Lighting Keyboard logo Lighting Keyboard
In testing
Tour & user guide - v1.0.0, in testing

Keys that glow, flow and spin - and a keyboard that cannot send what you type.

Lighting Keyboard draws a neon outline round every key and moves colour through it: a rainbow flowing across, a wave, a spin, a slow breath or a twinkle. Behind the keys sits a neon background the app draws itself, or your own photo. Underneath it is a real keyboard with autocorrect and swipe typing - and no internet permission, no ads, and nothing unlocked by watching ads. This page is the whole product: a five-stop tour, then a reference for the details, including everything it does not do.

Coming soon to Google Play Android 8.0+ · 1-day free trial, then ₹199 once
Light styles
8
Ready-made themes
21
Ads
None, ever
Internet permission
None at all
The tour

Five stops, from a plain phone to a keyboard that lights up.

Work through these five and you have seen how Lighting Keyboard fits together.

1Setup

Turn it on

Two steps, both in Android's own screens.

  • Step 1 opens Android's keyboard settings, where you switch Lighting Keyboard on.
  • Android warns that a keyboard can collect what you type. It shows that for every keyboard you add, and the app explains why this one cannot send it anywhere.
  • Step 2 opens Android's keyboard list, where you choose Lighting Keyboard.
  • The Themes tab then has a box to try it in.
2Themes

Pick a theme

21 neon looks in six groups, each tried live before you apply it.

  • Neon, RGB, Galaxy, Cute, Fire & Ice and Minimal, with search and a Favourites group.
  • Tap a card and the real keyboard opens in a sheet, lights moving. Tap its keys to hear the sound, then Apply or Customise.
  • Each theme sets the background, the lights, the key shape, the font, the sound and sometimes typing sparkles.
3Design

Design your own

Eight tabs, with the real keyboard underneath.

  • Background - your own photo or one of twelve neon artworks, and base colours. Effect darkens or blurs it so the lights stand out.
  • Lights - the light style, the colour set, speed, thickness, glow, and whether the letters light up too.
  • Keys - rounded, square, pill or bubble keys, how see-through they are, and their colour.
  • Font, Sparkles (typing effects and key stickers), Sound and Size.
  • Save asks for a name and keeps the design in My Themes.
4Text art

Text art and wallpapers

Extras that work outside the keyboard too.

  • Text faces like (◕‿◕) and ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ in thirteen groups. Tap to copy, or find them on the (^‿^) tab of the keyboard's emoji panel.
  • Fancy text shows your words in every style at once. Tap a style to copy it.
  • Wallpapers - neon designs for the home screen, the lock screen or both, including one that matches your keyboard.
5Typing

Everyday typing

The working keyboard underneath the lights.

  • Autocorrect and suggestions work from a dictionary on the phone. Backspace straight after a fix undoes it.
  • Swipe typing: slide across the letters to type a word.
  • Long press for accents and ₹, slide on the space bar to move the cursor, and slide left from backspace to delete whole words.
  • Full emoji with search, stylish text, clipboard history and stickers.
!

English only, and no voice typing. If you type in Hindi or dictate your messages, keep your current keyboard as well. Android lets you switch between keyboards at any time - see what it does not do.

The guide

Reference, by topic.

Everything from the tour in more detail, plus what a keyboard owes you in writing: what it can see, what it keeps, and what it leaves out.

Getting started

First run

Android makes you turn a new keyboard on yourself, in two places. The Themes tab walks you through both.

1. Turn it on
Tap Open keyboard settings and switch Lighting Keyboard on. Android shows its standard warning that keyboards can collect what you type; here is what this one actually does.
2. Switch to it
Back in the app, tap Choose keyboard and pick Lighting Keyboard from Android's list.
3. Try it
Tap Try your keyboard here and type a few words.
4. Make it yours
Tap a theme to try it, or the ＋ button to design your own.

What it sees and keeps

Honest

Every keyboard sees what you type, because typing is how text gets into the app in front of you. What matters is what it does next.

What it does

  • Passes your text to the app you are typing in
  • Reads the word you are typing and the text before the cursor, to correct, suggest and know when a capital is due
  • Learns single words and word pairs on the phone, so suggestions improve. Settings can turn this off or forget them
  • Keeps what you copy for one hour, unless you pin it. Settings can turn this off or clear it
  • Keeps your theme, saved designs, favourites, settings, recent emoji and background photos on the phone

What it does not do

  • Keep your messages or a log of your typing
  • Learn from, suggest in or swipe in password fields
  • Keep copies an app marks as sensitive, or anything copied in a password field
  • Send anything anywhere - it has no internet permission
  • Show ads, or ask you to watch one
  • Ask for storage, contacts, microphone, camera or location
i

No internet permission at all. Not "unused" or "restricted" - the app does not hold it. That also means no ads, no analytics and no crash reports, because none of them can reach anywhere. Its only other permissions are vibration and setting the wallpaper you choose. The purchase goes through the Google Play app on your phone, which is why it needs no internet permission here.

