Summary

  • Gboard has surpassed 10 billion downloads, becoming one of the most downloaded apps in history.
  • Only a handful of other apps have more than 10 billion downloads, including YouTube, Google Maps, and Gmail.
  • Google continues to add new features to Gboard, including an Assistant-powered voice typing toolbar.

Some apps are popular, and get millions of downloads. A very small handful of apps are elite, and gain billions upon billions of downloads. Google’s

Android
keyboard just joined that club.

A close-up view of Gboard.


Related


This old Gboard trick is great for crappy touchscreen typists like me

Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner?



6

Gboard has officially surpassed 10 billion downloads, making it one of the most downloaded apps in history (via 9to5Google). The app first appeared in 2013 as Google Keyboard but was rebranded to Gboard in 2016, ahead of the first Pixel launch. Now it joins YouTube, Google Maps, Google Photos, and Play Services in the 10 billion download club.

A keyboard used by billions

The Gboard app on the Play Store, showing 10B+ downloads.

Source: Play Store

Gboard has earned its place in this ultra-elite app club. For starters, it has been the default keyboard on Android for years, so it has a bit of a leg up there. But Google has not been asleep at the wheel, either, loading the app with tons of helpful features that expand the keyboard beyond just typing.

Today’s Gboard includes:

  • Offline voice typing across all Android devices.
  • Built-in Google Translate for multilingual communication.
  • OCR text scanning to extract text from images.
  • A solid clipboard manager.
  • Customization options like themes, resizing, and one-handed modes.
  • Plenty of expressive tools such as emojis, gifs, stickers, and the Emoji Kitchen.

Pixel users get even more exclusive features, such as Assistant voice typing, proofreading, and screenshot integration. The app is available on Wear OS smartwatches and Google TV devices, and there is even a separate keyboard for Google Automotive.

Where does Gboard go from here?

Gboard will undoubtedly continue to evolve. Google is actively beta testing some new features, including an Assistant-powered voice typing toolbar, undo and redo buttons, and improvements to the Emoji Kitchen.

The past month saw a major stable release for the app. It simplified the Dynamic Theme feature to two colors, which makes customization easier. New features will continue to drop, but like with most Google rollouts, they will take time to reach all users in a stable format.

Still, there’s enough there to entice every single human on the planet, and then some, to the app. 10 billion installs and counting proves that even a

keyboard
can be one of the most-used apps in the world.