How it works
The letters look jumbled. They're not.
Every letter sits where it does because of how often you type it. The busiest letters get the easiest move: a single tap.
Nine letters do most of the work
In English, just nine letters make up about 70% of everything we type. Squirkey puts all nine on the centres of its keys, so roughly seven letters in every ten are one tap, with no aiming at tiny targets.
The next most common letters, all swipes:
Share of all letters in typical English text. The other 17 letters share the remaining 30% between them.
Tap
The 9 most used letters
Swipe
Every other letter, punctuation and symbols
Hold
Numbers 1–9, phone-keypad style
Why switch to Squirkey?
Built for accuracy, comfort, privacy and your own way of typing.
Far fewer typos
Nine keys, each several times the size of a QWERTY key. Big fingers finally have room, and the keys can be made bigger still.
Private and offline
Squirkey has no internet permission, so it can't send anything anywhere. What you type stays on your phone.
Make it yours
Drag any letter, symbol or emoji onto any key. Pick from 48 colours or start from a ready-made light or dark theme.
Any size you like
Swipe on the ⇧ key to make the keys bigger or smaller, and set the character size from 70% to 150%.
Every emoji and symbol
A row of your favourite emoji, plus every emoji (with skin tones) and every special character one swipe away on the space bar.
A calmer board when you want it
Swipe up on space for a simpler typewriter board: just letters and the punctuation you choose.
See it in action
The keyboard in everyday apps, in dark and light, and the screens where you make it your own.
Dark
Light
Make it yours
Frequently asked questions
Why are the letters arranged in such a funny order?
Because the order comes from science, not habit. Some letters are used far more than others: in English, just nine letters, E T A O I N S H R, make up about 70% of everything we type.
Squirkey puts those nine letters on the centres of its nine keys, so roughly seven letters in every ten are a single tap. The less common letters sit around the edges, a short swipe away, and the rarest ones, like Q, X and Z, are the swipes you'll need least often.
It looks odd for the first few minutes. Then it starts to feel obvious: the letters you need most are always right under your thumb.
Why not just use QWERTY?
QWERTY was designed in the 1870s for mechanical typewriters and ten fingers on a desk. It was never meant for thumbs on a phone screen.
Squeezing its 26 letters onto a phone makes every key tiny, which is where most typos come from, especially with larger fingers. Squirkey uses nine big keys instead, each several times the size of a phone's QWERTY key, so you hit what you aim for.
How do I type the small letters around the edges?
Start in the middle of a key and swipe towards the small letter you want, then lift your finger. A short flick in the right direction is enough, and you don't need to stay inside the key.
A bubble above the key shows the letter you're about to type, so you can check before you let go.
Is it hard to learn?
There's a short learning curve, like any new layout. Because the most common letters are taps, you can type whole words straight away, and the swipes for the rarer letters soon become muscle memory.
Give it a few days of everyday use. Most of the effort is forgetting where QWERTY put things.
How do I type capitals, numbers and punctuation?
Capitals: sentences start with a capital automatically. Tap ⇧ for the next capital, double-tap it for caps lock, or swipe out to a letter and back to flip its case.
Numbers: hold any key for its number. The keys are numbered like a phone keypad, from 1 at the top left to 9 at the bottom right, and holding space gives 0. Or tap 123 for the full Numbers board.
Punctuation, symbols and emoji: the most used punctuation is a swipe on the keys. Swipe left on space for every other character, and right on space for every emoji.
Can I move the letters somewhere else?
Yes. The letter-frequency layout is just the starting point. In Change Keyboard Layout, drag any letter, symbol or emoji onto any key or swipe. Reset brings the standard layout back at any time.
Does Squirkey track what I type?
No. Squirkey doesn't have permission to use the internet, so it has no way to send anything off your phone. The emoji and characters it learns you like are remembered on your phone only.
Is there a subscription?
No. Squirkey will never charge you monthly.
Can I back up or move my setup to another phone?
Yes. Save & Share puts your layout, colours, settings and key size into a .squirkey file. Keep it somewhere safe, send it to a friend, or load it on another phone.
Why is it called Squirkey?
It's square: nine square keys in a 3×3 grid. It's quirky: the letters aren't where you'd expect. And it's a keyboard. Square + quirky + key = Squirkey.