Regardless of how we feel about virtual keyboards, many of us type more words on our phones than anywhere else. If you’re frustrated by the keyboard on your Samsung Galaxy phone, not only can you swap it out for an alternative, but you can even create your own!
All you need is Keys Cafe
Yes, there’s a Good Lock module for everything
I used to resent the popularity of Galaxy phones, but Samsung devices gradually won me over, and their immense customizability is a big part of the reason why. If you haven’t already heard of Good Lock, head to the Play Store and download it now.
This one app is reason enough to purchase Samsung phones. Through the use of various modules, you can configure virtually any aspect of your phone. No other phone maker’s options even come close.
To take complete control over your keyboard, you want to install a module known as Keys Cafe. Just scroll down the list of available modules after opening the app. You can’t miss it.
You can change the color and animation of every key
Most phone keyboards come with a handful of themes. There’s usually a light and dark theme, along with a high contrast option or two. The differences between them aren’t that stark. While you might be able to tell the difference between the iPhone, Google Pixel, and Samsung Galaxy keyboards just by looking at them, they still feel a bit samey. After all, each has to appeal to the widest number of people.
Keys Cafe gives you the freedom to express yourself. Do you like for virtual keys to have a shape or do you prefer to see only letters against a flat background? Want each key to have an outline or a drop-shadow? You can even make your keys lime green against a bright pink background if that’s your jam.
In addition, Keys Cafe comes with a handful of animations that can occur when you press a button. As you type, your keys can shake, bounce, expand, or shrink.
Personally, I’ve come to Keys Cafe primarily to have fun with the way my keyboard looks. You may find my personal taste boring, as I’ve created a white keyboard whose keys have minimal contrast and where the key press animation is a subtle flash of gray. It’s like I’m writing on a cloud. For a time, though, I made my keys shake and glow a random color each time.
But appearances aren’t everything, and for others, I imagine that might not even be this module’s primary draw.
Change which keys you see, and where
Your keyboard is what you make it
One appeal of Android keyboards over the iPhone’s is that they allow you to hold down on a character to select an alternate character. You also have the option to keep a number row always visible. These options are barely scratching the surface of what Keys Cafe can do.
Keys Cafe offers a full keyboard builder. You’re presented with a grid of available keys at the top of the screen that you can drag onto your virtual keyboard in order to change the placement of available keys. If you regularly write in Roman numerals, you can create a number row of those. If there are special characters you enter all the time, like the em dash or the Euro symbol, you can give them a permanent spot on your primary keyboard—saving yourself from tapping the character key time and time again.
There are games and metrics to improve your typing
Phone keyboards have never been this much fun
When you open Keys Cafe, the first thing you see are metrics showing how many words you’ve typed each day and how many you’ve been able to churn out per minute. It’s a fun little stat that gives you an idea of how prolific you are on a virtual keyboard.
More amusingly, there are also typing games baked into the module. These are much simpler than the best typing games for your PC, but they are a good way to test out whether your keyboard works for you. I spent time adjusting the height and width of my keyboard and then playing a typing game to see which configuration suited me best.
There are two games on offer, with one giving you various phrases to type as quickly as possible. The other challenges you to type individual words before they rain from the top to the bottom of the screen.
I remember being taught to use a physical keyboard in school, so it strikes me as weird training my speed on a virtual one—but at the end of the day, as someone who types for a living, no one cares what I type on, as long as the words get written.
Keys Cafe isn’t a flawless experience. Like some other Good Lock modules, it can introduce a few stutters or glitches that aren’t present on the default keyboard. For the most part, things just work. Whether you turn to Keys Cafe to spark joy or for added functionality, it’s the kind of thing you miss when you switch to a non-Galaxy device.
