Gboard alternative for iPhone
Gboard is a fine keyboard, and on Android it is still one of the best. On iPhone the story is different: the App Store version has not been updated since May 2022. If you want a keyboard on iPhone that is actively built, and especially if you dictate a lot, Diction is worth a look.
Diction is a full QWERTY keyboard, written from the ground up, with voice built in. Tap the mic above the keys in any app, speak, and clean text lands at your cursor. You decide where your voice is turned into text: on your iPhone, on your server, or on Diction Cloud.
Side by side
Facts for the iPhone versions, checked October 2026.
| Diction | Gboard (iPhone) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free on-device and self-hosted. Diction Cloud is a subscription with a free trial | Free |
| Last App Store update | Updated regularly | May 2022 |
| Voice dictation | Yes, in every app | Yes |
| Where your voice goes | Your choice: your iPhone, your server, or Diction Cloud | Sent to Google |
| Works offline | Yes, with on-device speech | Not documented for iPhone |
| Self-hosting | Yes, open-source server, docker compose up, pair by QR | No |
| Cleans up dictation | Yes: removes filler words, fixes grammar, formats lists | Not documented for iPhone |
| Edit text by voice | Yes: "make it shorter", "translate to Spanish" | Not documented for iPhone |
| Typing autocorrect and suggestions | Yes, computed on your iPhone | Yes |
| Swipe typing | No | Yes, Glide Typing |
| Typing languages | 6 with suggestions and autocorrect | 58 |
| Dictation languages | 99 | Not documented for iPhone |
| App Store privacy label | Data Not Collected | Data Linked to You: Audio Data, Device ID, Diagnostics |
Where Gboard is the better pick
Be honest with yourself about how you type. If you swipe, or you type in a language outside English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, Gboard does more for you today. Google Search built into the keyboard is also a Gboard thing.
Where Diction is the better pick
- You dictate. Diction is built around the mic. Dictation works in every app, cleans up filler words and grammar, and can rewrite text already in the field when you tell it to.
- You care where your voice goes. Run speech on the phone with no connection, or on a machine you control. Audio is never stored in any mode.
- You self-host. Point Diction at your server with any OpenAI-compatible speech model, Whisper included, and any LLM you run, Ollama included. Free, no account, no limits.
- You want a keyboard that is still moving. Diction ships updates to the keyboard, autocorrect and voice features all the time.
Try it
Diction is on the App Store. On-device and self-hosted are free forever. Diction facts has everything on one page.