You Can Now Customize the Keyboard on Your Samsung Galaxy.
You spend a lot of time using the software keyboard on your phone, so it makes sense to make sure it’s a keyboard you’re comfortable using—one that suits both your aesthetic preferences and your typing needs.
I’ve previously covered the best alternative keyboards if you want something different from your phone’s default keyboard, but if you’re a Samsung Galaxy owner, there’s another option worth knowing about: you can also create your own keyboard.
This is available through the Keys Cafe app, part of the Good Lock suite of utilities developed by Samsung for One UI. It allows you to create keyboards tailored to your needs, from the keys displayed to the animation that appears when pressed.
Getting Started with Keys Cafe
You can access Keys Cafe by downloading Good Lock from the Google Play Store or the Samsung Galaxy Store . While Good Lock isn’t pre-installed on One UI, it’s an official Samsung add-on and offers a lot of interesting features, including tools for adjusting volume, creating 3D animated wallpapers, and adding additional processing options to your phone’s camera.
To create your own keyboards, find Keys Cafe in the Plugins screen. Tap the download icon to the right of the app’s name to install it on your phone, and once the download is complete, tap Keys Cafe at the top of the list to launch it. Keys Cafe will also be added as an app to your home screen and app drawer.
Keys Cafe isn’t just about creating keyboards. Here you’ll find interesting statistics about your typing speed, including your daily typing speed, as well as games to help improve your typing skills. If you don’t want to create your own keyboard, you can use a variety of preset themes.
When you’re ready to get creative with your own keyboard design, open the Keyboard tab and click Create . You’ll be presented with a selection of basic templates based on your currently installed keyboards. Select the design you want to use as a starting point, then select Edit to proceed to the creation screen.
How to make your own keyboard
I’ve never created my own phone keyboards before, but Keys Cafe makes the process simple and fun. The main editing screen displays a grid of all available symbols, which you can drag and drop to create your keyboard. For example, you can add keys for your most frequently used symbols or your favorite emoji.
Clicking on existing keyboard keys allows you to edit them in more detail. You can change the height and width of each key individually (other keys will shift as needed)—so if you need a much wider space bar, feel free to do so. Click and hold to select and edit multiple keys at once.
The arrow and block icons above the keyboard allow you to add rows (if no keys are selected) and delete rows (if one or more keys are selected). There’s also a green reset button in the upper right corner if you need to go back to the beginning, and an undo button to back up a step. When you’re satisfied with the result, tap the purple checkmark icon (in the upper right corner) to save the new keyboard layout.
To change the colors and animations, you’ll need to go to the Design section of the Keyboard tab in Keys Cafe and click the “+” (plus) button in the top-right corner. The keyboard’s appearance is controlled separately from the layout, so you can create several different combinations of both if you want.
The design editor has three main sections: the main keyboard, individual letter keys, and overlay animations (for example, for typing with gestures). You can switch between these sections using the icons in the upper right corner and then make changes below them—for example, you can choose different colors for characters, backgrounds, and borders for individual keys.
On the keyboard’s main screen, you can change the background color and keypress effects—there are several different animations to choose from, all customizable. There’s also a “Sound” tab to change the sound you hear when you press keys. Select “Save,” and your new keyboard theme will be saved over the layout you created, and your keyboard will be ready to use.