Gboard is probably the most-used app on your phone, and yet most people never bother setting it up. And that’s a shame, because Gboard has a few settings that can help you type faster and more privately. Heck, one of these can also make your phone’s battery last longer.

Add the number and emoji rows

Stop switching screens

Typing numbers is something most of us need to do, and yet, Gboard hides the number row by default. That means you have to tap the number button time and again while typing. An easy fix for this is to add a number row on top of your keyboard. Head to Gboard settings > Preferences and turn on the Number row toggle.

You can do the same for emojis too by heading to Gboard settings > Emojis, stickers, and GIFs, turning on Emoji fast-access row. This adds a new row that shows both popular and your frequently used emojis. If having two extra rows makes the keyboard slightly larger, you can also resize it.

Turn on clipboard

Your keyboard can remember everything

Gboard has a built-in clipboard manager that can remember everything you copy. Once it’s on, Gboard keeps both recently copied text snippets and images stored. It automatically deletes these entries after 1 hour, so it’s not like you have to worry about privacy.

And the best part is that you can even pin items you want Gboard to keep forever. This is super handy for things like your phone number, email, address, and anything else you need to type frequently. To enable this, tap the clipboard icon on the Gboard toolbar and turn on the toggle. You can even set up the clipboard to automatically copy screenshots by heading to Gboard settings > Clipboard > Save recent screenshots in clipboard.

Set up autofill

Instant access to passwords and cards

Gboard has an autofill service, which lets you type in account credentials and payment methods with a tap. If you’re already using Google Password Manager and have your credit cards saved to your Google account, this is a no-brainer.

Tap the tools menu and choose Autofill to turn on this feature. Once you’ve done this, you can access the autofill menu inside any app or browser, right from the keyboard itself.

The good thing is that the app will only show passwords that are relevant to the app or site you’re on. So if you’re logging into Instagram, Gboard won’t show your banking password in this menu.

Set up text shortcuts

Type less, say more

Pinning items in Gboard’s clipboard is already handy, but you can even create shortcuts for stuff you type all the time. Instead of typing your email address or long phrases like “I’ll be right back,” you can create shortcuts for those.

Go to Gboard settings > Dictionary > Personal dictionary, pick a language, and tap the plus icon to add a new entry. Type the full phrase you want in the Phrase field, and then a shortcut for it, something like “myemail.”

Now whenever you type that shortcut and hit space, Gboard will swap it out for the full text automatically. You can set up as many shortcuts as you want for addresses, canned replies, or whatever you need.

Turn off sound and vibration

Silence the keyboard

This one can be subjective, but I find those typing sounds and the haptic feedback Gboard gives to be annoying. Heck, I can’t even stand it when a friend next to me is typing with the keyboard sound on.

If you’re in the same boat, head to Gboard settings > Preferences and turn off the Sound and Keyboard vibration toggles. There’s one more benefit of doing this, which is extra battery life. Those keyboard sounds and vibrations can end up using a lot of battery power throughout the day, especially if you type a lot. So yes, if you’re struggling with poor battery life, this is definitely worth doing.

Tweak privacy settings

Type without the tracking

You probably use your keyboard to type all kinds of sensitive stuff, and you definitely wouldn’t want that data to ever leave your phone. By default, though, Gboard sends a fair bit of data back to Google. Gboard’s listing page on Play Store flags that it collects in-app search history, app interactions, user-generated content, and even which apps are installed on your phone.

Yes, it’s all anonymized, and it’s all done to “improve the user experience.” But if that still makes you uneasy, head to Gboard settings > Privacy and turn off all the toggles in this menu. This will stop Gboard from collecting your typing patterns, voice typing data, commonly used phrases, and other interaction data.