MessagEase Keyboard vs MergeKey
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Non-QWERTY keyboard layout
- Optimized letter assignment
- Tap and drag input
- Learning games included
- Customizable keyboard size, shape, and color
- Supports multiple languages
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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!
MergeKey
This keyboard dynamically adjusts key sizes and visibility as you type, offering larger tap targets and fewer errors. It supports 20 languages and includes customizable styles and privacy-focused features.
- Dynamic key resizing
- Hides impossible keys
- Supports 20 languages
- Customizable styles
- Privacy-focused
- Typing game
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MergeKey — the first keyboard that hides the keys you don't need. As you type, MergeKey dynamically removes impossible letters and expands the remaining keys, giving you bigger tap targets and fewer typos. It's like autocomplete, but visual — you see your options shrink in real time. MERGE MODE — UNIQUE TO MERGEKEY - Keys that can't continue your word disappear instantly - Remaining keys grow to fill the space — bigger keys, fewer mistakes - Learns new words you teach it - Toggle Merge Mode off if you prefer just the disappearing keys without resizing 20 LANGUAGES English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Greek, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Romanian and Hungarian — each with native prediction and accented character variants. English (US/GB) and Portuguese (BR/PT) with correct regional dictionaries. SMART FEATURES - Prediction bar with word suggestions - Long-press for accented letters and symbols - Character preview bubble on key tap - Optional dedicated number row - Double-tap shift for caps lock - Backspace hold-to-accelerate (characters, then words) CUSTOMIZABLE STYLE - 4 keyboard styles: iOS 26 Liquid Glass, Classic, Flat, Flat Glass - Custom key fill and border colors - Transparency slider for key fill opacity - Spacebar icon options - Animation speed control BUILT FOR LEARNERS - Swipe up to teach MergeKey a new word - Swipe down for continuous mode (all keys visible) - Swipe left to delete whole words - Swipe right to repeat the last word - Built-in typing game to practice in any language PRIVACY FIRST MergeKey does not collect or transmit your typing data. Everything stays on your device. MergeKey never connects to the internet. The only network activity is the App Store handling the optional tips – that's why iOS shows a Mobile Data switch for MergeKey.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: MergeKey at 5.0 against MessagEase Keyboard's 4.0. MergeKey also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and review sentiment (100% vs 70%). MessagEase Keyboard's advantage is ratings volume (95 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
MergeKey holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MessagEase Keyboard has 95 ratings behind it against 1, 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 MergeKey's.
MessagEase Keyboard ships an update every 6 weeks, MergeKey every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MessagEase Keyboard | MergeKey |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (95 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 95 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 10.3 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Exideas | Andrei Achziger |
Customer experience
MessagEase Keyboard
MergeKey
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
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- 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
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- 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
MergeKey
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MessagEase Keyboard
No in-app purchases
MergeKey
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MessagEase Keyboard free?
Is MergeKey free?
Which has better reviews, MessagEase Keyboard or MergeKey?
Do MessagEase Keyboard or MergeKey have ads?
Which is updated more often, MessagEase Keyboard or MergeKey?
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