Google releases beta version of Gboard detachable on-screen keyboard Easier to type on foldable phones

Google’s AndroidGboard keyboard app offers a detached soft keyboard mode for users with foldable phones (at least the beta version of the app, for now). Its purpose is to make typing on the large screens of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Microsoft Surface Duo 2 less awkward and more ergonomic.

The split keyboard model cuts the keyboard in half and places all the keys on either side of the foldable phone, closer to where your thumb might naturally rest when holding the device. While Samsung’s keyboard app already offers this feature for the Z foldable phone, some Android users prefer the typing experience and autocorrect feature of Gboard.

You can sign up for the test by visiting the app page in the Google Play Store on your device at

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin&hl=en_US&gl=US

This feature will arrive with the Gboard beta version 11.9.04. If you don’t see it in your app, you may need to wait for Google to introduce more beta testers before you can access it. You can tell you have it when the toolbar above your folding on-screen keyboard shows a split keyboard icon. Press it and the keyboard will be split and that icon will be replaced by one that pulls back the two halves of the keyboard.

Above are two images of the split keyboard taken from the foldable phone, one from the Galaxy Z Fold 3 (left) and one from the Surface Duo 2 (right), a device that, despite coming down with a bang in late 2021, has improved enough for 2022, and now it’s easier than ever to type on.