Comparison

MessagEase Keyboard vs xKeyboard

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

MessagEase Keyboard

An innovative, non-QWERTY keyboard designed for touchscreens based on scientific research. It features large keys with optimized letter placement for faster, more accurate typing. Learning games and customization options are included.

Highlights
  • Non-QWERTY keyboard layout
  • Optimized letter assignment
  • Tap and drag input
  • Learning games included
  • Customizable keyboard size, shape, and color
  • Supports multiple languages
Features
Read full description

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!

About

xKeyboard

Design your own keyboard with custom layouts, keys, symbols, and Unicode characters. This app allows you to create specialized keyboards for various needs, from mathematical equations to phonetic alphabets, and use them across different text editing applications.

Highlights
  • Custom keyboard layouts
  • Symbol and Unicode integration
  • Specialized keyboards (Math, IPA, Chemistry)
  • Template-based creation
  • Use in text editing apps
Read full description

Using xKeyboard, you can create a custom keyboard that includes layout, keys, symbols, and Unicode. The created custom keyboard can be used in text editing software on iPhone and iPad, such as Word, PPT, Excel, notes, and can also be used in text editing boxes. Built-in Keyboards - Unicode Keyboard - ABC Keyboard - ASCII Keyboard - Digits Keyboard : Binary, Integer, Decimal, Octonary, Hexadecimal - Date & Time Keyboard - Color Keyboard - Collection Keyboard : Symbols, Words, Sentences, Images, Colors - IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) Keyboard : IPA English ( DJ, K.K. ) - Subjects: Math, Chemistry, Music Language - Word Keyboards: English, French, German, Spanish ... - Code-Word Keyboards: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional ... Culture - Astrology Keyboard: 12 zodiac signs, 10 celestial bodies, full set of aspects, elements, moon phases and auxiliary symbols - I Ching Keyboard - Chess Keyboard: Chess notation keyboard, chess symbols - Chinese Chess Keyboard: Chinese chess notation keyboard - Dice Keyboard - Mahjong Keyboard - Playing Cards Keyboard ---------- Custom - Layout: Custom layouts are better suited for specialized input scenarios. - Environment: Different environments have different rules - Certain keyboards can serve as templates, allowing you to build custom keyboards faster and more easily. ---------- Privacy : We DO NOT COLLECT ANY INFORMATION THAT YOU TYPE using this app. xKeyboard does not require network access, and Allow Full Access is not necessary. If users Allow Full Access, the following functions will be enabled: - Copy, Paste, Cut : these functions will call UIPasteboard APIs. ---------- Tips: 1. If the xKeyboard is not visible in Settings > Keyboards, then reboot the device and reinstall 2. If you could not find xKeyboard when tap globe key : Remove xKeyboard in the system settings, re-add it. ---------- Charging method: Most of the features of this software are paid for, but before purchasing, we hope that users can know if the software has the desired features and if it is possible to customize a keyboard that the user wants. Therefore, the software can be downloaded for free and allows users to try creating a keyboard before paying. Terms of Use : https://www.jianshu.com/p/b2a855c32ffe Privacy Policy : https://www.jianshu.com/p/46e225ffbc59

Screenshots

MessagEase Keyboard4 screens
xKeyboard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: MessagEase Keyboard at 4.0 against xKeyboard's 3.2. MessagEase Keyboard also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (70% vs 39%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. xKeyboard sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.29 per month. MessagEase Keyboard asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MessagEase Keyboard holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 97 and 181 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of MessagEase Keyboard's written reviews are positive against 39% of xKeyboard's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
MessagEase Keyboard versus xKeyboard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMessagEase KeyboardxKeyboard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (97 ratings) — better3.2 (181 ratings)
Positive reviews70.1% of reviews — better39.2% of reviews
Number of ratings97181 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB103 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperExideas煦 张

Customer experience

MessagEase Keyboard

All ratings97 ratings
Positive71.1%
Neutral12.4%
Negative16.5%
Written reviews127 reviews
Positive70.1%
Neutral11.0%
Negative18.9%

xKeyboard

All ratings181 ratings
Positive50.3%
Neutral14.9%
Negative34.8%
Written reviews125 reviews
Positive39.2%
Neutral20.8%
Negative40.0%

User reviews

MessagEase Keyboard

From 97 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 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

Room to improve

  • 🐛 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

xKeyboard

From 181 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Highly customizable
  • 👍 Versatile for various use cases
  • 🚀 Powerful keyboard creation capabilities
  • 👍 Useful for conlangs and rare scripts
  • 👍 Allows creating custom characters

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Paywall for core functionality
  • 🐛 Crashes when deleting/editing keys
  • 👎 Confusing and unintuitive interface
  • 👎 Lacks documentation and tutorials
  • 👎 Missing basic features like autocorrect

Bugs and requests

MessagEase Keyboard

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • 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
Show 7 more
  • 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

Requested features

11 requests
  • 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
Show 6 more
  • 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

xKeyboard

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when trying to delete/edit keys
  • Installed keyboards don't show custom layouts
  • App crashes on certain script/language changes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to export/share custom keyboards
  • Improve keyboard customization workflow
  • Implement swipe typing and autocorrect
  • Add more language/script support
  • Allow creating custom characters/symbols

In-app purchases

None

MessagEase Keyboard

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

xKeyboard

Subscriptions2
  • VIP - 1 Month$0.291 Month
  • VIP - 1 Year$2.991 Year
One-time1
  • VIP - Lifetime$8.99

Questions

Is MessagEase Keyboard free?
MessagEase Keyboard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is xKeyboard free?
xKeyboard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MessagEase Keyboard or xKeyboard?
MessagEase Keyboard is rated higher. MessagEase Keyboard averages 4.0 out of 5 from 97 ratings, while xKeyboard averages 3.2 from 181 ratings.
Do MessagEase Keyboard or xKeyboard have ads?
Neither MessagEase Keyboard nor xKeyboard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MessagEase Keyboard or xKeyboard?
MessagEase Keyboard ships an update monthly, and xKeyboard monthly. Most recently, MessagEase Keyboard was updated on October 29, 2026 and xKeyboard on October 24, 2026.

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