Guide
How to use Typesmith
Five short demonstrations, drawn from the app itself: the AI key, your API key, modes of your own, the models, and the typing settings. Then the questions people ask.
Before you start
Switch it on
- Enable it. Open Typesmith and tap Enable. Android opens its list of keyboards; switch Typesmith on there. Android warns that a keyboard can see what you type: every third-party keyboard gets that warning, and the privacy policy says what Typesmith does with it.
- Select it. Back in the app, tap Select and pick Typesmith in the keyboard picker. The app shows a tick beside each step once it is done.
- Try it. The field under the two steps is yours to type in. From then on, Typesmith is the keyboard in every app.
To get back to these settings later: tap the gear on the keyboard's toolbar, or open the Typesmith app.
Step 1
Rewrite with the AI key
The AI key sits on the toolbar above the keys, in every app. It rewrites what you typed, where you typed it.
- Type as you always do. A message, an email, a note: anywhere there is a text field.
- Tap the AI key. The toolbar becomes the AI panel: a mode, a model, a Rewrite button.
- Pick a mode. Tap the mode chip and choose: Fix Grammar, Concise, Professional, Friendly, Polite, Formal, Casual, Assertive, or a mode of your own. An Ask AI mode answers your text instead of rewriting it.
- Tap Rewrite. Your text is replaced in the same field, so you can send it or keep editing.
- Changed your mind? Tap Undo on the panel and your own words come back. Or pick another mode and tap Rewrite again.
Select part of the text first and only that part is rewritten; with nothing selected, the whole field is. The AI needs an API key: that is step 2. The first time, Typesmith tells you what it is about to send and asks before sending; after that it just goes.
Step 2
Add your API key
The AI runs on a key of your own from OpenAI or DeepSeek. You pay the provider for what you use, usually cents a month for a keyboard, and the text goes straight from your phone to them.
- Get a key. Sign in at platform.openai.com/api-keys or platform.deepseek.com/api_keys, create a key and copy it. Both start with
sk-. OpenAI keys need a little prepaid credit on the account. - Open Settings → AI Rewrite in the Typesmith app.
- Pick the provider: DeepSeek or OpenAI. Each keeps a key of its own, so you can have both.
- Tap “Add … API key”, paste the key and tap Save. The eye shows the key while you check it.
- Choose the model. Once the key is in, the Model row lists what that key can use. GPT-4o mini (or DeepSeek Chat) is the quick, cheap default; tap the row to pick another.
The key is kept on your phone only and sent only to the provider it belongs to. The pencil changes it, the bin removes it. If a key is turned down, check that it starts with sk-, that it is the whole key, and that the account has credit.
Step 3
Make a mode of your own
A mode is an instruction you write once. It then sits on the keyboard's mode row beside the built-in ones, under the name you gave it.
- Open Settings → Modes, or tap the mode chip on the keyboard and then New mode.
- Tap New mode and name it. The name is what the chip on the keyboard says, so keep it short: up to 24 characters.
- Choose what it does. Rewrite restyles your text and never answers it. Ask AI does something with your text, such as replying to it, answering it, translating or summarising it, and puts only the result in the field.
- Write the prompt, or start from one of the example chips and change it. Then tap Save.
- Use it like any other mode: tap the AI key, pick it from the mode row, tap Rewrite or Ask AI.
Tap a mode of yours to edit it; the bin deletes it; the ⋮ menu resets the modes to the ones the app ships with. The built-in modes can't be edited.
Some modes worth making
- Translate to Urdu Ask AITranslate this into Urdu.
- Reply Ask AIWrite a short, polite reply to this message.
- Like a tweet RewriteMake it read like a tweet: punchy, and under 280 characters.
- Simple words RewriteUse short sentences and simple words anyone can follow.
Step 4
Choose the models
Every mode runs on the model you picked in AI Rewrite until you add more. Add a few, and the keyboard lets you switch between them without leaving the app you are in.
- Open Settings → Modes and tap Add models.
- Tick the ones you want, from OpenAI, DeepSeek or both, and tap Done. The list is what your keys can use; a model whose provider has no key yet can be added now and picked once the key is in.
- Give one a nickname if you like: “Smart”, “Cheap”. The keyboard's model chip shows the nickname instead of the model's name.
- Switch on the keyboard. On the AI panel, tap the model chip beside the mode and pick one. Each mode remembers the model you last picked for it.
Which to pick: the default (GPT-4o mini, or DeepSeek Chat) is quick and costs the least; GPT-4o and GPT-4.1 are more careful with tone and long texts; DeepSeek Reasoner thinks longer. The × beside a model removes it from the list, and any mode running on it goes back to your default.
Step 5
Typing settings
Settings → Typing holds the two switches that change the most about how the keyboard feels. Both are on when you install it; here is what each one does on and off.
- Auto-capitalization On
- The first letter of a sentence is capitalised for you: at the start of the field and after a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark. Shift lights up to show it.
- Auto-capitalization Off
- Everything is typed exactly as you tap it. Press Shift when you want a capital. Handy for chats where you never use capitals, or for codes and usernames.
- Auto-correction On
- A mistyped word is corrected when you type the space after it. The correction shows in bold on the strip, with the word as you typed it in quotes beside it: tap the quoted word to keep it. Backspace right after a correction puts your word back. The keyboard learns the typos you let it fix, and the words you keep.
- Auto-correction Off
- Nothing changes unless you tap a word on the strip. The suggestions still show, for you to use or ignore. Turn it off for names, slang, or a language the keyboard has no dictionary for.
