I really dislike how iOS handles dictation as a keyboard feature.
I want to try this keyboard, but I also don't want to give up dictation. If I have to switch back to the iOS keyboard to enable dictation, that's just enough friction that I'm not going to move to something else.
Looks nice. Reminds me of MessagEase[1] and clones, such as ThumbKey[2]. I use the latter for my mobile text input needs. However, that method is sometimes prone to typos, since one key may have up to 9 different characters assigned to it, and it is easy to swipe slightly wrong way. QWERTYmini could be better in that aspect, since there are only 2 characters per key.
I don't really understand how people manage to type with two thumbs while holding their phone securely. I use my left thumb and my right index finger, with my right thumb supporting the base of the phone.
I use my left pinky to hold the base of the phone. Lots of people with bigger phones use one of those stick on things on the back and hold it with their index and middle finger.
Smartphone keyboards dynamically adjust the "hitbox" of each key based on what's previously been typed and overall letter frequencies of the language. So when typing "Paris is the capital of Fr..." [*], the A key becomes much easier to hit than its neighbors. Fun fact: back in the day, when this tech was less refined, certain letter contexts made the hitboxes of some keys effectively nonexistent [0].
I wonder if an approach like KKeyboard with larger but statically combined keys leads to faster typing than the current approach with smaller but dynamically "combined" keys.
[*] In reality, the context is modeled using a simple Hidden Markov Model with a much smaller effective context window that could not associate "Paris" and "France." But you get the idea.
I always make the same typos in Gboard. I don't know if they adjust the hotboxes based on common letter sequences, but it would be nice if they adjusted it based on people's typing performance.
Thanks for the thoughtful point!
Hitbox behavior is largely constrained by OS -level policies from the manufacturers, so major improvements on that side are difficult for now.
At this stage, I'm mainly trying to evaluate the layout and the input method itself - and hopefully, in the future, issues like hitbox tuning can be improved as well.
There is no builtin setting in iOS to disable it. However most 3rd party keyboards don't have it, as implementing it without OS support is a huge pain.
Thanks for letting me know! The website isn’t optimized yet, so it’s running slower than usual. I’ll work on improving it soon. Really appreciate your interest!
* Does this still expect you to hit every key but some of them need multiple taps?
* Are they doing fancy autocorrect-like magic to decide which letter you meant, and if so why use this instead of taking it one more step and using http://minuum.com/ ?
Yes, all characters are entered with tap or double-tap, and it also supports simultaneous taps as an advanced option.
It’s fully local, with no autocorrect or prediction.
Minuum compresses QWERTY into one row, but QWERTY mini keeps the QWERTY structure to preserve the familiar typing experience.
Thanks for your interest!
So like, to type "x" a person would hit the dx key twice?
I guess that's better for precise typing, but for normal prose it's probably faster+easier to just type blindly and let the machine figure out what you mean.
> I noticed "copyright info goes here (c) 2025" - which you might want to update!
It's still 2025, so that's fine :P post-Berne Convention, there are no forms required for copyright protection to vest, merely fixing the work upon a medium is sufficient.
Good point. I’m not sure why Apple designed it that way either. Anyway, the globe icon area is required by the OS, so its size can’t be reduced. Thanks for the feedback!
I really dislike how iOS handles dictation as a keyboard feature.
I want to try this keyboard, but I also don't want to give up dictation. If I have to switch back to the iOS keyboard to enable dictation, that's just enough friction that I'm not going to move to something else.
Looks nice. Reminds me of MessagEase[1] and clones, such as ThumbKey[2]. I use the latter for my mobile text input needs. However, that method is sometimes prone to typos, since one key may have up to 9 different characters assigned to it, and it is easy to swipe slightly wrong way. QWERTYmini could be better in that aspect, since there are only 2 characters per key.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MessagEase
2. https://github.com/dessalines/thumb-key
I don't really understand how people manage to type with two thumbs while holding their phone securely. I use my left thumb and my right index finger, with my right thumb supporting the base of the phone.
I use my left pinky to hold the base of the phone. Lots of people with bigger phones use one of those stick on things on the back and hold it with their index and middle finger.
Reminds me of the abominable parking ticket machine keyboards in Rome (https://www.wantedinrome.com/i/cover/storage/uploads/2018/12...)
Smartphone keyboards dynamically adjust the "hitbox" of each key based on what's previously been typed and overall letter frequencies of the language. So when typing "Paris is the capital of Fr..." [*], the A key becomes much easier to hit than its neighbors. Fun fact: back in the day, when this tech was less refined, certain letter contexts made the hitboxes of some keys effectively nonexistent [0].
I wonder if an approach like KKeyboard with larger but statically combined keys leads to faster typing than the current approach with smaller but dynamically "combined" keys.
[*] In reality, the context is modeled using a simple Hidden Markov Model with a much smaller effective context window that could not associate "Paris" and "France." But you get the idea.
[0] https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/impossible-to-type-okee...
I always make the same typos in Gboard. I don't know if they adjust the hotboxes based on common letter sequences, but it would be nice if they adjusted it based on people's typing performance.
Thanks for the thoughtful point! Hitbox behavior is largely constrained by OS -level policies from the manufacturers, so major improvements on that side are difficult for now. At this stage, I'm mainly trying to evaluate the layout and the input method itself - and hopefully, in the future, issues like hitbox tuning can be improved as well.
Omg I thought this was just me. How do I turn this off? On iOS, this has been bugging me for a long time.
There is no builtin setting in iOS to disable it. However most 3rd party keyboards don't have it, as implementing it without OS support is a huge pain.
I would love a way to turn it off as well, this is the source of the majority of my annoying typos.
You might want to throw a CDN in front of this -- the site is realllllly struggling and seems very complex under the hood.
Cool idea though.
I threw it at archive.is for them.
https://archive.is/gW1rO
Thanks for archiving it ^^
really appreciate the help!
Thanks for letting me know! The website isn’t optimized yet, so it’s running slower than usual. I’ll work on improving it soon. Really appreciate your interest!
I'm not following.
* Does this still expect you to hit every key but some of them need multiple taps?
* Are they doing fancy autocorrect-like magic to decide which letter you meant, and if so why use this instead of taking it one more step and using http://minuum.com/ ?
* Or is it something else?
Yes, all characters are entered with tap or double-tap, and it also supports simultaneous taps as an advanced option. It’s fully local, with no autocorrect or prediction. Minuum compresses QWERTY into one row, but QWERTY mini keeps the QWERTY structure to preserve the familiar typing experience. Thanks for your interest!
So like, to type "x" a person would hit the dx key twice?
I guess that's better for precise typing, but for normal prose it's probably faster+easier to just type blindly and let the machine figure out what you mean.
Both with- and without-autocorrect have their pros and cons. This layout could also work well if predictive features are added later.
Nice idea, I might try it!
I noticed "copyright info goes here (c) 2025" - which you might want to update!
> I noticed "copyright info goes here (c) 2025" - which you might want to update!
It's still 2025, so that's fine :P post-Berne Convention, there are no forms required for copyright protection to vest, merely fixing the work upon a medium is sufficient.
Seems like there's 25% wasted space at the bottom for the language globe icon that could be used for something useful
Good point. I’m not sure why Apple designed it that way either. Anyway, the globe icon area is required by the OS, so its size can’t be reduced. Thanks for the feedback!
I like it but I wish I can change the size of the keyboard. Buttons are too small on my phone.