Customize your own keyboard with the app "Keys Cafe": Galaxy Tips

　Recently, some users are more particular about the theme design than the outside of the smartphone, and change the icons and animations to their liking.

　The on-screen keyboard is no exception, and you can customize the background of the keyboard by making it your favorite image, changing its color, and so on.

　However, many devices have limited customization of the system standard keyboard, and many users use third-party apps such as the infamous Simeji (made by Baidu ).

　Therefore, this time, we would like to introduce "Keys Cafe", a genuine keyboard customization app for Galaxy that allows you to fine-tune the keyboard design.

Index 

• 1 What is Keys Cafe?
• 2 Installation method
  • 2.1 Obtaining the APK file
  • 2.2 Installation
• 3 Design changes
  • 3.1 Change keyboard background
  • 3.2 Change keyboard text color
  • 3.3 Change Background of Individual Keys
• 4 Theme application
• 5 points to note
• 6Other functions (temporarily unavailable?)
  • 6.1 Change keyboard size and characters
  • 6.2 Tapping effects
• 7 Summary

What is Keys Cafe?

　Keys Cafe is a genuine keyboard customization app officially distributed overseas by Samsung, which develops and sells the Galaxy series. Samsung offers a "Good Lock" module for Galaxy devices that allows you to set a wide range of device themes, animations, and more, and Keys Cafe is one of them.

　Galaxy terminals currently on sale have a genuine screen keyboard called "Galaxy Keyboard" from the beginning. Keys Cafe can change the design of this Galaxy Keyboard in any detail .

　The following settings can be changed using this app.

• Change background theme
• change keyboard color
• change text color
• (change animation)
• (keyboard layout setting)

　Regarding animation changes and keyboard layout settings, they were not reflected in my environment . It is highly likely that animation settings are not supported by the domestic version of the Galaxy Keyboard app.

　Also, it may not work on Galaxy with Android 9 or earlier or older versions of One UI. In this article, verification is performed using the au version Galaxy S10.

Installation method

　Keys Cafe is distributed in the overseas Galaxy Store, but unfortunately it is not distributed in the Japanese Galaxy Store. Therefore, for installation, you need to download the APK file from another site. The APK files distributed on many distribution sites are not officially distributed by the developers, and may be infected with viruses, malware, etc. Please install at your own risk . We are not responsible for any damage caused by downloading or installing.

Obtaining the APK file

　The APK file can be found by searching for "Keys Cafe APK", so you can download it from the distribution site. It should be noted that "APK Mirror" and "SamMobile," a news site that specializes in Samsung information, are relatively popular and safe, and I used APK Mirror. Please note that downloading from the above sites is not recommended.

　Also, the app version of the downloaded APK file must be earlier than 1.0.02.8. Any version beyond this requires Android 12, and many domestic Galaxy versions have not yet received the Android 12 update, so this version is not available. This article uses version 1.0.02.8.

install

　After downloading the APK file, open the file and proceed with the installation. A security warning will appear during installation, so allow the installation temporarily from the settings and continue the installation. For this setting , after the installation is complete, be sure to turn off the setting item for the applicable application from Settings > Biometrics & Security > Install unknown apps .

design change

　Once Keys Cafe has finished installing, open the app. Please note that Japanese is not supported. You can change the design from the "Style your own keyboard" field, and when you tap it, "My Themes" will be displayed at the top, so press + to create a new design.

Change keyboard background

　To change the keyboard background, tap the button with the photo icon in a large balloon. The image selection screen will be displayed, so set your favorite image. Note that the aspect ratio of the image is automatically adjusted to the size of the keyboard, so if you register an image that does not match the image ratio, the image will become vertically or horizontally long. Therefore, if you crop the image to about 4:3 in advance, it will be displayed beautifully.

Change keyboard text color

　You can change the text color of the keyboard by dividing it into four items. Each can be changed by tapping the red circle near the part you want to change. The Qwerty keyboard is displayed in the settings, but after applying, the theme with the same configuration will be applied to the Japanese keyboard.

　You can change the character color of the main input part by selecting the lower part of the space key. When you select it, the color adjustment screen is displayed, so set it to your favorite color. By sliding the "Saturation" bar, you can change the vividness of the color.

　By selecting the bottom of the "!@#" key, you can change the color of the part other than the keyboard input. The method for changing this is the same as before.

　You can change the color of the character you are currently typing, which pops up when you type using the keyboard, by selecting the part where the large "W" is displayed at the top of the screen, near the area where there is a blue dot on the character.

Individual key background change

　In Keys Cafe, besides the overall background, there are three places where you can set colors and images.

　First, the background of each key. The set color or image is displayed on the primary key background, such as number keys and space bar. However, it is not recommended to set an image for this setting. The keyboard screen becomes chaotic because the image ratio changes to match the spacebar and other keys , and you can't place a different image for each key . On the other hand, setting the color gives a nice finish. Here, in addition to color settings, you can also set transparency.
　The next thing you can set is the background color and image when you press a key. Unlike the previous setting, this is not always displayed, so even if you set the image, it will not be difficult to see. However, the image remains square, and the corners are not removed. If you want to round the corners, I think it would be better to prepare a PNG format image with rounded corners that matches the ratio and has a transparent background.

　And the last thing you can set is the background for the part of the character you are typing that appears when you press a key. Images can also be applied to this background. Of course, you can also set the color, and you can also set the transparency.

Applying a theme

　Once you have finished editing the theme and found it to your liking, apply the theme to the main unit. Details will be described later, but please check in advance that the terminal setting is in light mode.

　You can save the theme by tapping the save icon at the top of the screen. When you tap it, you will be asked to enter a theme name, so enter an appropriate name and proceed to the next. When the save is completed, it will be displayed in the "My Themes" list, so tap the saved theme and apply it when a check mark is attached. You can check the applied theme by pressing the keyboard mark on the upper right of the screen.

important point

　There are a few things to keep in mind when setting up Keys Cafe.

　First of all, when you set it to dark mode, the theme you set is ignored. It is unknown how the Galaxy keyboard of the overseas version terminal works, but if you set the keyboard theme on the domestic version and then switch to dark mode, the dark theme will be applied, ignoring the keyboard theme setting. Of course, if you set it to light mode, the theme you set will be displayed.

　Second, once a theme has been saved, it cannot be edited again. Once saved, it can no longer be edited. Therefore, if you want to rework the theme, you need to recreate the theme from scratch. This is too inconvenient, so we may be able to edit it in a future update.

Other functions (temporarily unavailable?)

　I don't think it can be used in the domestic version because it can't be set in the author's environment, but there are still more items that can be set in Keys Cafe.

Change keyboard size and characters

　You can finely adjust the width and height of each key, the number of keys, and the size of the characters inside. You can also add arbitrary keys and set fixed phrases. You can register as many characters as you like in fixed phrases, so it seems to be useful for comments on Mercari.

effect on tap

　You can add or change animations and effects when tapping keys. There are many types of effects, and it would be fun to be able to set these as well.

summary

　Do you need Keys Cafe, let alone reach the itch? It's a customization module that allows you to make as many changes as you'd like, and it's perfect for those who want to spend a lot of time customizing their smartphone. As someone who has no taste at all, I am very curious about what kind of customization you will do...

　However, there is also a question about the point that the complete function cannot be used in the domestic version. I feel that it is unfair that there is a difference between a smartphone with many functions when purchased in a foreign country and a smartphone with limited functions when purchased in Japan, even though the price is almost the same. I hope that Good Lock modules and Samsung Pay, including Keys Cafe, will be able to be used equally in Japan as in other countries.