending on the version of Android installed on your device, see the user’s guide.
I installed the Trial version and then purchased the Pro version, but I still get the popup asking to buy. What happens?
The Trial and Pro versions are two different apps. Even when you install the Pro version, you will still use the Trial version if you do nothing special. After having installed the Pro version, you need to enable it as current input method, exactly like you did for the Trial version (i.e. you need to enable “Smart Keyboard Pro” in your language & input settings, pull the status bar when the keyboard is visible, and choose “select input method” in the menu). If you want, you can transfer your settings from the Trial to the Pro version (by doing a “Backup to SD” in the Trial settings, and a “Restore from Trial” in the Pro settings), and then you can uninstall the Trial version, it’s not needed any more. Note that if you bought the Pro version through PayPal (and not Google Play) you should receive an email with download instructions to install the Pro version on your phone.
Can I install the app on my new phone, or if I reset my phone?
Yes, once you paid on Google Play, you can download the app again when you want, on the same phone or on a new phone, as long as you use the same Google account in Android Market. You should not need to pay again to install the app again, if that’s the case send a mail to be refunded.
Do you charge for updates?
No. Updates should always be free with Google Play. Even if you see “authorizing card” when you install an update, it doesn’t mean you are being charged again, it just means that Google checks that you already purchased the app.
Does it really collect my passwords?
No! This is a standard Android warning displayed each time you install a replacement keyboard. This application doesn’t use the “INTERNET ACCESS” permission, so don’t worry. You can read more details on the forum. You can also check this page containing the list of Android permissions required by the keyboard.
I cannot download dictionaries on Google Play, what can I do?
You can also download them here.
Common issues
Voice input randomly fails with the error “Couldn’t connect”.
The update of Google Search app from 2015, Jan 12th broke the speech recognizer service used by Smart Keyboard. See this bug report. The problem is fixed in Smart Keyboard 4.9.4 for English.
The phone reverts back to stock keyboard after reboot.
It happens when Smart Keyboard is installed on a location which is not available when the phone starts, such as an external SD card. Make sure you installed the app on the internal storage, and you didn’t use “app2sd”. The problem also happens on Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android Jelly Bean, due to a bug Samsung introduced in this version (paid apps are installed on the wrong location). There is currently no solution except waiting for a fix from Samsung, but you can try uninstalling/reinstalling the app, as it sometimes help.
The keyboard “sticks” on the screen, what can I do?
This may happen after you installed the keyboard (or after an update) due to an Android bug. Just restart your phone and it should not happen again.
Auto-correction doesn’t work in English?
Of course, it works, but since version 3.6.0 you need to install the English dictionary, which is another application on Google Play: “English for Smart Keyboard”
I cannot use arrow keys in Samsung email or SMS client.
This is a bug (feature?) of Samsung apps, which intercept the “right arrow” keyboard event and ignore it. Unfortunately nothing can be done to fix that.
The space bar often doesn’t work, what happens?
If you have WaveLauncher installed, see this topic on the forum.
Why don’t all Better Keyboard skins work?
Some skins are protected by their author and cannot be loaded by Smart Keyboard, that’s why they do not appear in the skin list.
I get a Force Close, what should I do?
It’s not normal, please send me a mail with the phone logs if that happens (thanks to the ‘Log Collector’ app). If you use Cyanogen Mod or another custom ROM, you may need to fix permissions with an app called “Rom Manager”. Important: if you upgrade from a version installed before 24 May 2010, you may have a crash with old android versions. Then the solution is to completely uninstall the app, and reinstall it again.
Why are letters reversed in the prediction bar when using Arabic or Hebrew?
There is a bug in most versions of Android which causes wrong display of right-to-left languages such as Arabic. Smart Keyboard uses a workaround to this bug to display suggestions correctly, but this workaround causes problems with some Android versions which already have a fix for this bug, so in that case you need to disable the option “RTL suggestions” in the keyboard language settings.
Why are letters not connected when typing in Arabic?
Android had poor Arabic support until version 3.0 (Honeycomb). In particular, the font included in most Android devices doesn’t support proper connection between arabic letters, and the keyboard is not responsible of that. The only solution is to root your device and change the system font, or install an alternative ROM (such as CyanogenMod) handling Arabic properly.
I see squares instead of letters on the keyboard.
