I can confidently say that the keyboard is the most used piece of software on our smartphones. A lot of people don't realize that having a great keyboard can make their experience way better. In today's video, I will compare Gboard on Pixel phones, Samsung keyboard, and the Apple keyboard. So, let's find out which one is better. Let's start by setting the scoring system. Each one takes a point per feature. If the same feature exists in two or more keyboards with a difference in quality, performance or ease of use, I will start ranking them by giving half a point extra to the first place, quarter a point to the second, and no extra points to the third.
So, let's start with the most important category, which is the keystroke efficiency. The more stuff available at a glance, the less time and keystrokes needed to finish your typing. With that in mind, the numbers row available in Gboard and Samsung keyboard will make it easier to type a sentence like this. While on iOS, you have to switch to the numbers keyboard, then back to the letters, which is two extra steps. Even the touch and hold gesture to quickly access the numbers row and automatically get back to the letters will not be helpful in this scenario as it requires the same step three times to type the whole number, which is even worse. So, one point to Pixel UI and one UI and zero points to iOS. Special characters are also important. On the Android phones, you have the option to show the special characters. So, a sentence like this will be easier to type. Unlike iOS that requires switching back and forth between pages. Plus, Gboard takes it a step further. Now, we have a new option called flick keys to enter symbols. So, you can simply bulldo gesture, which is also available on Gboard by the way.
So, in this one, Gboard comes first. Samsung keyboard comes second and zero points to iOS. Then comes the emojis. Having them easily accessible minimize the number of keystrokes and in this matter Gboard is the only one that offers the emoji fast access row. It's not available in all apps, but you can access it in some of the most important ones like Google Messages and WhatsApp, which makes my typing noticeably easier. So, one point to Gboard. Next, the suggestions strip. This bar at the top is one of the best innovations in modern keyboards. Without it, your keyboard turns into an 18th century typewriter, losing most of its value. With that said, there's a big difference between the three and what you can or cannot do with it. All three suggest the correctly spelled words if you made a mistake or suggest the next word based on the context.
So, one point each. Beyond that, the differences start to appear. Gboard and Samsung keyboard offer some useful features that iOS lacks. both can suggest stickers and your most recent screenshot automatically appears as a suggestion so you don't need to go find it. Those two features save me a lot of keystrokes. On the other hand, Gboard has its own exclusive features that make things even better. It's the only one that suggests contact info.
For example, it picks the names and email addresses saved in my contact list, which saves me some time. The smart phrases feature that suggests whole sentences based on the conversation context. And when you copy long text that includes an email, a phone number, or anything similar, it extracts this info and suggest it separately. So you don't need to share the whole thing, only the things that matter. And with the help of the screenshots app that first came out with the Pixel 9 models, it processes my screenshots and suggest relevant info based on the app I'm using. The only feature that Gboard lacks while Samsung and the Apple keyboards have is the ability to insert the highlighted word in the suggestions strip by using the space bar or the enter key.
So, one point each. The next big feature that can save you plenty of time and keystrokes is the clipboard manager. Only Google and Samsung have this feature. I use it to save my most frequently used images and text like my address, any paragraphs I use in my email replies or comments, and many more. It works the same on both. So, one point each. While iOS users dump their mostused text into a note, and every time they need something, they quit the app, open the note, copy the text, then get back to the app to paste it. And that feels like the Stone Age, not 2025. So, please Apple, do something. The last thing to compare in this category is the quick shortcuts. All three have some quality of life features like doubletapping the space bar to add a period, auto spacing after selecting suggested words, and the ability to create shortcuts for frequently used phrases. As a pro tip, iOS users can use this feature as a workaround for the lack of a clipboard manager.
For example, you can create one for your address or other frequently used text, and every time you type the shortcut, it adds the full text for you. It requires more effort than the clipboard manager, but it's better than nothing. So overall in the keystroke efficiency, the win goes to Gboard by a big margin followed by Samsung keyboard while iOS is far behind both. The next category is the text editing. Starting with the basics, all three have this amazing feature of tapping and holding on the space bar to move the cursor.
So one point each and they all support undo or redo typing. Gboard offers an onscreen buttons either in the suggestions strip or the toolbox. Samsung keyboard requires a left or right swipe with two fingers and the iOS requires shaking the phone. So, one more point to all of them. In contrast, Gboard and Samsung keyboard takes it a step further by offering a dedicated text editing tool. So, they take an extra point. Additionally, they support the gesture delete feature. On Gboard, you need to tap and hold on the backspace, then swipe left to select word by word. While on Samsung keyboard you need to tap and hold on the shift key then swipe over the backspace.
It requires two hands which is harder. Plus to activate this feature you have to turn off the swipe to type or glide typing while in Gboard you can use both at the same time. So Gboard takes extra half a point in this one while Samsung keyboard rank second with zero points to iOS. So in the text editing Gboard comes first followed by Samsung keyboard and Apple keyboard comes third. Before jumping to the next comparison, if you like my wallpapers, the good news is you can get your hands on all of them. If you are an iOS user, they are available for download through my Patreon's page.
And for Android, you can download the channels wallpapers by in-depth thick reviews app from Google Play Store. All the links are in the description. And now, let's get back to the comparison. Now, let's take it a step further and compare the AI writing tools. Right off the bat, Gboard can only work with one paragraph at a time. Once I select the whole text I have, it shortens my selection. Unlike Samsung and the Apple keyboards that can process a lot more, so one point to One UI and iOS.
