Thumb-Key

4.8
38 reviews
100+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
Screenshot image
Screenshot image

About this app

Thumb-Key is a privacy-conscious smart keyboard, made specifically for your thumbs.

It features a 3x3 grid layout, and uses swipes for the less common letters. Its easy to learn, and designed for fast typing speeds.

Instead of relying on profit-driven, privacy-offending word and sentence prediction for accuracy, as do most popular phone keyboards like Gboard and Swiftkey, Thumb-Key uses large keys with predictable positions, to prevent your eyes from hunting and pecking for letters.

As the key positions get ingrained into your muscle memory, eventually you'll be able to approximate the fast speeds of touch-typing, your eyes never having to leave the text edit area.

This project is a follow-up to the now unmaintained (and closed-source) Message Ease Keyboard, which is its main inspiration.
Updated on
Oct 1, 2025

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
No data shared with third parties
Learn more about how developers declare sharing
No data collected
Learn more about how developers declare collection

Ratings and reviews

4.9
36 reviews
Skyler Madison
February 25, 2024
I've used Messagease for 16+ years now. But now that it's gone to a subscription model, I abandoned it completely. I tried a variety of other keyboards... but nothing could compare. After googling for a while, I found thumb-key. It has the same key configuration, but the letter, are arranged differently. I was so pleased to see that I could arrange the keys to be the same as messageease, in the settings. So... I didn't need to have a learning curve. There are minor differences, most good
24 people found this review helpful
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boop yeargin
August 24, 2025
I've been using this layout for many years now. the fact that this dev is firmly against keylogging thats become so common is the icing on top. this is something of real value, please do yourself the favor and get it and learn anihortes. it does wonders for my peace of mind. oh yeah and all this because messagease had to move to a subscription model
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Duncan Greaves
July 12, 2025
Superb. I've used Messagease for years, but since it self-destructed I've been searching for a replacement, and have finally found it in Thumb-Key. (It's free on several platforms but I've bought the Play Store version to support the developer.)
1 person found this review helpful
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What’s new

https://github.com/dessalines/thumb-key/blob/main/RELEASES.md

App support

About the developer
Tyler Houlihan
happydooby@gmail.com
1722 Beacon Hill Rd Lexington, KY 40504-2213 United States
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