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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →A custom iPhone keyboard extension is the part that provides the alternative keyboard; the “keyboard app” is usually the app that contains it and may add setup, settings, or other features. They are parts of one product, not necessarily two competing kinds of keyboard. After you install and enable the app’s keyboard in Settings, you can select it in supported text fields—but iOS and individual apps can still require Apple’s keyboard.
What is the difference?
Apple’s development model packages a Custom Keyboard extension inside a containing app. The extension supplies the keyboard interface and input behavior. The containing app can provide setup instructions, help, settings, or other functionality; Apple requires an app that contains an extension to offer functionality beyond the extension itself.
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That is why “keyboard app” is ambiguous: it may mean the app you download, the keyboard extension inside it, or the combined product. In everyday conversation, people often use it for all three.
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How do you install and use a third-party keyboard?
- Install the containing app. The keyboard extension comes bundled with that app.
- Enable the keyboard. Open Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards, then add or enable the third-party keyboard. Settings displays the extension’s name.
- Select it while typing. Use the keyboard switcher to move to it in a text field where third-party keyboards are allowed.
Enabling a keyboard does not make it available in every field. The app you are using may disable third-party keyboards, and iOS uses its own keyboard for certain kinds of input.
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Where can a custom keyboard work?
A third-party keyboard can appear in supported text fields across apps once enabled, but it is not a universal replacement for the system keyboard. Apple documents several exceptions:
- Secure text fields, including passcode and other secure text entry, use the system keyboard.
- Fields configured for phone-pad or name-and-phone-pad input use the system keyboard.
- An app can choose to disallow third-party keyboards.
So if the custom keyboard disappears in a particular field or app, that may reflect the field’s purpose or the app’s settings rather than a problem with the keyboard extension.
How is an in-app custom keyboard different?
If a developer only needs a custom input interface inside one app’s own text fields, Apple recommends using a UIInputView. That is different from a Custom Keyboard extension, which is designed to be offered in supported fields across apps after the user enables it.
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By default, a keyboard extension runs in an isolated sandbox without network access or access to write to the containing app’s shared group container. Apple says that with Open Access off, users know keystrokes go only to the app currently using the keyboard.
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A developer can request Open Access, but the user must enable Allow Full Access in Settings. This can allow capabilities such as network processing and use of a shared container. It is a permission setting—not proof that a particular keyboard sends, stores, or otherwise uses keystrokes in a specific way. To understand a keyboard’s actual data practices, read the developer’s privacy disclosures and policy.
Apple advises developers to consider whether Open Access is necessary and to explain their use of other user data. Its security documentation also describes the restrictive default sandbox and the user’s consent requirement for Open Access.
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- Plug and Play: Simple and quick setup with direct USB connection
What rules do iPhone keyboard extensions have to follow?
Apple’s current App Review Guidelines require keyboard extensions to provide keyboard input and a way to move to the next keyboard. They must remain functional without full network access and without requiring Full Access. Apple states: “Remain functional without full network access and without requiring full access.”
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The guidelines also limit collection of user activity to enhancing the keyboard extension on the device. Extensions must not launch apps other than Settings or use keyboard buttons for unrelated actions. If an extension includes images or emoji, Apple’s sticker guidance applies.
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Apple’s Developer Program License Agreement adds restrictions on the extension view: it may not display advertising, product promotion, direct marketing, or in-app purchase offers. The agreement also requires disclosure before keystroke logging data is sent and limits such logged data to providing or improving keyboard functionality.
Which one should you think of as “the keyboard”?
For ordinary use, think of the extension as the keyboard you switch to and the containing app as its companion. If you are troubleshooting, look in Settings for the extension’s name and check whether the current field or app permits third-party keyboards. If you are evaluating privacy, distinguish the Full Access permission from the developer’s disclosed behavior.
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