Which keyboard do you have?
Open any app with a text box and look at the keyboard. Pixel phones and many other Android phones use Gboard, Google’s keyboard, which has a row of small buttons above the letters. Samsung Galaxy phones use the Samsung Keyboard unless you have changed it. Both include Thai, with the Kedmanee arrangement of the letters spread over two layers, and both are free.
Adding Thai in Gboard
- Open an app you can type in, such as Messages or Keep, and tap a text box.
- At the top of the keyboard, tap the settings button. (If you do not see it, open the menu button first.)
- Tap Languages, then Add keyboard.
- Pick Thai, choose a layout, and tap Done.
You can also start from the Settings app: System, then Keyboard, On-screen keyboard, Gboard, Languages. Google’s Gboard help page describes both routes; some steps need Android 7 or later, which almost every phone in use has.
Adding Thai in the Samsung Keyboard
- Open Settings, then General management, then Samsung Keyboard settings.
- Tap Languages and types, then Manage input languages.
- Turn on Thai. If it shows a download button instead, tap it first.
The menu names are the ones on Samsung’s support pages. They shift a little between versions of Samsung’s software; if yours differ, search Settings for “Samsung Keyboard”.
Switching between Thai and English
- Gboard: touch and hold the space bar and pick a language, or turn on the language key (a globe) in Gboard’s Preferences and tap it.
- Samsung Keyboard: tap the language key (a globe) to step through your languages. On many versions you can also swipe left or right on the space bar; the setting is under Languages and types.
- Word suggestions follow the language you are typing in. Leave them on for Thai: they save you most of the vowels and tone marks.
Finding the letters
A phone has room for about ten keys per row, against more than a dozen on a computer, so the Thai consonants are split over two layers and the Shift key brings up the second. Vowels written above and below the letter and the tone marks are on the keyboard too, usually on the second layer or by holding a key. Type in the order Thai is stored: the consonant, then a vowel above or below it, then the tone mark. The typing guide explains why the order matters even when the result looks the same.
If you are learning the full Kedmanee layout for a computer, the phone will not teach it to you; the on-screen keyboard here, or a typing tutor, will.
Voice typing
Both keyboards have a microphone key for voice typing, and Thai is among the supported languages. It is quick for long messages; check the result, because names, loanwords and rare words often come out wrong.
A physical keyboard with a phone or tablet
Android can use a Bluetooth or USB keyboard. On recent versions, Settings lets you choose a layout for a connected keyboard under System, Keyboard, Physical keyboard; pick Thai there if it is offered, and switch languages with Ctrl + Space. Thai stickers or a keyboard with Thai legends make the first weeks easier. The layouts guide covers keycaps and the Kedmanee arrangement.