The key lights

LED

Each key has a glowing outline: a bright core with a soft halo. One band of colour runs across the whole keyboard, and the style decides how it moves.

Flow
The colours slide across the keyboard from side to side.
Wave
The same, on a slant, so the colour rolls diagonally.
Spin
The colours turn round the centre of the keyboard.
Breathe
The lights fade down and up again. They never go fully dark, so you can always find the keys.
Twinkle
Each key fades in and out on its own rhythm.
On tap
The outlines stay dim until you press a key, which flares up and fades out.
Still and Off
Still keeps the colours lit without moving. Off turns the lights off.
Colour sets
Rainbow, Neon, Cyber, Fire, Ocean, Toxic, Sunset, Candy, Ice, Gold, Love, or One colour, which follows the colour of the Enter key.
Fine-tuning
Speed, thickness and glow sliders, and Light up letters, which colours the letters with the lights as well. A key you hold down fills with light.

Lights and battery

Fair
When it uses power
Only while the keyboard is on screen. Hidden, it draws nothing.
How hard it works
Moving lights redraw about 30 times a second rather than 60, and the background is drawn once, not on every frame.
Battery saver
When Android's battery saver is on, the lights hold still by themselves.
Your choice
Settings → Moving lights off keeps the keys lit but still, all the time.

Themes

21 looks
Neon
Neon Night, Cyber City, Laser Show, Synthwave and Electric.
RGB
RGB Gamer, Rainbow Rings, Honeycomb and Circuit.
Galaxy
Galaxy, Aurora and Deep Space.
Cute
Candy Hearts, Love Glow and Bokeh Dream.
Fire & Ice
Inferno, Frost and Gold Rush.
Minimal
Midnight, Ocean Waves and Pure Light, a light theme.
Trying one
Tap a card for the live keyboard. Apply uses it, Customise opens it in the designer, and ♡ Favourite keeps it in My Themes.
Where the art comes from
Every background is drawn by the app from simple shapes - grids, rings, lasers, stars, circuits - so nothing is downloaded and nothing is borrowed from anyone else.

Designing your own

Eight tabs

Changes stay in a draft until you tap Save, and the live keyboard below the tabs shows the draft as you go.

Background
My photo, or Plain, Retro grid, Night city, Lasers, Rings, Waves, Circuit, Honeycomb, Galaxy, Aurora, Bokeh, Lightning or Hearts, drawn in your light colours. Ten base colour pairs sit below.
Effect
Brightness darkens the background and Blur softens it, so lit keys stand out against a busy photo.
Lights
Style, colour set, the One colour and Enter key colour, speed, thickness, glow and Light up letters. See the key lights.
Keys
Rounded, Square, Pill or Bubble keys. Key opacity at 0 leaves only the glowing outline; higher fills the keys with their colour.
Font
Nine keycap fonts and eight letter colours. These change how the keys look, not the text you type.
Sparkles
Typing effects that burst from the key you press - sparks, stars, hearts, fire, comets, bubbles, snow, confetti or petals - and emoji stickers in the corner of some keys.
Sound
Click, Mechanical, Laser, Synth, Pop, Piano, Typewriter, Drum, Bell, Water drop, Glass or None, with a volume slider. The app makes these sounds itself. They stay quiet on silent or vibrate unless you turn on Play sounds on silent.
Size
Keyboard height from 70 to 130 percent, letter size from 70 to 140 percent.

My Themes

Kept
Made by you
Every design you save, by name. Saving under a name you already used replaces that design.
Favourites
Ready-made themes you marked with ♡.
Changing one
Tap it, then Customise, or Delete this theme. A photo used by a saved design stays until that design is deleted.

Text art

Copy anywhere
Text faces
Happy, Love, Hugs, Sad, Angry, Surprised, Shrug, Cool, Dance, Animals, Sleepy, Hello and Magic. Tap one to copy it.
In the keyboard
The same faces are on the (^‿^) tab at the end of the emoji panel. Tap one to type it.
Fancy text
Type your words once and see them in every style your phone can show. Tap a style to copy it. While typing, the Aa button above the keys does the same as you go.
A fair warning
Fancy text swaps each letter for a Unicode look-alike, so a search may not find it and a screen reader may read it oddly. It switches itself off in password, email, web address and number fields.

