Morse code

About Morse for Gboard

Developer Tania Finlayson found her voice through Morse code. Now she’s partnering with Google to bring Morse code to Gboard, so others can try it for accessible communication.

Morse code for Gboard includes settings that allow users to customize the keyboard to their unique usage needs. It works in tandem with Android Accessibility features like Switch Access and Point Scan.

This provides access to Gboard’s AI driven predictions and suggestions, as well as an entry point to AI-powered products, like the Google Assistant.

ote: Morse code is available for English (United States) on devices running Android 5.0 and higher.

Step 1: Download Gboard

On your Android phone or tablet, install Gboard.

Step 2: Set up the Morse keyboard

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Settings app.
Tap System Languages & input.
Tap Virtual keyboard Gboard.
Tap Languages English (U.S.).
Swipe right through the options, and then tap Morse code.
Tap Done.

Step 3: Use Morse code

On your Android phone or tablet, open any app that you can type with, like Gmail or Keep.
Tap where you can enter text.
Tap the Globe . If you have other languages set up, tap again until you reach Morse code.
Enter text using the dot (.) and dash (-).

The Morse code layout works with accessibility services, like TalkBack, Switch Access, or Select to Speak.

Tip: To play a game and find other learning tools, visit g.co/morse.

Connect an external switch

You can use Android Switch Access to enter Morse code with an external switch device.

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Settings app.
Tap System Languages & input Physical keyboard.
Turn on Show virtual keyboard.

Gboard will automatically recognize the keys your switch device has assigned to the dot (.) and dash (-) characters.

Tip: If you have more than 2 switches, you can assign more actions to the other switches.

Change settings for Morse layout

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Settings app.
Tap System Languages & input.
Tap Virtual keyboard Gboard.
Tap Languages Morse code.
From here, you can turn on settings, like Sound on keypress, Character timeout, and Enable key repeat.

Hear feedback when you type

On your Android phone or tablet, follow steps 1-4 in “Change settings for Morse layout.”
Turn on Sound on keypress.

Change character timeout

You can change how long Gboard waits before it turns a Morse code sequence into a letter. You can also send each letter manually.

Change how long Gboard waits: Touch and hold the spacebar. Then tap Language Settings Morse (U.S.) Character timeout.
Send a letter to the text field manually: Set “Character timeout” to “Never.” Then press the spacebar where you see the Morse code.

Set word timeout

If you turn on this feature, you can control how long before letters turn into words when you type.

This setting is off by default, so there’s no timeout.
If you set the timeout to one second, and then type “hello,” your keyboard adds the word and a space to the text field after one second.

Note: When you turn on word timeout, your keyboard autocorrects, suggests, and predicts words as usual.

Repeat keystrokes

To repeat keystrokes: Hold down the dot (.) or dash (-).

When key repeat is on, you can:

Set when to start repeating
Set the speed of the repeat rate

IOS