INTRO: According to the reports, 9to5Google has recently performed an APK teardown on Gboard beta v9.5 and that was surfaced a couple of changes and new features. Here’s what’s likely coming to Google keyboard soon.
Removal of Mini Stickers
Gboard has now added the ability for some of the users to create stickers based on their likeness quite a while back. However, now it seems the app is planning on removing them from the keyboard. In the recent teardown, there is a string mentioning that “Minis will go away soon” has been spotted.
<string name=”deprecate_minis_banner_title”>Note: Minis will go away soon</string>
As it was pointed out in the report, it’s is currently unclear whether minis you have already made will be removed as well or when the feature gets deprecated. We sure it does hope not.
Emoji Suggestions
Gboard is apparently also prepping new ways of suggesting emojis to you as you type. While Google keyboard has been spotted testing a new ’emoji bar’ at the top of the keyboard for some users, the teardown found yet another interface for suggesting emojis. This will show up a strip of emoji suggestions right above the emoji grid in Gboard. There’s also a button/section for frequently used emojis. Based on the screenshots (see above) though, this looks very chaotic to me.
These features aren’t live in Gboard yet, and have been dug out from the APK teardown. As always the usual conditions apply here — there’s no telling when or if Google might bring these features to Gboard. However, we will keep you updated so check back often.
