Is It Still Worth Replacing the Default Android Keyboard?

howtogeek.com:

Early Android phones came with keyboards that were remarkable for how much worse they were than third-party options. These days, that isn’t the case. You probably haven’t given much thought to the keyboard that pops up whenever you try to type on your phone. Do you gain anything by seeking out an alternative?

First things first: there isn’t one default Android keyboard. If you use a Pixel or one of the phones that ship with a relatively stock version of Android, then you’re using Gboard, Google’s keyboard. If you’re using a Samsung Galaxy device, you’re using the Samsung Keyboard. If your phone comes with something else, there's a good chance it's also a solid keyboard.

Keyboard Predictions Are Pretty Good Now

​​​​Google’s predictions are pretty reliable, so even if your keypresses are all over the place, you can generally count on the word you meant to type appearing above your keyboard. The experience is similar on phones that ship with Samsung Keyboard.

In the early days of Android, you needed a third-party keyboard for predictions this good. Case in point, SwiftKey amassed a large following when it launched in 2010 by guessing your next word based in part on what you've already typed in the past. These predictions improved over time as the keyboard studied your usage. Microsoft purchased SwiftKey in 2016, but by then Android manufacturers had already incorporated much of what made SwiftKey special into their own keyboards. This kind of prediction is now just part of how an Android phone works, unless you opt out.

You Don't Need a 3rd-Party Keyboard for Swipe Input

Not long after Swype first hit the scene in 2009, it was a must-have app. Here was an innovative way to type on touchscreens that eliminated the downsides of no longer having physical keys. You dragged your finger across the keys you would otherwise have tapped, and then Swype guessed which word you were trying to type.

Now that feature is baked into the likes of Gboard and Samsung Keyboard.