# MessagEase Keyboard

> Scientific, non-QWERTY touchscreen keyboard for faster, accurate typing. (iPhone/iPad app by Exideas.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/messagease-keyboard/id990325092 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Exideas](https://appshunter.io/developer/320668285)
- Category: Utilities, Productivity
- Price: Free
- Rating: 3.96/5 from 95 App Store ratings · 127 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 9+
- Requires: iOS 10.3 · 14 MB
- Languages: English
- Released: 2015-06-11
- Data updated: 2026-08-22
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/messagease-keyboard/id990325092/reviews.md

## What is MessagEase Keyboard?

MessagEase is an alternative, non-QWERTY keyboard for your iPhone and iPad.

Created based on years of scientific research in user interface, MessagEase is designed and optimized for use on a touchscreen device. 

MessagEase is a patented, innovative design different from the antiquated QWERTY keyboard. If you believe that every keyboard must be QWERTY-like, then MessagEase is not what you are looking for. 

But if you are open to new ideas and up for experiencing a completely new way of writing you will be pleasantly surprised at how well, how precisely, and how fast you can enter text with MessagEase. Our current champion’s speed is 87 WPM— that's 87 Words Per Minute! Most people don't type nearly that fast with ten fingers!

MessagEase essentially has 9 large keys with an optimized letter assignment to maximize your speed, increase your accuracy, and ease your writing. Since MessagEase is very different, you must spend a few minutes to get used to it. We have included several learning games to help you learn the new, innovative pattern of MessagEase—and you’ll save hours by texting and writing faster.

With MessagEase you enter letters and characters with either a tap, or a drag (slide): taps for the most common characters and directional drag for the rest. Please watch the video, or see the section Essential MessagEase, to learn more.

MessagEase's design is based on sound user-interface principles such as the Fitts' Law; it uses letter frequency and di-gram data to optimally place the characters on a keyboard with fewer, larger keys. That’s why the letter positions are non-QWERTY!

If you are interested to learn more about the scientific details behind the design of MessagEase, please see this paper: http://www.exideas.com/ME/ICMI2003Paper.pdf

We have lots of videos to help you become familiar with MessagEase quickly. 
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3D3f3GWTSg 

There are many more on our YouTube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/messagease

Please also note that you can change the keyboard size by dragging up or down on the Globe Button. You can also reshape and recolor the keyboard in various ways. See Settings for details. 

MessagEase for iPhone & iPad has specific keyboards designed for the following languages: (These keyboards can also be used to enter text for many other languages)

-	English 
-	Arabic
-	Azerbaiani
-	Danish
-	Dutch
-	Esperanto
-	Finnish
-	French 
-	German
-	Greek
-	Hebrew
-	Hungarian
-	Japanese Hiragana
-	Japanese Katakana
-	Italian
-	Norwegian
-	Polish
-	Portuguese 
-	Russian
-	Spanish
-	Swedish
-	Turkish
-	Urdu


If you like MessagEase, please tell others about it, and please make sure to rate and comment about it on App Store.

Please email us if you encounter any issue.

Thank you!

## Key features

- Non-QWERTY keyboard layout
- Optimized letter assignment
- Tap and drag input
- Learning games included
- Customizable keyboard size, shape, and color
- Supports multiple languages

## What do users think of MessagEase Keyboard?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 🚀 Significantly faster typing speed than QWERTY keyboards
- 💡 Innovative one-handed keyboard design optimized for touchscreens
- 👍 Large buttons reduce typing errors and improve accuracy
- 🎮 All characters (letters, numbers, symbols) accessible on single screen
- ⚙️ Highly customizable layout, colors, and keyboard size
- 🎯 Efficient for programmers and multilingual users
- 📚 Included games help users learn the keyboard quickly
- 🔒 No data collection or privacy concerns (free version)
- ♿ Excellent accessibility for one-handed typing

**Cons**

- 🐛 Keyboard randomly resizes to full screen without user control
- 🐛 Inconsistent swipe gesture recognition
- ⚠️ Steep learning curve requires significant practice
- ❌ Missing features compared to Android version
- 🔧 Lacks word prediction and autocorrect functionality
- 📱 Compatibility issues with certain iOS apps
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes on recent iOS versions
- 🚫 Keyboard fails to appear in some applications
- ⚠️ Settings don't persist between app switches
- 🐛 Keyboard display glitches (double instances, garbled text)

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Keyboard expands to full screen and cannot be resized
- Keyboard fails to appear in Apple apps (Notes, Safari, Skype)
- Swipe gestures registered as clicks
- Keyboard crashes on iOS 26.x and iOS 16.x versions
- Settings reset or don't persist between sessions
- Double keyboard instances displaying simultaneously
- Letters not visible after iOS updates
- Keyboard stuck in maximized state after reinstall
- Capitalization mode gets stuck (all caps)
- Keyboard display corrupted or garbled on iPad
- Unresponsive input after certain iOS updates
- Keyboard overlays text field, obstructing view

**Most requested features**

- Word prediction and autocorrect
- Resizable keyboard with size locking option
- Copy/paste/select-all gesture shortcuts (like Android version)
- Voice dictation support
- Better cursor navigation controls
- Customizable keyboard layout (JSON-based)
- Emoji integration into keyboard
- Text replacement library support
- Macro functionality
- Trackpad mode for cursor control
- Open-source the application for community maintenance

## Recent user reviews (10 of 127)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/messagease-keyboard/id990325092/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Worthwhile

*2026-06-27, version 4.3.5*

It is missing autocorrect and text prediction, and the color customization is a bit crude, but this is still a great way to type quickly on mobile. It takes a lot of practice, but it feels great when you start to master it. I keep a diary on my phone, and this makes it easier to use a broad vocabulary with a variety of particular formatting. 

