Comparison

MessagEase Keyboard vs ShavKey

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
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

ShavKey

This keyboard app provides quick access to all 48 Shavian characters without requiring shifts. It includes an always-on number row that can be configured for Base 12 input.

Highlights
  • All 48 Shavian characters accessible
  • No shift key required
  • Always-on number row
  • Optional Base 12 number input
  • Optimized for single-stroke input
Features
Read full description

The Shavian Keyboard for iOS. It features all 48 characters without needing to shift, in keeping with the idea that each character can be written with one stroke, we don't think it should take more than one key press. There is also an always on number row along the top which can be set to use Base 12 if you are so inclined.

Screenshots

MessagEase Keyboard4 screens
ShavKey1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ShavKey at 4.6 against MessagEase Keyboard's 4.0. ShavKey also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 70%) and monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid). MessagEase Keyboard's advantage is ratings volume (95 vs 9) and iOS requirement (10.3 vs 16.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ShavKey holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MessagEase Keyboard has 95 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of MessagEase Keyboard's written reviews are positive against 100% of ShavKey's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MessagEase Keyboard ships an update every 6 weeks, ShavKey every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
MessagEase Keyboard versus ShavKey: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMessagEase KeyboardShavKey
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (95 ratings)4.6 (9 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings95 — better9
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS10.3 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB1 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperExideasJoshua Lancaster

Customer experience

MessagEase Keyboard

All ratings83 ratings
Positive69.9%
Neutral13.3%
Negative16.9%
Written reviews127 reviews
Positive70.1%
Neutral11.0%
Negative18.9%

ShavKey

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral11.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

ShavKey

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

MessagEase Keyboard

No in-app purchases

None

ShavKey

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MessagEase Keyboard free?
MessagEase Keyboard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ShavKey free?
ShavKey is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, MessagEase Keyboard or ShavKey?
ShavKey is rated higher. MessagEase Keyboard averages 4.0 out of 5 from 95 ratings, while ShavKey averages 4.6 from 9 ratings.
Do MessagEase Keyboard or ShavKey have ads?
Neither MessagEase Keyboard nor ShavKey shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MessagEase Keyboard or ShavKey?
MessagEase Keyboard ships an update every 6 weeks, and ShavKey every 2 months. Most recently, MessagEase Keyboard was updated on October 13, 2026 and ShavKey on October 10, 2026.

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