Wingboard: One-Handed Keyboard

On the cover screen of iPhone Duo, on the inner screen, on any iPhone and on iPad. Wingboard is a Japanese keyboard you can shrink to thumb reach, move to one side, or split into two keyboards: kana on one side, English on the other. Conversion is tuned to feel like the built-in keyboard, and nothing you type leaves your device.

Made for you if ・You use a large iPhone with one hand and the far keys are hard to reach ・The keyboard hides the screen and you can't read while typing ・You switch between Japanese and English a lot ・You use iPhone Duo both closed and open ・You want to type with your thumbs on iPad too

■ Size and position, adjusted on the spot Tap the adjust button: drag up/down for height, swipe left/right to move it to one side, pinch for size. Exact values are in the app too (height 75–140%, width 40–90%, curve 0–100, edge spacing about 0–8 mm). Keys can follow the arc of your thumb. Portrait and landscape are remembered separately.

■ Move it aside and see more of the screen Moved to the left or right, predictions line up in the free space and the keyboard gets one row lower. With predictions on top, the free space holds symbols or emoji you tap once.

■ Japanese and English without switching In landscape or on the inner screen, show two keyboards at once, such as kana on the left and English on the right. Each side can have its own size, curve and edge spacing. You can also split one keyboard for typing with both thumbs.

■ Works like the built-in keyboard Switching between あいう, ABC and 123 while typing keeps what you typed and its candidates. While converting, the ＜ key becomes ↺ and steps back one character or candidate. Numbers come in half-width and full-width, and "1225" also offers 12:25 and 12月25日. Brackets put the cursor inside. Hold the space key and slide in any direction to move the cursor, up and down across lines. Thumbs land a little below where you aim, so Wingboard corrects the touch point before choosing the key (the strength is adjustable).

■ Flick or romaji Kana by flick (toggle input works too) or romaji on a PC-style layout. English as QWERTY or flick.

■ Conversion done carefully Words that match what you typed and common words come first, and it learns your choices. After a word is committed, next-word predictions appear. "きょう" gives today's date and "まるいち" gives ①. Words from the iOS text replacement dictionary appear too.

■ Easier typing Swipe left on delete to remove a whole word. Flick sensitivity has five levels and haptics has weak, medium and strong (off at first). A button on the candidate bar closes the keyboard.

■ Colors your way Twelve skins, or your own key, background and text colors. Save up to five favorite sets of layout, size and skin.

■ What you type stays on your device Wingboard has no networking features at all. Nothing you type and no setting leaves the device. The dictionary is built in, so it works offline. Full Access is optional. With it, the app's settings and snippets reach the keyboard, and haptics and clipboard history work. Typing and conversion work without it. Data kept on the device (clipboard history, snippets, conversion learning, symbol usage counts) can be reviewed and deleted by type in the app under "保存しているデータ" (Stored data).

■ Getting started Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard > Wingboard. To send the app's settings to the keyboard, also turn on "Allow Full Access".

■ Notes ・Password fields and phone number entry switch to the standard keyboard, as iOS requires. ・iPhone and iPad (iOS 17 or later). While a hardware keyboard is connected, iOS hides the on-screen keyboard. ・Kana-kanji conversion uses AzooKeyKanaKanjiConverter (MIT License) and the azooKey dictionary (Apache License 2.0).