Google's Gboard keyboard has hidden gestures that let you fix typos faster, move your cursor with precision and type symbols with a flick.
Most Android users type on Google's Gboard keyboard without knowing it hides several time-saving gestures. A How-To Geek guide by Steve Larner walks through six. The most useful ones make fixing mistakes quicker, with less tapping and fewer accidental deletions. Several only need a settings change to switch on.
Holding the Delete key in Gboard removes one character at a time. Glide delete works differently. Turn it on in Gboard settings under Glide typing. Then touch Delete and slide left. Gboard highlights text word by word, and the farther you slide, the more words it picks. Slide right to undo. When you lift your finger, everything highlighted is deleted. It works on Samsung phones that use Gboard too.
Tapping to land the cursor in exactly the right spot is fiddly. Instead, press and hold the right side of the spacebar and swipe left to move backward, or right to move forward. Starting on the right gives you more room to slide. Once the cursor is moving, sliding over nearby keys will not trigger swipe typing. A faster swipe jumps farther. A slower one gives fine control.
Many keys carry a small secondary character, such as a dash on the F key or a dollar sign on the D key. You can press and hold a key to see its options, or flick down on it to type the symbol right away. Both need switching on in Gboard Settings, under Preferences.
Flick straight down and stay on the key. If your finger slides onto a neighboring key, Gboard treats it as swipe typing instead.
The guide also covers a floating option that lets you move the keyboard anywhere on the screen, so it does not block what you need to see. It is similar to the one-handed layout. The guide points to the four-square or G icon on the keyboard as the starting point. The text provided cuts off before the full steps.
The gestures should work on Android 7.0 (Nougat) or higher with Gboard version 9.0 or above. Some phone makers turn certain features on by default. Others need to be switched on by hand.
Open Gboard settings and switch on Glide delete and the symbol options, then try the spacebar cursor trick the next time you fix a typo.
A browser that Android Authority calls the best on Android is not in the Play Store, but it can still be installed with a few extra steps.
Read more: A top Android browser is not in the Play Store, but you can still install itA Tom's Guide poll found only 5 of 200 readers shop for AI in earbuds and headphones. Sound quality won easily, so check AI claims before you pay extra.
Read more: Few shoppers want AI in headphones, but brands keep adding itA leaker says the iPhone 20 could fold the Action Button into Camera Control, leaving one button for both jobs. It is an early, unverified rumor.
Read more: Next year's iPhone may merge its two extra buttons into one
