Black Keyboard: Pure Black

A simple keyboard with true black keys instead of grey. Autocorrect, swipe-to-type, optional bold and large type. Free, no Full Access needed, no ads, no accounts.

Black Keyboard is a pure black replacement for the iOS keyboard. Not a theme, not a skin over the system keyboard. Same layout, same behavior as the keyboard already on your phone, with true black keys instead of Apple's grey, and an optional bold weight for even more contrast. White on true black is the most contrast a screen can render.

There's also a large setting that grows the letters to fill each key, for when the standard size is smaller than you want to read.

NO NETWORK

The app does not and cannot access the network. It never asks for Full Access, the permission a keyboard would need before it could send anything anywhere.

The only thing Black Keyboard remembers is a short list of words you've told it to stop correcting. It stays on your device, and the app has a button to clear it.

No accounts. No ads. No analytics. No in-app purchases.

FREE

Black Keyboard is free, and this is the whole app. There's no trial, no paywall and nothing to unlock.

OUR OWN AUTOCORRECT AND SWIPE-TO-TYPE

Apple doesn't make its own autocorrect or gesture-typing engines available to any third-party keyboard. Not this one, not any other. So we built both ourselves: autocorrect that backs off the moment you reject a suggestion and stays out of your way on that word from then on, and swipe-to-type for gliding between letters instead of tapping each one. Either can be switched off on its own if you'd rather type the plain way.

TRUE BLACK, NOT DARK GREY

Apple's dark keyboard is a dark grey backdrop with lighter grey keys. Black Keyboard's backdrop is true black, with near-black keycaps and white letters. On an OLED iPhone, true black pixels are switched off entirely, so the keyboard draws less power and throws no glow in a dark room.

SET UP IN UNDER A MINUTE

Install it like any keyboard: Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard, then choose Black Keyboard and switch to it with the globe key. Bold or regular, normal or large, and that is all there is to set.

Built for iPhone and iPad, iOS 16 and later.