- Can You Connect A Bluetooth Keyboard To An Android Phone?
- How Do I Connect a Bluetooth Keyboard with An Android Device?
- Step 1
- Step 2
- Step 3
- Step 4
- How Do I Use A Bluetooth Keyboard on Android?
- Final thoughts
- Espen
- How To Connect Bluetooth Keyboard to Android Device
- Bluetooth Keyboard to Android – Pairing
- MIUI 11 – Android 10
- Other solutions
- Appendix
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Can You Connect A Bluetooth Keyboard To An Android Phone?
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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you want to do a text input through your android phone, but the keyboard interface always occupies most of your phone’s screen? With Android phones getting smarter and becoming more convenient, have you ever asked yourself the question, ‘can you connect a Bluetooth keyboard to an Android phone?’
A Bluetooth keyboard can be connected to your Android phone to offer a convenient way of typing. Android phones are Bluetooth enabled, making connecting to a Bluetooth keyboard possible.
Below, I look at several ways you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard to an Android phone. And other frequently asked questions on the topic.
How Do I Connect a Bluetooth Keyboard with An Android Device?
There are several ways to connect a physical keyboard to an android phone. Here is the simplest way through detailed steps to connect a keyboard wirelessly via Bluetooth.
Step 1
Turn the Bluetooth keyboard on to make it discoverable on your android phone. This put both the phone and the keyboard in pairing mode.
Step 2
Go to the settings option on your phone and turn it on. Still, on the setting, locate ‘pair new devices’ and tap it to allow your phone to search for any nearby Bluetooth devices.
Step 3
Once you locate the keyboard’s name on the available devices, tap it on to connect; if your phone asks for a pin code for connection, dial 0000. The pin code is the default for most devices unless provided a pin on the user manual of your Bluetooth keyboard.
Step 4
The keyboard will connect instantly; you can start typing through the connection. If the keyboard fails to connect to your android phone, you will have to unpair from the previously connected device and start the process again.
How Do I Use A Bluetooth Keyboard on Android?
You already know how to use a keyboard to type out emails and write articles. The Bluetooth Keyboard connected to your android phone can do more than type texts. Windows and Mac users know that there are shortcuts for nearly everything, so what commands can you perform on your keyboard when connected to any android phone.
It is known that android has a dominant touch interface; there are other functions that you will need to do by tapping on the screen unless a mouse is also connected. If you connected to a Bluetooth keyboard, these are navigation and keyboard short cuts than you can do;
- Alt + Space = Google search page
- Esc = Go Back
- Ctrl + Esc = Menu
- Alt + Tab and Alt + Shift + Tab = Switch Tasks
- Windows + Y = YouTube
- Windows + P = Play Music
- Windows + L = Calendar
- Windows + G = Gmail
- Windows + C = Contacts
Final thoughts
Android phones were built to be all-around and do not need peripheral devices like computers. If you want to write an essay or a book on your phone, it will be very tedious to use the keyboard on the android phone.
Using a Bluetooth keyboard makes more sense if you are in a situation like this. You don’t need any customization or configuration when using a Bluetooth keyboard on your android phone, making it a viable option.
Espen
Espen is the Director of ProPairing and has written extensively about Bluetooth devices for years. He is a consumer product expert and has personally tested Bluetooth devices for the last decade.
How To Connect Bluetooth Keyboard to Android Device
The virtual keyboard is working nicely on Android. But there are some cases when you really need to connect Bluetooth keyboard to Android device. Here are some examples:
- when you want to write documents in Google Docs or similar apps
- when you manage WordPress sites and you need to easily write plenty of text
- when you are working in Command Line of a terminal application (Termux is a great example)
There are some differences in each Android version and in Android devices with Xiaomi MIUI. I have tried two bluetooth keyboards, a generic one and a Belkin keyboard.
The major difference is that you cannot add multiple keyboard layouts (for different languages) in (pure) Android, only one at a time. On the contrary, in MIUI devices you can.
At least until Android 8 (Oreo) which I have in my tablet.
Here is my experience with two devices I use:
Bluetooth Keyboard to Android – Pairing
You can pair a bluetooth keyboard easily, as you pair any bluetooth device.
- First, go to Settings and enable Bluetooth in your device.
- Then, your phone or tablet will detect the available Bluetooth keyboard and pairing will be done almost automatically.
- A message will appear with a code you need to type in the keyboard to complete the pairing process.
See the videos in the Appendix.
MIUI 11 – Android 10
Settings→ Additional settings → Languages & input → Keyboard, mouse, and trackpad
There is an option to show/hide the virtual android keyboard when an external keyboard is connected. It is very important, as you have more space available on the screen.
Tap on the Physical keyboard to select keyboard layouts.
You can easily activate many keyboard layouts. In my case, English and Greek.
Multiple Keyboard layouts in Physical keyboard
So, to write in English, first I choose Gboard.
Then I can write in English.
To write in Greek, I choose Swiftkey.
Then I can write in Greek.
Other solutions
External Keyboard app and External Keyboard Helper Pro app claim that they support multiple keyboard layouts. I have not tried them.
Appendix
Entrepreneur | Full-stack developer | Founder of MediSign Ltd. I have over 15 years of professional experience designing and developing web applications. I am also very experienced in managing (web) projects.
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