Google’s Gboard keyboard for iOS now has haptic feedback

Google has updated its excellent Gboard keyboard for iOS to add haptic feedback.

You will now feel subtle vibrations when you type, which help make on-screen keys feel more physical. Gboard is one of just a handful of third-party options on iOS that offer this feature.

Haptic feedback is a staple of almost every keyboard there is on Android, but it has never really made its way to iOS. Apple certainly doesn’t offer it with its built-in keyboard, and the few third-party options that do tend to be paid downloads.

Now you can enjoy this functionality for free with Gboard — one of the best third-party keyboards for iPhone and iPad.

Gboard lets you feel what you’re typing

Gboard version 1.40 adds haptic feedback support for every iPhone dating back to the iPhone 7.

It’s not enabled by default, however, so you’ll need to activate it by choosing the Enable haptic feedback on keypress option inside the keyboard’s settings menu.

Once enabled, you’ll feel a slight vibration with every keypress that lets you know you hit a key. It’s very subtle — certainly not too powerful — but it’s enough to make it feel like you’re not just tapping a flat sheet of glass.

This Gboard update also adds additional language support for Mongolian and Lao, and brings optimizations that reduce the app’s overall size. You can download it for free from the App Store.