EQkey
Setup guide · iPhone · the short way
One trip to Settings, then it's everywhere.
EQkey isn't an app you switch to — it's a keyboard. That means turning it on once in iOS Settings. After that it's waiting in Messages, WhatsApp, Instagram, anywhere you already type.
Both end at the same switch. The shorter one goes through the Apps section in Settings, which arrived in iOS 18 — if your iPhone doesn't have it, take the other route.
- About two minutes
- One time only
- No account needed
Part one
Turn the keyboard on.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone — not EQkey. Everything below happens in Settings.
The last few taps, in real time
Two switches and one confirmation. If you'd rather follow along screen by screen, the steps are below.
Settings › Apps › EQkey › Keyboards › EQkey › Allow Full Access
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1
Open Settings
The grey gear icon on your Home Screen. If you can't find it, swipe down from the middle of the screen and search for it.
Settings
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2
Scroll down and tap Apps
It's a long way down, below Game Center and iCloud. This is where iOS keeps the settings for every app you've installed.
Settings › Apps
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3
Find EQkey, then tap Keyboards
The app list is alphabetical — scroll to EQkey and tap it. On its page you'll see what EQkey is allowed to access. Tap Keyboards.
Apps › EQkey › Keyboards
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4
Switch EQkey on
One switch, off by default. Turning it on adds EQkey to the keyboards you can reach from any chat.
Keyboards › EQkey
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5
Switch on Allow Full Access
A second row appears once EQkey is on. This one matters — the next section explains exactly what it does and why the keyboard needs it.
Keyboards › Allow Full Access
The last tap
Allow Full Access, and the warning beside it.
iOS asks you to confirm, in wording designed to make you stop and think:
Full access allows the developer of this keyboard to transmit anything you type, including things you have previously typed with this keyboard.
Apple shows that same sentence for every third-party keyboard, because it's the same permission for all of them. Here's what it does in EQkey:
- Your reply is written on our servers, not on the phone. Without this switch the keyboard can't reach the network at all, and every suggestion comes back empty.
- It's how the keyboard reads the message you copied. That copy step is deliberate — you decide what gets sent, one message at a time.
- Ordinary typing isn't collected. When you're just using the keys, nothing leaves your phone.
What we keep, and for how long, is written down plainly: see the privacy summary or the full privacy policy.
Tap Allow. That's the whole setup.
Part two
Now send something with it.
Open any chat — Messages, WhatsApp, Instagram, it doesn't matter which.
Press and hold the globe key
Tap the message box so the keyboard comes up, then press and hold 🌐 in the bottom-left corner and choose EQkey from the list.
A quick tap just cycles to the next keyboard. Hold it to pick. That's how you move between keyboards from now on.
Reply, Charm and Opener sit above the keys
Reply — copy their message first, then tap Reply. You get a few ways to answer; tap the one that sounds like you and it drops straight into the chat.
Opener — for an empty chat. A first message worth answering, instead of "hey".
The keyboard icon on the left takes you back to plain typing, and the heart on the right is your chat intimacy dial.
Already typed something? Send it better.
Write your draft the way you normally would, then tap Charm. It comes back rewritten a few different ways in the persona you've picked — take one, or tap for another take.
Useful when you know what you want to say but not how to say it.
The app itself
Where everything lives.
Four screens. You'll spend most of your time on the first one.
Troubleshooting
If something's off.
EQkey isn't in the Apps list
The app has to be installed and opened at least once before iOS gives it a settings page. Open EQkey, let it finish setting up, then go back to Settings › Apps and try again.
If it's still missing, restart your iPhone — iOS sometimes doesn't register a new keyboard until it reboots.
There's no Allow Full Access row
It only appears once the EQkey switch above it is on. Turn that on first and the second row slides in underneath.
I tap Reply and nothing comes back
Nearly always Allow Full Access being off. Go to Settings › Apps › EQkey › Keyboards and check both switches are green.
If they are, check you copied their message first. Reply answers the message on your clipboard — with nothing copied, there's nothing to answer.
The globe key doesn't show EQkey
Press and hold it rather than tapping. A tap cycles to the next keyboard; holding brings up the full list.
If EQkey isn't in that list, the setup above didn't finish — go back through it.
The replies don't sound like me
Two things steer the tone. The persona you tap decides the voice — swap it mid-conversation whenever the mood turns.
The chat intimacy dial on the Home screen decides how forward it gets. If replies feel too familiar, move it down; too polite, move it up.
I want to turn it off again
Go to Settings › Apps › EQkey › Keyboards and switch EQkey off. It disappears from every app straight away.
Removing the keyboard doesn't delete your account. For that, use the link on the privacy policy page.
Something else
Write to us and say what you were doing when it went wrong — that's usually enough to find it. The contact page has the right address for each kind of question.