Google rolls out GBoard keyboard for iOS

Google announced today the launch of GBoard, an iOS-based keyboard app lets users search and send information, GIFs and emojis directly from the keyboard without having to leave the app.

Despite the quirkiness of emoji and GIFs, GBoard does provide some neat functionality to iOS messaging apps.

For instance, if someone chatting in iMessage is trying to find the address to a restaurant, the previous course of action would have required them to leave the app, open search, find the restaurant, copy the address, switch back to iMessage, paste the information and click send.

With GBoard, that whole process takes place inside the app. Results appear as cards at the bottom of the chat thread and it only takes a tap to push relevant information into the thread to send to the other party.

Also, instead of scrolling for emojis, GBoard lets users search for what they want by description. Users can also search for GIFs in the same way.

Additionally, the Gboard keyboard features Glide Typing, which lets users type words by sliding their finger from key to key rather than tapping. GBoard is available today in the App Store.