Score your own writing, not a feature list
A keyboard is a habit you touch a few hundred times a day, so the only test that means anything uses your messages. Before you install anything, write down the three apps where you actually type and the two jobs you repeat most.
- The languages you send in, including the ones you mix in a single message.
- Whether you speak more than you type, or the other way round.
- Whether your drafts need tone changes or only spelling and grammar.
- How much cloud processing you are willing to accept for work text.
Those four answers usually eliminate half the market before a trial starts, which is faster than reading feature pages.
The scorecard
Give every candidate the same rows and fill them from a real day of use. Blank cells are information: a vendor that will not say where text goes has answered the privacy row.
| Row | How to score it | Fails when |
|---|---|---|
| Voice typing | Dictate the same paragraph in a quiet room and a noisy one | Names and numbers break, or the mic drops mid-sentence |
| Rewrite and grammar | Run it on a draft you already fixed by hand | It changes meaning or flattens your voice |
| Translation | Send one message in each language you use | Coverage stops at the language you needed |
| Replies | Draft one email answer from a one-line instruction | Output needs more editing than writing it yourself |
| Typing basics | Type a paragraph with no AI features at all | Lag, wrong autocorrect, missing layouts |
| Privacy | Read the Full Access screen and the policy | Neither one names what is sent or kept |
Keep the sheet in Notes. It takes ten minutes to fill and it saves an argument with yourself in month two.
Voice typing is the row that surprises people
Demo videos are recorded in quiet rooms with easy sentences. Your test should include a colleague's surname, a phone number, and one sentence you fumble on purpose. Then measure the part that matters: how long it takes to get from speech to something you would send.
- Dictate the same three-sentence message in each keyboard.
- Count the words you have to fix by hand.
- Run the keyboard's cleanup or rewrite once and count again.
- Repeat outdoors or with a fan running.
- Check whether the mic works in Mail as well as it does in the vendor's own app.
A keyboard with slightly worse raw recognition can still win this row, because a good cleanup pass removes more work than a few extra correct words save.
Read the Full Access answer first
iOS requires Full Access before a keyboard can use the network, so every keyboard with cloud AI asks for it. The prompt tells you nothing about quality. The vendor's explanation does.
- Does the app say which features need the network and which work offline?
- Does it name the providers that process rewrite and translation requests?
- Does it say how long text is kept, and whether you can delete it?
- Does it state that password and card fields stay with the system keyboard?
- Can you turn Full Access off and keep typing?
Answer the last question by testing it. Turn the switch off, type a paragraph, and watch which buttons go dark. That is the map of what leaves your phone.
The shapes on the market, and where Auri sits
Most iPhone keyboards fall into three groups, and the group tells you more than the marketing does.
- Big-vendor keyboards from Google and Microsoft: free, strong prediction and layouts, voice input, little in the way of rewrite or tone control.
- Writing-assistant keyboards built around grammar and suggestions: good on correctness, usually thinner on voice.
- Voice-first tools such as Auri Keyboard and Wispr Flow: dictation plus a cleanup step, so the draft arrives closer to sendable.
Auri Keyboard sits first in that group for this guide. It ships inside the Auri AI Keyboard & Assistant iOS app, separate from Auri Voice on Mac, with voice typing, grammar, 25+ paraphrase styles, translation across 20+ languages, email replies, clipboard snippets, and over 80 keyboard languages. The same app also includes AI Chat and Smart Notes. Voice typing offers selectable cloud transcription engines on iPhone, or On-Device English-only transcription, and Full Access is required for the network features. Skip it if you refuse Full Access on principle, or if you only ever send short texts.
When the stock keyboard is the right answer
Buying nothing is a legitimate outcome of this test. An AI keyboard adds a permission decision, a subscription, and one more thing to switch between, and those costs only pay off if the tools get used weekly.
- You send short messages and rarely change what you first wrote.
- You type faster than you speak in the languages you use.
- You do your real writing on a Mac and only need capture on the phone.
- You would rather not grant Full Access to any keyboard right now.
If you land here, keep Apple Dictation enabled and revisit the scorecard when email or bilingual chat starts eating evenings.
FAQ
Why not just rank them one to five?
Because the ranking would be about someone else's writing. A keyboard that wins on English marketing copy can lose on bilingual chat or on client email. The scorecard transfers between people; a ranking does not.
Do AI keyboards work in every app?
In almost every text field. iOS forces the system keyboard inside password, PIN, and card inputs, so no third-party keyboard works there. Some apps with custom text views also behave oddly, which is worth testing early.
Is Full Access a mark against a keyboard?
No. It is the iOS switch for network use, so every keyboard with cloud AI needs it. Judge the explanation instead: what leaves the device, which provider handles it, and how long anything is kept.
How many keyboards should I keep installed?
One AI keyboard plus the system keyboard. Every extra entry makes the globe-key switch slower, and the keyboard you have to hunt for is the one you stop using.
Do free keyboards make sense?
For prediction, emoji, and layouts, yes. Cloud AI costs the vendor money on every request, so a keyboard built around rewrite and voice usually charges for it. Check what the free tier limits before you rely on it.