Gboard 8.0 is now in the beta channel and continues work on the built-in Clipboard manager by refining the feature ahead of launch. The Google keyboard is also working on a sharing capability that includes the language you’re using, as well as exporting the personal dictionary.

About APK Insight: In this ‘APK Insight’ post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in the case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

Sharing

To boost adoption, Google is working on a way to share the app with friends by capitalizing on the vast number of supported languages. When a new user installs Gboard with your link, they will be prompted at setup to enable the language you selected during the share process.

<string name=”gboard_link_receiving_share”>Want to share with others?</string> <string name=”gboard_sharing_description_source”>Share these languages so they can type in these languages:</string>

<string name=”sharing_content”>”I’m using Gboard to type. You can try it at:”</string>

<string name=”gboard_link_receiving_title”>Enable the languages that were shared with you in Gboard:</string>

Update 3/11: We have enabled the sharing feature in Gboard 8.0, which can be accessed from either the list of settings or right from the keyboard. A menu allows the sender to select which actively used language they want to share via a gboard.app.goo.gl URL.

On Android, that opens Gboard directly, but it otherwise launches the Play Store. The recipient can then quickly add that language, with the receiving end of this feature already live today.

Material Theme revamp + expressive media keyboard

Similar to how the Clipboard began appearing a few hours after version 8.0 rolled out, the Material Theme revamp of the expressive media keyboard is now available with this beta. The main “Search all media” view features a rounded search bar, and a rearranged emoji, stickers, and GIFs layout.

The emoji pane is now a scrolling list with nine labeled categories and a “Recently used” section. To the left of the tabs is a search field for emoji that loads results in real-time with users able to scroll left-to-right to see more. Like the main search, it features rounded corners as part of the Material Theme.

The stickers page is styled similarly with the tab indicators also leveraging the latest Material element with rounded edges. GIFs see a more notable revamp with the search field in-line at the top. Trending — with several categories that users can open — and history shortcuts are to the right. The last new section today is for Emoticons/Kaomoji. The categories are above and labeled as text.

Clipboard

Since version 7.5, Gboard has been working on a built-in Clipboard manager. Google began testing the feature last October, but it is not widely rolled out. Gboard 8.0 today features new introductory text describing the functionality, suggesting that it is nearing launch.

<string name=”clipboard_tooltip_hint_toggle”>Welcome to Gboard clipboard, any text you copy will be saved here.</string> <string name=”feature_card_clipboard_description”>You can now copy multiple pieces of text to your clipboard so you can paste them later.</string>

<string name=”clipboard_tooltip_hint_edit”>Use the edit icon to pin, add or delete clips.</string>

Meanwhile, Google is refining the feature by detailing how long “clips” will appear in the clipboard. Pinned text — which is labeled and grouped at the bottom of the screen — will remain until removed. All other clips will be deleted after an hour.

This has a two-prong benefit of keeping the manager clean and organized, as well as dealing with the privacy concerns of an app keeping a long history of everything you copied. Google is also emphasizing how the clipboard can be paused at any time to prevent saves.

<string name=”clipboard_opt_in_first_page_message”>Any text you copy will be saved to your Gboard clipboard for 1 hour. You can also pin text to save it longer.</string> <string name=”clipboard_tooltip_hint_pin”>Touch and hold a clip to pin it. Unpinned clips will be deleted after 1 hour.</string>

<string name=”clipboard_inactive_opt_in_disabled”>Disabled because opt-in is disabled</string> <string name=”clipboard_off_overlay_content”>Text you copy will no longer be saved here. You can turn it on any time with the %s button.</string> <string name=”clipboard_off_overlay_title”>Gboard clipboard is off.</string>

<string name=”clipboard_opt_in_first_page_subhead”>You can pause this setting at any time.</string>

Clipboard is beginning to appear in the suggestions strip for some users with this beta, but the feature does not fully work. Namely, copying text does not save it to the manager. However, the rest of this interface does show the new switch to pause clipboard history.

Personal dictionary export

Gboard has long let you add words to a personal dictionary. Users could soon have the ability to export that list to a new device or application.

<string name=”personal_dictionary_preference_title_export”>Export</string>

Key border experiment

When setting a theme, users can have the keyboard feature a border or be boundary-less. Gboard 8.0 feautres a new experiment to possibly further customize that option.

<string name=”pref_key_enable_key_border_by_experiment”>enable_key_border_by_experiment</string>

How to update?

You can sign-up for Gboard’s beta program here or by heading to the Play Store listing on Android and scrolling to the bottom. The latest beta version of Gboard is immediately rolled out by Google when it’s available.

We do not post APKs to download directly given the legal challenges associated with copyright and possibility of removal. Meanwhile, that model is perilous given Android App Bundles and Google Play’s Dynamic Delivery.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler, which some APK Insight teardowns benefit from.

Dylan contributed to this article

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