It will happen if you try to use a language (such as arabic, hebrew or georgian) which requires a special font to be displayed. Hebrew and arabic fonts have been added in Android starting from version 2.2 (Froyo), but for other languages and/or older android versions, you need to install a font on your phone. This can be done only a rooted phone (you need to flash the firmware to do that), by replacing the system font (a procedure is explained here). For arabic, you can also use a custom ROM with arabic support such as this one.
There are lags when I use the keyboard, what can I do?
Lags usually happen when the android systems tries to free some memory (for several reasons). This may be due to other apps running on your phone, not to the keyboard itself, so try to kill some apps to free some resources (with Task Killer for instance). Also, don’t turn on “debug logs” if you don’t need to, as it will decrease the overall performance of the keyboard. You can also improve the performance by disabling some options, especially the “Smart dictionary” and the “Dynamic key resizing” (in advanced settings). Completely disabling predictions will improve performance too, if you don’t need them, but of course you will lose functionality.
Multitouch doesn’t work.
You need at least Android 2.0 for this feature. Important! If you have a HTC Desire or similar phone, multitouch may be broken in all apps when you install the keyboard; you need to restart your phone to fix this permanently.
The keyboard doesn’t disappear or doesn’t resize correctly when switching to landscape. What can I do?
This may happen due to a bug in Android when you install or update the keyboard. Rebooting your phone should fix the problem.
When I send a SMS, my recipient can only see ????? or a bunch of random characters
This is not due to the keyboard, but to the fact that Android uses UTF-16 to encode SMS which contain characters not included in the standard 7 bit SMS alphabet. As UTF-16 is not supported by all phones and carriers, your recipient may not be able to read such SMS. For some languages a workaround is to use Handcent SMS, which has options to encode SMS differently, otherwise there is not much you can do. For Greek, a workaround is to only use capitalized letters, as they are part of the SMS alphabet.
Backup/restore of the preferences don’t work
Make sure your phone not plugged, this could prevent access to the SD card, which is required for the backup process.
Common questions
How do I use Emojis?
See the dedicated article.
How can I add a word to the user dictionary?
Just long press on the word in the suggestion bar. You can also edit the user dictionary in the keyboard settings
How do I turn on T9 mode?
Go to the keyboard settings > “General Settings” > “Portrait Mode” > “T9”. Note that you can define a swipe gesture to switch quickly between QWERTY and T9 modes.
How can I enter smileys quickly?
By default the Enter key becomes a smiley key when you are texting (you can change this option in the General keyboard settings), but it only works in the stock Android messaging app. However you can always do a long press on the Enter key to get the smiley panel, so you can set the “Smiley key” option to off.
How can I insert a new line? I only have a smiley key…
Turn off the Smiley key option (see the previous question).
Is there an option to increase spacing between keys?
No. It’s just a matter of using another skin, see the forum for more details.
Where is the £ sign?
It’s in the alt symbols panel: press 123 key then Alt. You can also get it with a long press on L key if you choose “English (international)” layout instead of “English”, or directly with the D key if you choose “English (UK)” layout.
Why is there an icon on the application drawer?
It is needed to have an “Open” button available when you install the app. However you can disable it in the keyboard advanced settings
What is a “swipe gesture”?
It consists in sliding a finger across the keyboard. You can do it from left to right, top to bottom, or the opposite direction.
How do I use custom AutoText?
Just add a shortcut in the “Custom AutoText” settings, for instance “br -> Best Regards”, and then each time you type “br”, the dictionary will suggest “Best Regards” in the prediction bar. Note that AutoText only work when predictions are on, so you may need to enable the option “Always suggest” to have it working everywhere.
Be careful if you use AutoText with T9 (or compact) mode: your shortcut must be defined with the first letter of the corresponding keys. For instance if you want to replace “br” by “Best Regards” in T9, your shortcut has to be “ap -> Best Regards”, as “a” the first letter of “abc” key and “p” is the first letter of “pqrs” key.
How can I get a comma key instead of the mic key?
Just disable the “Mic button” in the settings. You can use a swipe gesture to trigger voice input
How do I use the smiley editor?
The smiley editor allows you to customize the contents of the smiley key. You just need to go to “Smiley Editor” in the keyboard settings, and press a smiley in the list to edit it.