How to Edit a Keyboard on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Xiaomi’s current smartphones offer users a tremendous amount of personalization, and the on-screen keyboard is a major part of the experience, and it’s where 90% of the interaction with the device occurs when typing, searching for information, or communicating in instant messengers. Many owners of Redmi and Poco devices often wonder how to change the look or behavior of the keyboard to make printing faster and more convenient.

With Android, which is the basis of the MIUI shell or HyperOS, the keyboard editing process can seem confusing because of the abundance of menus. However, with the right navigation paths, you can easily replace the font, set a dark theme, add new languages, or even completely change the input application. Deep customization allows you to tailor the gadget to your individual needs, which is especially important for people with impaired vision or those who type a lot with one hand.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at all aspects of customizing Google’s standard Gboard keyboard, which is most often pre-installed on Xiaomi smartphones. You’ll learn how to activate hidden features, adjust vibration, and fix common input errors. Changing the system font in screen settings automatically changes the style of displaying characters on the Gboard keyboard unless otherwise specified. This is a key point that users often miss when trying to find font settings directly in the keyboard menu.

Access to keyboard settings through the system menu

The first and most reliable way to get into the keyboard management menu is to use Android system settings. This method is universal and works equally stable on all firmware versions, from the old MIUI 11 to the latest HyperOS. To start editing, open the main app menu and find the Settings icon, usually presented as a gear.

In the list that opens, you should scroll down to the "Additional Settings" section, and that's where you hide your device management options, including language, date, time, and input methods. Find Language and Input and tap it, and you'll see a menu that allows you to manage physical and virtual keyboards, as well as voice input settings.

Select the option "Keyboard Management" or "Current Keyboard." Here you will see a list of all the installed applications for text input. Click on the name of the active keyboard, such as Gboard. It will open a specific settings menu of this particular application, where you can adjust the height of the panel, theme, sounds and vibration. The system path ensures that you edit the application that is active at the moment.

⚠️ Note: If you have installed a third-party keyboard but have not activated it in the "Selecting the method of input", changes in its settings may not apply in real time.

An alternative way to get into the same menu is to hold the space button on any keyboard that is already open. In the pop-up window that appears, select the "Keyboard Settings" gear icon. This action will instantly take you to the desired Gboard application menu, bypassing long searches in the phone's system settings.

Change in appearance: themes, background and height of the panel

The visual component of the keyboard plays an important role in the perception of information and usability. In the Gboard app, the Themes section offers a wide range of ready-made solutions. You can choose a dark theme for saving battery life on AMOLED screens or bright one for better contrast in daylight.

For those who want uniqueness, you can create your own theme. Click on the plus in the themes section, and the system will suggest you select an image from the gallery. You can use personal photos, downloaded wallpaper or abstract patterns. After selecting the picture, the system will suggest adjusting the transparency of the keys and the color of the characters so that the text remains readable against any background.

The keyboard height is an important parameter. In the settings menu, find the settings item" →"Preferences" →"Keyboard height. There are five gradations available, from Very Small to Very Large. Increased height is useful for people with large fingers or using a smartphone with gloves, as the pressing area increases.

Remember that too colorful backgrounds can be distracting from typing and slow down the speed of printing. The contrast between buttons and symbols should be high. If you notice that you often make typos after changing the topic, try returning the standard light or dark style to appreciate the difference in ergonomics.

Language settings and keyboard layouts

Multilingualism is one of the strengths of the Gboard keyboard, which allows you to swipe between languages by a simple space, you don't have to go through the settings every time you add a new language, go to the "Languages" section of the keyboard menu and click "Add keyboard."

You can choose not only the main language (for example, Russian or English), but also specific layouts. For example, for English, options are available for US, UK, Australian and others. For Russian, you can choose the standard layout or the option with the letter "E" in a separate key, which is extremely convenient for spelling names and surnames correctly.

• 🌍 Multilingual input: allows you to print mixed phrases without constantly switching, the system itself recognizes the language by context.
• 🔤 Layout QWERTY Yitsuken: the classical arrangement of letters, familiar to most users.
• 🗣 Voice input: built-in dictation function that supports many languages and dialects.

Special attention should be paid to autocorrection and predictive input. In the text correction section, you can turn on or off autoreplacement. For some users, this feature can be intrusive, changing specific terms or slang into common words. Intelligent input also learns your communication style by remembering frequently used words and contact names.

Sound accompaniment and tactile recoil

Tactile and audible feedback helps the user understand that the click is registered. In Xiaomi smartphones, the vibrator is responsible for this, the quality of which varies from model to model. The settings are in the "Preferences" section → "Push Sound" and "Push Vibration".

Vibration slider allows you to adjust the response strength. On modern linear vibrator devices, you can set up a very pleasant, quiet response that is not annoying, but clearly felt with your fingers. If you are in a quiet place, for example, in a library or in a meeting, the pressing sound is better turned off, leaving only the vibration or removing it.

Interestingly, sound and vibration can depend on the overall sound profile of the phone, and if silent mode is on, the keyboard should also be silent, but in some custom MIUI themes, this rule may be violated, in which case you must force the keyboard to turn off in its internal settings, ignoring the system profile.

⚠️ Attention: Continuous operation of the vibromotor with active printing can significantly increase battery consumption during the day.

For fans of auditory confirmation, it is possible to change the actual tap sound if you use third-party themes or modules, but standard Gboard tools only allow you to choose between "on" and "off." Tactile response is considered a more energy-efficient way of confirming input than an audible signal.

Installation and configuration of third-party keyboards

If the standard Gboard keyboard doesn't suit you, the Google Play store offers hundreds of alternatives. Popular options include Microsoft's SwiftKey, known for its powerful prediction algorithm, or Typewise, with a custom hexagonal layout. Installing a third-party keyboard starts with downloading an app from the store.

Once installed, the app will ask for permission to access the network (for dictionaries to work) and activate a new input method. Android will issue a security warning: "This keyboard can collect all the data you input." This is a standard warning for any input application, since technically it has access to passwords and correspondence.

To switch to a new keyboard, go back to Settings → Additional Settings → Language and input → Current keyboard and select the installed app. Switching between keyboards can also be done quickly by swiping down the space key or using a special notification in the curtain.

Solution: Keyboard is not working or has disappeared

Sometimes users are faced with a situation where the keyboard stops appearing when typing, or works with delays. Most often the problem lies in a crowded app cache or a conflict of system processes. The first thing you try to reboot your smartphone is that it solves 80% of temporary failures.

If the reboot didn't work, you need to clear the keyboard data. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find Gboard (or your keyboard) list. Select Memory and click Clear Cache and then Clear All Data. This will reset the keyboard settings to factory settings, but it won't delete your dictionary.

In rare cases, the problem may be caused by a MIUI update that contains errors, in which case it is worth waiting for the patch to come out or temporarily installing the previous stable version of the keyboard from a reliable source, and the input failure may also be due to a lack of RAM if too many heavy applications are open.

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If the keyboard freezes, try turning off the window animations in developer mode – this often speeds up the interface response on older Xiaomi models.

Also check if the "Energy Saving" mode is in aggressive mode, which can limit the operation of the background processes of the keyboard, causing delays when it appears.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

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Regularly cleaning the keyboard cache and updating the application through the Play Market help avoid most problems with freezing and autocorrection incorrect operation.