The lack of some features, especially autocorrect, slows me down significantly. Still, the design is a great idea with good implementation, and I hope development continues.

### 2/5 — Recent "fix" broke it

*2026-06-27, version 4.3.5*

The recent fix changed the gesture to change the keyboard height from a "flick" do a "drag to resize". And the UX of that is terrible!
I've been using this keyboard for ~10 years and have put up with its jumping height for so long, but at least it usually was "two flicks and it's the right height again". This new and improved gesture though is so much less predictible and harder to use, that I'm considering giving up.
Please-please-please give us a setting for the keyboard height in the settings app and make it fixed size after that 🙏

### 5/5 — Can't live without it!

*2026-06-25, version 4.3.5*

I've used this every day for over a decade, and love it with all my heart. By far the best way to type on a phone.  Thank you so, so much for updating!!!

### 5/5 — Please fix sudden resizing bug

*2026-06-24, version 4.3.5*

I have used this keyboard for many years now and almost can't "type" on my phone any other way. 

It used to work perfectly until ios27, and now it occasionally bugs out and the keyboard appears huge with no way to resize it to normal other than uninstall and reinstall.  

Also, the punctuation characters used to show up on alphabet screen when swiping up from space bar, but now only a few do and the rest are on the number screen. Please fix that to the way it used to be!

### 2/5 — PLEASE FIX THE BUG

*2026-06-24, version 4.3.5*

Right now for me whenever I try to use it, it just takes up the whole screen so it’s basically unusable. 

I was loving it before this started happening, so I WILL change my review once this is fixed!

### 5/5 — ♥️ THANK YOU ♥️

*2026-06-17, version 4.3.4*

Thank you so much for the update! I have missed messagease SO much since ios 26. It took 2 months to get used to the regular iphone keyboard again and I still lamented the loss of ME amost daily. 
I just freaked my kids out with my shouts of joy on seeing the update 😂

### 5/5 — This is the best mobile keyboard design, please keep it going!

*2026-06-16, version 4.3.4*

I have used this keyboard years now and it really is the best once you get used to it. 
- The design gives you a small keyboard with large buttons
- No need to switch between letter, symbol, and number keyboards. They are all available at the same time
- Simple to adjust the keyboard size

Please keep this app updated, even if no new features are added!

### 3/5 — Buggy but great

*2026-05-16, version 4.3.2*

I love this app, but I have to delete and reinstall every week because the keyboard gets too big and I can’t adjust it back to normal

### 5/5 — Unusable with iOS 26.2.1.

*2026-03-27, version 4.3.2*

This issue seems to be fixed with iOS version 26.4

I have been using MessagEase since the days of the Palm Pilots.

After a few minutes, becomes as large as the entire screen, making it too big to type on. Delete and reinstall, and the same thing happens.

### 4/5 — Beg for update

*2026-03-23, version 4.3.2*

Please update the keyboard for iOS, every now and then it gets huge and I have to reinstall it. I use this keyboard for at least ten years now. Please update and fix the buggies

## Frequently asked questions about MessagEase Keyboard

### What is MessagEase Keyboard?

MessagEase Keyboard is an alternative, non-QWERTY keyboard for iPhone and iPad. It's designed based on scientific research in user interface principles to optimize typing speed and accuracy on touchscreens.

### How does MessagEase Keyboard work?

It features 9 large keys with an optimized letter assignment. You can enter letters and characters with either a tap for common characters or a directional drag for others. Learning games are included to help users adapt to the new pattern.

### Is MessagEase Keyboard free?

Based on the provided information, this application is a paid app. There are no mentions of free versions, in-app purchases, or advertisements.

### What devices is MessagEase Keyboard compatible with?

MessagEase Keyboard is designed for iPhone and iPad devices. It supports a variety of languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, and many others.

### What are the benefits of using MessagEase Keyboard?

The primary benefits are increased typing speed and accuracy due to its innovative, non-QWERTY layout and optimized key placement. It also offers customization options for keyboard size, shape, and color, and includes learning games to facilitate adoption.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 4.3.5 — 2026-06-22

Improved Gesture experience

### 4.3.4 — 2026-06-16

Finally! The height bug is fixed. Keep enjoying ME.

### 4.3.2 — 2019-04-26

Bug fixes!

### 4.3.0 — 2019-04-24

This new  version contains fixes for some character discrepancies on two of our non-English keyboards.

### 4.2.2 — 2018-10-25

Fixed the game bug for iPhoneX
Fixed the default keyboard on larger devices
Fixed a bug related to tempcap when autocapitalization was disabled.
Fixed a few cosmetic bugs

## Apps similar to MessagEase Keyboard

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Type Nine - T9 Keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/type-nine-t9-keyboard/id926008509) | 4.3 (194) | $3.99 | Utilities |
| [@Beat: Internet time](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/beat-internet-time/id1570173118) | 4.4 (17) | Free | Utilities |
| [Typewise Custom Keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/typewise-custom-keyboard/id1470215025) | 3.8 (844) | Free | Utilities |
| [zellopon keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zellopon-keyboard/id1436196460) | 3.7 (3) | Free | Utilities |
| [KeyboardKit](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/keyboardkit/id1568444977) | 4.4 (69) | Free | Utilities |
| [xKeyboard - Custom Keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/xkeyboard-custom-keyboard/id1440245962) | 3.2 (176) | Free | Utilities |

## Related topics

[change keyboard letters](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/change-keyboard-letters) · [language keyboard different](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/language-keyboard-different) · [ipa typing keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ipa-typing-keyboard) · [ekalipi world keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ekalipi-world-keyboard) · [tamam keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/tamam-keyboard) · [latinum keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/latinum-keyboard) · [native keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/native-keyboard) · [t9 keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/t9-keyboard)

---

*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-22.*