How to add a Kurdish keyboard on iPhone and iPad

Adding iKeyboard takes about a minute: install the app, switch the keyboard on in Settings, then reach it with the globe key. Below is each step, followed by the four things that usually go wrong.

Add the keyboard

  1. Install iKeyboard from the App Store

    It is free, and the Kurdish layout, the autocorrect and the translation all come with it — there is nothing else to buy or download afterwards.

  2. Open Settings → General → Keyboard

    Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, tap General, then Keyboard. Tap Keyboards at the top of that screen — the row that shows how many you already have.

  3. Tap “Add New Keyboard…”

    Scroll past the language list to the Third-Party Keyboards heading near the bottom, and tap iKeyboard there.

  4. Turn on Full Access if you want translation

    Tap iKeyboard again in the keyboard list and switch on Allow Full Access. iOS gives a keyboard no network access at all until you do, and translation needs the network. The layout, autocorrect, word suggestions and themes all work without it.

  5. Switch to it with the globe key

    Open any app, tap a text field, then tap the 🌐 globe key at the bottom-left of the keyboard to cycle through your keyboards. Press and hold it instead to pick iKeyboard straight from the list.

Making it the one you land on

The globe key cycles through your keyboards in the order they appear in Settings, and iOS opens each app with whichever keyboard you used there last. If you write Kurdish more often than anything else, it is worth moving iKeyboard up that list rather than tapping past two other keyboards every time.

Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards, tap Edit, then drag iKeyboard by the handle on its right to where you want it. The order takes effect immediately.

When the keyboard does not show up

There is no globe key on my keyboard

The globe key only appears once a second keyboard exists. If iKeyboard is the first one you have added, finish step 3 above — the key appears the next time you open a text field.

iKeyboard is not in the “Add New Keyboard” list

The list is built when Settings opens. Close Settings completely, confirm the app finished installing from the App Store, then open Settings again. A restart clears it in the rare case where it does not.

It keeps switching back to English

iOS remembers the last keyboard you used per app, not globally. Switch to iKeyboard once in each app you write Kurdish in and it stays there for that app.

Translation says it needs a connection

That is Full Access, not your network. Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → iKeyboard → Allow Full Access. Your typing still never leaves the device; only the text you explicitly ask to translate is sent.

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