How to add a third-party keyboard on iPhone without losing the system one

Adding a third-party keyboard on iPhone does not remove or replace Apple's built-in one. The system keyboard stays installed in the background, and the new option simply gets added to a list you can switch between at any time. The confusion usually comes from a different problem: people install a keyboard app, open it once, and then can't find it inside Messages or Notes because a second setup step got skipped.

Does adding a third-party keyboard replace the built-in one?

No. iOS treats every input method as an entry in a shared list. When you download a keyboard app and turn it on, it joins that list rather than swapping out for anything already there. The default English layout, and any other language keyboards you've added over the years, remain exactly where they were. You end up with more choices, not fewer, and the phone will keep defaulting to whichever one you last used unless you change that.

Where do you add a new keyboard on iPhone?

After installing the app from the App Store, open Settings, then go to General, then Keyboard, then Keyboards. Tap Add New Keyboard and select the app from the list. This step is easy to miss because many keyboard apps show their own onboarding screen first, asking you to grant permissions inside the app itself. That in-app screen does not finish the job; the phone still needs the entry added through the actual Settings app before it will appear anywhere you type.

Once it's added, it sits below the system layout in the same list. Nothing else changes until you actually switch to it while typing.

How do you switch between keyboards while typing?

Whenever more than one input method is active, a small globe icon appears on the keyboard itself, usually to the left of the space bar. Tapping it cycles to the next one in your list, in the order they appear under Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards. Holding the globe icon down instead brings up a small menu showing every active option by name, so you can jump straight to the one you want rather than cycling through each in turn.

This switch happens per text field, not globally. Typing in Safari with one layout and then opening Mail will usually keep whichever one was active last, so if a keyboard app suddenly seems to have vanished, checking the globe menu before reinstalling anything saves a step.

What does Allow Full Access actually control?

During setup, most third-party keyboard apps ask for Allow Full Access. This toggle governs whether the keyboard can communicate over the network while you're using it, which matters for features like server-based word prediction, custom themes downloaded on demand, or syncing typing history across devices. Apple's documentation on the setting is explicit that a keyboard with full access can technically process what's typed while it's open, since network access implies data can leave the device. That doesn't mean every developer does anything with that access, but it is why the permission exists as a separate opt-in rather than something bundled automatically into installation.

A keyboard without Full Access still functions for ordinary typing. What it loses is anything requiring an internet connection at the moment of use. If a feature described in the app's own listing suddenly doesn't work, checking whether Full Access is enabled under that keyboard's entry in Settings is usually the first thing to test.

Can you remove a keyboard later without losing others?

Yes, and the process mirrors how it was added. Under Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards, tap Edit in the top corner, then tap the red minus icon next to the one you want gone, followed by Delete. This only removes that single entry. Every other keyboard on the list, including the system default, stays exactly as configured. Deleting the app itself from the home screen has the same effect on its keyboard entry, but doing it through Settings first is cleaner if you plan to reinstall the app later and don't want stale permissions lingering.

The short version: the system keyboard is never at risk from installing something new. It only disappears if you go into that same Keyboards list and remove it yourself, the same way you'd remove any other option.

For a related look at input hardware beyond the keyboard, our guide to buying a drawing tablet and stylus covers what actually matters when testing responsiveness before a purchase.