Beside this, all three can proofread your text to check the spelling and the grammar. So, one point each. The rephrase or rewrite option is only available in Apple and Google keyboards, so one point each. Samsung keyboard and Gboard offer five different writing styles, while Apple has three. So Google and Samsung rank first in the variety with 1.5 points while Apple comes second with 1.25 points. Comparing the outcome, Samsung is the worst. It only gives one result per style. Gboard offers three iterations while Apple gives you unlimited number as you can refresh as much as you can until you get the result you want. So in this one, Apple comes first followed by Gboard and Samsung keyboard comes last. Beside the writing styles, Apple and Samsung offer more options with the Edge going to Apple for having five extra tools which are summary, key points, list, table, and compose. While Samsung offers only four extra tools missing the key points one. So 1.5 points to Apple, 1.25 points to Samsung, and zero points to Gboard. Additionally, Apple keyboard is the only one that gives you the option to describe the change.
So you have the freedom to modify the outcome whatever you want. So one extra point to iOS. Lastly, Gboard has its own exclusive grammar check feature. It does the same as the proofread feature, but instead of selecting the whole text, then trigger the writing tools to correct it, Gboard highlights the grammar mistakes in blue and offer suggestions right away in the suggestions strip, which is way faster. So it deserves an extra half a point for the convenience. Overall in the writing tools, Apple comes first, followed by Samsung keyboard and Gboard comes last. The next category is the layout customizations. The more customizations, the more the comfort. Starting with the one-handed keyboard, all three have the feature. But Gboard and Samsung keyboard have the option to switch sides right from the keyboard. While on iOS, you need to trigger the feature from scratch every time you need to change the side, which is annoying. and Gboard is the only one that have the option to reposition and resize the 100-handed keyboard. So, it ranks first followed by Samsung keyboard and the Apple keyboard comes third. Starting this point, iOS has nothing else to offer while the Android phones have a lot more.
First, you can adjust the keyboard size and position. In this one, Samsung has the edge for allowing the width and height adjustments while Gboard can only adjust the height. So, 1.5 points to Samsung versus 1.2 to 25 to Gboard. Then we have the floating keyboard which is available on both. You can adjust the size and place it wherever you want. But again, Samsung has the edge in offering a transparency slider. So it comes first followed by Gboard. In landscape orientation, both offer a normal or split keyboard which is a nice touch. So one point each. Lastly, you can add or remove some of the buttons like the comma and period on both. And on Samsung keyboard, you can also remove the email and web address shortcuts. So 1.5 points to Samsung keyboard versus 1.25 to Gboard. So in the layout customizations category, the win goes to Samsung keyboard followed by Gboard and iOS keyboard is way behind.
The next category is the voice typing. Let's start with the accuracy. I will do a quick test by reading those two paragraphs to compare. So, let's see what's going to happen. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Google and Apple are close to reaching a yearly $1 billion agreement for a version of the Gemini model that will power the revamped Siri next year.
But perhaps more interesting than the price tag is one factor that will actually affect everyone's experience, its architecture. Here's a look at how it will likely work. The results show that Gboard is the most accurate followed by Samsung keyboard that has some punctuation mistakes while Apple keyboard has some errors in the text. So it comes third. The next test is spelling words. I will say the letters and special characters instead of the actual words. This comes in handy especially with names. So let's see how each one will handle the situation. Hello, comma space e m a d space h u ss i e n. Where have you been? Question mark exclamation mark. In this test, Gboard was the only one that understood that I want to insert a space, not the word space.
So, it comes first. The second spot goes to Apple Keyboard for being able to type my name and all the special characters properly. While Samsung keyboard had two issues. First, it added some weird spaces between the letters and it couldn't type the question mark. On top of this, Gboard goes beyond typing. You can also edit text using your voice while others can't. And here is a quick tip. This is a test message. Delete for Gboard voice typing. Clear, undo. Lastly, with Gboard, you can have the floating voice typing keyboard. It gives you the chance to see the entire screen. It can be docked vertically or horizontally with the ability to show one extra floating window like the clipboard, translate, emoji, and symbols. So, one extra point to Gboard. Overall, Gboard wins the voice typing category by a good margin, and it's a draw between the other two.
Now let's talk about some of the secondary features offered by each keyboard. All three support glide typing or swipe to type. It works the same on all of them. So one point each. Scanning text directly from the keyboard is also available on all three. So one point each. Both Gboard and Samsung keyboard offer built-in translation which Apple keyboard lacks. Samsung keyboard gives you the option to switch from Samsung translate to Google Translate to get access to the same number of languages as Gboard.
So, one point each. On the Android phones, you get the option to style your keyboard in many ways like changing the color, use a custom image as your background, apply themes, remove keyboarders, adjust the font size, and more. In this one, the edge goes to Samsung keyboard for the more customizations you get with the help of good lock modules. So, it comes first. Again, Gboard and Samsung keyboard are the only ones that support handwriting. I don't think it's helpful on phones, but it could be useful on tablets or foldables. So, one point each. In contrast, Apple keyboard has a couple of useful features that the other two lack. The first one is called math results. You can start typing the expression and get the results on the fly, which is nice. For Arabic speakers like me, iOS 26 added a new Arabic transliteration keyboard that allows me to write Arabic using English letters, which is a great feature. In the secondary features category, the win goes to Samsung keyboard, followed by Gboard and the Apple keyboard comes last as usual.
Now, let's sum up the numbers to see which one has the best overall score. Here are all the scores per category per phone. That makes Gboard the best allrounded keyboard with a total of 40.25 points. Samsung takes the second spot with a total of 34.75, which is not bad. While Apple keyboard is far behind with a total of 21.5 points, Apple needs to take the keyboard seriously. Some people might say that they can use Gboard on iOS, which is true. But the reality is Gboard on iOS doesn't include 95% of the features you get on Pixel phones.
So, Apple is the only one that can fix this. Now, I'm done with the comparison. Please let me know in the comments what do you think. But for now, thanks so much for watching and see you in the next.
