Modern Xiaomi smartphones, which are based on the shell MIUI or HyperOS, provide users with a huge opportunity to customize the interface. However, one of the most popular features remains a competent setup of the method of text input. The standard keyboard often seems boring or not functional enough, but the hidden potential of the system allows you to turn the screen bar into a powerful tool for work and communication.
Owners of Xiaomi Redmi, Poco and the flagship Mi series may face the need to change layout, add new languages or completely replace the system application with a more convenient one. In this article, we will discuss in detail how to change the appearance, adjust autocorrection and solve typical character input problems so that your smartphone prints exactly the way you want.
Basic settings of the system keyboard
Start with the native app, which is pre-installed on each device. Depending on the firmware region (Global, China, EEA), it can be Google's Gboard or Sogou's own development. To access the basic parameters, you need to go to the device settings menu, where the main input controls are hidden.
Open Settings and find the Additional or Advanced Settings section. You're interested in Language and Input. You click on it and you'll be taken to the keyboard management menu. If you have Gboard, select Virtual Keyboard, then Gboard, and that's where languages, themes, and physical output are set up.
- 🌐 Languages: Adding and removing layouts, switching between them.
- 🎨 Topics: Changes in background, button color and transparency.
- 📳 Preferences: Set vibration, press sound and autocorrect.
It's important to understand that the settings in this menu are globally applicable to all apps. If you turn off the vibration here, it will disappear in both Telegram and the browser. For users who appreciate tactile return, it's recommended that you set the vibration duration as long as possible to feel every touch of the screen.
⚠️ Note: When installing third-party themes from unverified sources, there is a risk of leakage of input data. Use only official themes from the store MIUI Theme or verified Gboard plugins.
Installation and activation of Gboard
For many users, the standard Sogou keyboard, often found in Chinese firmware versions, seems inconvenient due to the overabundance of advertising or complex work logic. The optimal solution is to install Gboard, Google’s reference keyboard, which perfectly integrates into the Android ecosystem.
Download the Google Keyboard app from the official Play Market Store. Once installed, the system will not switch to it automatically. You need to manually activate the new input method. Go to Settings → Additional → Language and Enter → Keyboard Management and activate the switch opposite to Gboard.
Once activated, the system can suggest that you select Gboard as the default input method. Confirm the action. Now, when you type, you will see the familiar Google interface in any field with powerful predictive input and voice typing. Remember to also go to the settings of the Gboard application itself for fine-tuning.
☑️ Checking keyboard activation
Dictionary and autocorrection setting
One of the main causes of annoyance in printing is the incorrect auto-replacement work, which constantly changes written words to other words. Intelligent input takes time to learn, but this process can be accelerated manually. You can add commonly used words, contact names or specific terms to your personal vocabulary.
To do this, go to the keyboard settings and look for the Dictionary or Personal Dictionary section, and you can add a new word that the system will consider a priority, and there is also a function for cleaning up the learned statistics in this section, which is useful if the keyboard has started to "glut" and offer inappropriate options.
Adjust autocorrect aggressively. In the text or text correction menu, you can adjust how hard the keyboard should try to correct your typos. For those who type quickly and rarely make mistakes, the correction rate can be reduced so that the system does not interfere with the process unless absolutely necessary.
- 📝 Contact Names: Automatically Pulling Names From the Phone Book.
- 🚫 Stop words: Blocking the replacement of certain words.
- 🔄 Reset: Completely clearing the algorithm's learning history.
And it's worth noting that voice input also uses these dictionaries, and if you dictate messages often, adding specific terms to the dictionary will greatly improve the accuracy of speech recognition, which is especially true for technicians or people in rare professions.
Changes in appearance and fonts
Visuals are important, especially if you spend a lot of time texting, a standard white or black theme can get boring, you can choose the Topics section in the Gboard or Sogou settings, and you can have a design store where you can download pre-made versions or create your own.
When you create your own theme, you can choose a background image from the gallery, adjust the transparency of the keys and change the color of the characters, which allows you to make the keyboard translucent so that you can see the desktop wallpaper, or, conversely, make it bright and contrasting for better visibility in sunlight.
Secrets of font customization
Keep in mind the size of the keyboard. Some Xiaomi models and the Gboard itself offer the option of changing the height of the input panel. This is useful for devices with large screens, where the top row of characters is difficult to reach with your thumb. Reducing the height of the keyboard makes it easier to type with one hand.
⚠️ Note: Use of too bright or contrasting themes with high brightness on the AMOLED-screens can lead to increased battery consumption and the risk of pixel burnout in a static image.
Advanced functions and gestures
Modern keyboards support gesture control, which greatly speeds up typing. Swipe allows you to write words without taking your finger off the screen. Swipe from letter to letter to make a word. This is a habit-forming feature, but it increases the speed of printing at times.
And you also have a clipboard, which has a buffer built in, which stores the history of the copied fragments, and you can activate it in settings to quickly insert frequently used phrases, addresses, or card numbers, so you don't have to look up the information you want in your notes every time you want.
| Function | Description | Where to turn it on |
|---|---|---|
| Google Translate | Instant translation of text | Settings → Translation |
| Searching for GIF | Animated sticker database | Toolbar → GIF |
| Voice input | Voice typing | Microphone button |
| One-hand mode | Sideways shift of keyboard | Settings → Preferences |
Another useful feature is quick access to Google Search, and by clicking on the "G" icon in the keyboard bar, you can send a request to the search engine without switching between applications, and the search result can be sent to the messenger immediately, which saves time.
Solution and resetting of settings
Sometimes users find that the keyboard stops appearing, freezes or does not work correctly. Most often, the problem lies in a crowded app cache or a conflict of updates. The first step should always be to clean the data and cache of the system application.
Go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Find Gboard or Sogou Keyboard. Select Memory and click Clear Cache, then Clear Everything. This will return the keyboard to factory settings, fixing software errors.
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If the keyboard is gone completely and you can't enter the unlock password, try restarting the device by holding the power button. If that doesn't help, plug in the physical. USB-keyboard OTG-adapter to enter commands for resetting.
If the problem persists after a reset, check for system and keyboard updates in the Play Market. Outdated versions may not work properly with new versions of Android. Also make sure that the system does not activate the "Energy Savings" mode, which may limit the background operation of input services.
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A complete keyboard reset (not just the cache) solves 90% of the problems with freezes and incorrect predictive input, but will require reconfiguration of languages.