Lingently vs Gboard

Keep Gboard, and add Lingently if English is not your first language. Gboard is Google's free keyboard: it fixes spelling while you type, and on some newer phones its Proofread tool checks a whole message. Lingently is not a keyboard. It floats over any app, checks the message when you tap it, explains each fix in one line, and turns your mistakes into short practice. Most people who use Lingently type with Gboard.

Feature by feature

Checked on 18 October 2026, on Google's Gboard help pages and Play Store listing. Gboard's features depend on your phone, region and language, so yours may differ. Tell us if something is out of date.

Where Gboard is better

• It's always on. Every word is checked as you type. No tap needed.
• It's free and already installed on most Android phones.
• Typing itself. Glide typing, voice typing, handwriting, emoji and GIF search, and translation as you type. Lingently does none of that, because it's not a keyboard.
• More languages. Gboard types in hundreds of languages. If you write in one Lingently doesn't check, Gboard still helps.
• Proofread is free, if your phone supports it. Google lists the Pixel 9 and 10 series and some recent Honor, Motorola, OnePlus, OPPO, POCO, realme, vivo and Xiaomi models.

Where Lingently is better

• It doesn't depend on your phone model. Gboard's writing tools only appear on supported phones. Lingently runs on any phone with Android 10 or newer, including older and cheaper ones.
• It tells you why. "We can discuss about it tomorrow" has no spelling errors, so autocorrect lets it through. Lingently changes it to "We can discuss it tomorrow" and adds one line: "discuss" takes no "about". That line is how you stop making the mistake.
• It teaches. Your fixes become a few minutes of daily practice built from your own sentences. You also get a word bank and a view of the mistakes that keep coming back.
• It's made for people writing in a second language. Translated phrases like "I am agree" or "I have 30 years" are what it looks for. See the ESL grammar checker page.

Which should you use?

• You're a native speaker and mostly make typos: Gboard is enough.
• Your phone has Gboard Proofread and you just want quick fixes: try Proofread first. It's free. Our guide to Gboard Proofread shows how to turn it on.
• You write in English as a second language, for work, study or a new country, and want to understand your mistakes: type with Gboard, then tap Lingently before you send.

Comparing more apps? See the best grammar apps for Android, or Lingently vs Samsung Writing Assist if you have a Galaxy phone.