The third switch, Show number row, puts a row of digits above the letters. Without it, hold a key on the top row for its digit. Dictionaries are bundled for English, Spanish and Portuguese; the other keyboards learn the words you type and suggest those.
Questions
Asked often
The keyboard
The AI key isn't there in some apps.
It's hidden where it makes no sense: password fields, name and address fields, search boxes that filter a list, and fields an app marks private. Everywhere else it's on the toolbar.
How do I switch languages?
Add the keyboards you write in under Settings → Languages. Then tap the globe key, or hold the space bar, to switch. The space bar shows the language's code.
How do I move the cursor without tapping into the text?
Slide your finger along the space bar: the cursor follows it.
Where are the symbols and the digits?
Tap !#1 for symbols and numbers. On the letter keyboard, hold a key on the top row for its digit, or switch on the number row under Settings → Typing. Hold the comma for emoji; the clipboard icon on the toolbar keeps what you copied.
How do I get to the settings from the keyboard?
Tap the gear at the right end of the toolbar. The keyboard also appears in Android's own keyboard settings, with a gear beside it.
Light or dark?
Settings → Appearance: follow the phone, or always light, or always dark; and the keyboard can take its colours from your wallpaper on Android 12 and later.
The AI
Do I need an account?
No. Typesmith has no account of yours. The AI runs on an API key you add from OpenAI or DeepSeek, which bills you for what you use. A subscription with nothing to set up, Typesmith AI, is coming; the keyboard itself is free either way.
What does it cost?
Whatever the provider charges for the model you picked, for the words you send and get back. For a keyboard that is usually cents a month: a rewrite of a message is a few hundred tokens. Both providers show your usage on their site.
What is sent, and when?
Only when you tap Rewrite or Ask AI, and only the text you selected, or the whole field when nothing is selected. It goes straight from your phone to the provider whose key you added, with your mode's instruction. Nothing else you type is sent anywhere. The first time, the keyboard says this and asks before sending.
What is the difference between Rewrite and Ask AI?
A Rewrite mode gives your text back in another style and never answers it: Fix Grammar, Concise, Professional and the others are Rewrite modes. An Ask AI mode treats your text as something to act on: answer this question, reply to this message, translate this, summarise this. Only the result lands in the field.
Can I rewrite only part of a message?
Yes. Select the part first, then tap the AI key and Rewrite. Only the selection is replaced.
How do I undo a rewrite?
Tap Undo on the AI panel: your own words come back, as long as you haven't edited the rewritten text yet. You can also pick another mode and rewrite again; each rewrite starts from what is in the field.
Which model should I pick?
Start with the default: GPT-4o mini or DeepSeek Chat are quick and cost the least, and fix grammar perfectly well. Pick GPT-4o or GPT-4.1 when tone matters or the text is long; DeepSeek Reasoner for a question that needs thinking. You can add several under Settings → Modes and switch on the keyboard.
The rewrite failed, or the key was turned down.
Check the key is the whole key, starts with sk-, and that the account has credit: an OpenAI key needs a little prepaid balance before it works. The keyboard shows the provider's reason on the panel for a moment. If the model row says “Add an API key”, the key for that provider isn't saved yet.
Does it work without internet?
The keyboard does: typing, suggestions, autocorrect and the clipboard are all on the phone. The AI features need a connection to reach the provider.
Can one mode use a different model from another?
Yes. Add the models once under Settings → Modes; every mode can run on any of them. On the keyboard, the model chip beside the mode switches, and each mode remembers the model you last picked for it. A mode with nothing picked runs on your default model, the one in AI Rewrite.
What is the nickname for?
The keyboard's model chip is small. A nickname such as “Smart” or “Cheap” reads better there than the model's full name. Set it beside the model under Settings → Modes, or for the default model under AI Rewrite.
I made a mess of the modes.
On the Modes screen, the ⋮ menu has Reset to default modes: your own modes and the models you added are removed, your API keys and your default model stay.
Typing
It corrected a word I meant.
Tap Backspace right after the correction and your word comes back. Or, before you type the space, tap the quoted word on the strip to keep it. A word you keep twice is learned, and the keyboard stops correcting it. Auto-correction can also be turned off under Settings → Typing.
It keeps suggesting a word I never want to see.
Settings → Learned words: find it and remove it. Words learned in one language show in every language, so a word from one keyboard can turn up on another.
Why are there no suggestions in my language?
The app carries dictionaries for English, Spanish and Portuguese. The other keyboards have the full layout but no word list yet, so they have no dictionary suggestions or autocorrect; they learn the words you type and suggest those. More dictionaries are coming as downloads.
Why does it capitalise the first letter?
Auto-capitalization, on by default, capitalises the start of every sentence. Turn it off under Settings → Typing to type exactly what you tap, and use Shift for capitals.
Privacy and your data
Does Typesmith read my passwords?
In a password field it suggests nothing, learns nothing and keeps nothing. Nothing you type in any field is sent to us or to an AI unless you use an AI feature on it. The privacy policy has the full picture.
Can I move my settings to a new phone?
If Backup is on in your phone's settings, Android carries your Typesmith settings to a new phone on the same Google account. Or save a file yourself: Settings → Backup & restore → Export to a file, and restore it on the new phone. Give the file a passphrase and no one can read it without it.
Something else?
Write to support@focusdot.dev. Say which phone you have and, for anything about typing, which language keyboard; a screenshot helps more than anything. Subscriptions, refunds and deleting your data are on the support page.
Type it. Then make it better.
Typesmith is an Android keyboard with AI rewriting one key away. Free with your own AI key.