Gboard 7.6 for Android Gets Floating Keyboard Feature; Halloween GIFs and More Languages Support Spotted in Teardown

Google's own keyboard app - Gboard - in its latest update (v7.6) for Android has brought a helpful new feature. It now lets users make the keyboard float and move it around the screen. With the floating keyboard feature, tapping on the Gboard's G icon will get you the new Floating option. To recall, an APK teardown of the last version of the app in September had found it to be preparing to bring the new floating keyboard alongside a bunch of new features. It now seems to be available for most Android users. Meanwhile, an APK teardown of the latest Gboard app version has separately hinted at a couple of upcoming features. For now, there is no information about when this functionality will hit Gboard for iOS, if at all.

Similar to the SwiftKey floating keyboard, users will now be able to move the Gboard around after undocking it. The new floating keyboard can be placed anywhere on the screen and can be resized or even used for swipe typing. To enable the floating keyboard, tap on the G icon and then on the three-dotted menu. Further, tap on the new Floating option. Now, you will be able to drag the keyboard around by tapping and holding it. Notably, to dock the Gboard back to its original place and size, drag it to the bottom of the display. Interestingly, on leaving the keyboard untouched, it turns translucent and shows the app behind it.

It is worth noting that the Gboard's changelog on the Google Play Store does not mention the floating keyboard feature, but Gadgets 360 was able to access it on a few handsets. If you are still not getting the option yet, do note that Google might roll it out to more Android devices soon. Also, the Gboard app has now added support for more languages, dialects, and more. The report claims that there are 47 additions to the list, including the ones added in earlier releases.

Meanwhile, version 7.6 of Gboard has revealed that a number of features are under development. Folks at Android Police have decompiled the APK to see several lines of code that hint at possible upcoming features. It hints at upcoming Halloween GIFs and addition of new languages. The report says that Gboard will be adding a category for Halloween GIFs ahead of the festival.

You can download the APK file of the latest app (v7.6.7.213180289-beta) from APK Mirror to experience the new Gboard app features. Meanwhile, there isn't any certainty on when we can see the features uncovered through the APK teardown.