Wallpapers

Neon
The designs
21 neon wallpapers, plus Match my keyboard, which turns your current theme's background into a wallpaper.
Setting one
Tap a design, then Set on home screen, Set on lock screen or Set on both screens. It is drawn at your screen's size on the phone.
Going back
Use your phone's own wallpaper settings. The app does not keep a copy of your old wallpaper.

Typing

Offline
Suggestions
Up to three words above the keys, from a list of about 88,000 English words and what the app has learned about you.
Autocorrect
Fixes a word when you end it, in apps that allow correction. Backspace straight after a fix gets your word back.
Swipe typing
Slide across the letters without lifting. One backspace removes the whole word.
Keys
English QWERTY with a number row. Long press for accents and ₹. Slide on the space bar to move the cursor, and slide left from backspace to delete whole words.
Emoji and more
The 😊 key opens full emoji with search and skin tones, stickers and text faces. 📋 opens clipboard history. Aa picks a stylish text style.
Where it switches off
Password, email, web address and number fields get no suggestions, learning, swipe or stylish text.

Settings

Your choice

Tap ⚙ Settings at the top of the app.

Typing
Autocorrect, word suggestions, learn my words, automatic capitals, full stop on double space and swipe typing, each on or off. Forget learned words clears what it has learned.
Clipboard
Clipboard history on or off, and Clear clipboard history.
Lights
Moving lights on or off.
Sound and vibration
Play sounds on silent, and vibration Off, Phone default or Custom with a strength slider.

What it does not do

Honest

The list a keyboard's store page usually leaves out.

It does

  • Light up, with every theme and design included
  • Correct, suggest and swipe in English
  • Keep as many of your own designs as you like
  • Text faces, fancy text and neon wallpapers
  • Work with no internet, no account and no ads

It does not

  • Type other languages or layouts, including Hindi
  • Do voice typing
  • Offer GIF search or downloadable themes, which would need the internet
  • Sync your words or designs to another phone

What it costs

One payment

Lighting Keyboard is free to install, with one free day of everything, then a single payment. These prices apply once it reaches Google Play.

1-day free trial
Use all of it for a day, counted from the first time you use the keyboard.
Then one payment
₹199 in India, as a single purchase through Google Play. The price differs by country. No subscription, no ads and no tiers: every theme and feature is included.
After the trial
When the day is up, the keyboard stops typing and gives you two choices: unlock it, or switch to another keyboard.
The trial clock
With no server, the clock lives on the phone. Reinstalling the app restarts it.
Restoring a purchase
The app checks with Google Play by itself, or you can tap Restore purchase. Once unlocked, it keeps working offline.

Frequently asked

Expectations

Do moving lights drain the battery?

They use a little more power than a still keyboard, but only while the keyboard is on screen. The lights redraw about 30 times a second, not 60, and stop moving by themselves in battery saver. Settings has Moving lights, which keeps the keys lit but still. See lights and battery.

Are themes downloaded or unlocked by watching ads?

No. All 21 themes, every background and every wallpaper are drawn by the app on your phone. Nothing is downloaded, nothing is locked behind an ad, and the app has no ads at all.

Android warned me that a keyboard can collect what I type. Should I worry?

Android shows that warning for every keyboard you did not get with the phone. Lighting Keyboard does see what you type, as any keyboard must. It keeps no messages or typing log, only learned words and word pairs on the phone, which you can turn off. It holds no internet permission, so it has no way to send anything off the phone.

Can I use my own photo?

Yes. It comes through Android's own picker, so the app sees only the one picture you choose and needs no gallery permission. A scaled-down copy is kept in the app's private storage.

Is Lighting Keyboard on Google Play?

Not publicly yet. Version 1.0.0 is in testing, and this page will link to the listing on the day it is published.

What does it cost?

It is free to install, with one free day of everything, then one payment of ₹199 in India through Google Play. When the free day ends, the keyboard stops typing until you buy it or switch to another keyboard. There is no subscription and there are no ads - see what it costs.

Status

In testing
v1.0.0
The first version: eight light styles and twelve colour sets, twelve neon backgrounds, 21 themes, the eight-tab designer with My Themes and favourites, text faces, fancy text, neon wallpapers, and the typing features of our FunKeyboard: autocorrect, suggestions, swipe, emoji, clipboard history and stickers.
Status
In testing, and coming to Google Play. The screens on this page come from the v1.0.0 test build on a Samsung phone. Licences for the fonts and word data ship with the app.