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Keebi vs the iPhone Keyboard: What a Second Keyboard Adds
By the llcloud team 5 min read
The short answer
Add Keebi next to Apple's keyboard. Apple's autocorrect can swap a word you meant for another real word, and once a fix goes in there is no undo button. Keebi never replaces a real word, undoes any fix in one tap, and adds a number row and themes. Apple's keyboard stays for password fields, where iOS uses it anyway.
Keebi is what you add to your iPhone when autocorrect keeps changing words you meant. Apple's keyboard predicts the word you probably meant and swaps it in on space, even when your word was real. Keebi fixes only clear typos, never replaces a real word, and keeps every fix one tap from undone. It also adds a real number row, a search layout and themes. Apple's keyboard stays installed and takes over in password fields.
Every iPhone comes with Apple's keyboard, and for many people it is the only one they ever use. It is fast, it swipes, and it is always there. Where it frustrates people is autocorrect that changes words they meant. Keebi is a keyboard you add next to it to fix exactly that. This comparison is as of October 2026 and uses Apple's own support pages and announcements for its facts.
Keebi vs the iPhone keyboard at a glance
| Keebi | Apple's iPhone keyboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Comes with every iPhone | ✗ You add it | ✓ |
| Never replaces a real word with another | ✓ | ✗ Predicts and swaps on space |
| Undo a fix after it goes in | ✓ One tap or delete | ✗ Retype the word |
| Number row above the letters | ✓ On by default | ✗ Separate numbers layer |
| Search bar layout without stray dots | ✓ | Not stated |
| Learned words you can see and edit | ✓ | ✗ Reset all or nothing |
| Themes | ✓ 8 free, editor and photo themes in Pro | ✗ |
| Swipe typing | ✓ Free | ✓ QuickPath |
| One-handed keyboard | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dictation | ✓ Apple's, from the microphone under the keyboard | ✓ Built into the keyboard |
| Proofread and rewrite in the keyboard | ✓ With Apple Intelligence | Through Writing Tools on selected text |
| Password fields | Apple's keyboard takes over | ✓ |
| Fancy fonts and clipboard history | ✓ (Pro) | ✗ |
Why does Apple's keyboard change words you meant?
Apple's autocorrect does two jobs. It fixes misspellings, and it predicts the word you probably meant from the words around it. Apple's iOS 17 announcement says autocorrect moved to a transformer language model and that "sentence-level autocorrections can fix more types of grammatical mistakes". That catches real slips, and it also makes the keyboard willing to swap a correct word for another correct word.
You can catch a swap before it happens by tapping your word, shown in quotation marks in the bar. Once it has gone in, Apple gives you no undo button: you delete the word and type it again. The only switches are to protect words one at a time with Text Replacement, reset everything the keyboard learned, or turn Auto-Correction off and lose every typo fix. Our guide on stopping iPhone autocorrect changing words walks through each of those.
What does Keebi do differently?
Keebi follows a set of rules instead of a guess:
- Real words are never replaced. It fixes clear typos like "teh" and never swaps one real word for another, so "we'll" stays we'll.
- Every fix undoes in one tap. The word you typed waits in an undo chip right after a fix. Tap it, or press delete once, and it is back.
- An undo sticks. Once you undo a fix, Keebi keeps that word as typed from then on.
- Words are final once you pass them. Keebi only changes the word you are typing, never one you already passed.
- You see what it learned. Every learned word is in a list you can read and edit, with a never-learn list beside it.
Contractions are handled too, so dont becomes don't, and in languages with accents a missing one is added, so ecole becomes école.
What does Keebi add that Apple's keyboard does not have?
- A real number row above the letters, on by default.
- A search layout. In address and search bars, a wide space bar with no period beside it, and a double space never adds a dot.
- Themes. Day, Night, Pure Black and Glass, each with or without key borders, switching with day and night. Pro adds more themes, a theme editor and photo themes.
- Kaomoji and fancy fonts in Pro.
- Clipboard history and GIFs in Pro, with Full Access.
- Text shortcuts in Pro, alongside Apple's Text Replacement.
- Emoji from words. Type a colon and a name, like :smile, and the bar offers the emoji.
- Slide to correct, free and off by default: hit the wrong key and slide onto the right one before you lift.
- Rewrite from the keyboard. Tap Rewrite in the bar to proofread the message you are writing with Apple Intelligence, free, or make it friendlier, more professional, shorter or longer with Pro. It runs on Apple's on-device model.
- Speak keys. Hear each key in the language you are typing, with Full Access.
What stays with Apple's keyboard?
iOS sets the same limits for every keyboard you add, so it helps to know them:
- Password fields, passcode screens and phone number pads always use Apple's keyboard. Keebi comes back on its own when you leave them.
- Some apps block third-party keyboards, often banking apps.
- The microphone. A keyboard cannot use it, so dictation is Apple's: tap the microphone iOS shows under the keyboard.
- Full Access is a separate choice. Keebi works fully without it. Our guide to adding a keyboard on iPhone explains what it allows.
Keebi's keyboard has no analytics and no crash reporting. Your typing, learned words and clipboard stay on your iPhone, and with Full Access the only thing it sends is your GIF search words, to GIPHY. The Keebi privacy policy covers the details.
Why add Keebi to your iPhone?
- Typo fixes without word swaps. The one thing Apple's keyboard cannot be set to do.
- An undo for every fix, right where you are typing.
- A number row and a search layout for codes, times and web addresses.
- Your learned words in plain view, editable one by one.
- Themes you can design, from free day and night themes to photo themes in Pro.
- Private by design. No account, no ads, and it works without Full Access.
Weighing other keyboards as well? See Keebi vs Gboard and Keebi vs SwiftKey. Questions go straight to the developer through Keebi support.
Sources
Questions
Can I use Keebi and Apple's keyboard together?
Yes, and you will. Adding Keebi does not remove Apple's keyboard. You switch between them with the globe or emoji key in any text field, and iOS always uses Apple's keyboard in password fields, passcode screens and phone number pads, then hands back to Keebi. Apps can also choose to block third-party keyboards, and Apple's keyboard covers those.
Why does Apple's autocorrect change words that are spelled right?
Apple's autocorrect fixes misspellings and also predicts the word you probably meant from the words around it. Apple says that since iOS 17 it uses a transformer language model and can make sentence-level corrections. When it decides another real word fits better, it swaps it in on space. Keebi never replaces a real word with another one.
Does the iPhone keyboard have a number row?
No. On Apple's keyboard you reach numbers by tapping the number key, which swaps the letters for a numbers and symbols layer. Keebi puts a real number row above the letters, on by default, and keeps the comma on the main keys, so you can type a time or a code without switching layers.
Can I dictate with Keebi?
Yes, with Apple's own dictation. A keyboard cannot use the microphone itself, but iOS shows its dictation microphone under the keyboard while you type with Keebi. Tap it and talk, and the words go straight into your app.
Is Keebi free?
Yes. The keyboard and its whole autocorrect promise are free: one-tap undo, the number row, the search layout, two languages, emoji with search, one-handed mode, eight themes and swipe typing. Pro adds every theme, the theme editor and photo themes, other layouts and a third language, text shortcuts, fancy fonts and kaomoji. There are no ads.
