The long-absent Gboard back button has finally entered Android testing

Mistakes happen. You might say that these are just the result of being human, but as we all saw very clearly last year, AI makes a lot of mistakesalso. That’s one of the reasons why we love apps that offer us so much room for tweaking like open source. Heliboard keyboard and its handy backspace key. But if you’d rather not go the third-party route with your Android keyboard, you’re in luck, as is Google. Gboard chooses a very similar recovery tool.

Google has been considering bringing a back button to Gboard for some time. Development progress on the button was first seen in earnest 18 months ago, but until now there’s been no way to test it yourself. And while it’s not yet in the main Gboard release, testers signed up for Google’s beta program are starting to see the back button arrive in the new 14.9.06.x build. 9 to 5 Google.

Even for beta testers, it’s still not widely used, and it looks like Google is taking its time evaluating the tool with a smaller sample size. Those with access will be able to choose a new undo option on Gboard’s swipe-to-customize screen, which will let you add a undo button to the row where you can enter options like translation and insert emoji.

After tapping the undo button’s back arrow, Gboard will undo the last change, as well as provide separate “undo” and “redo” controls that let you step back and forth through your edits until you get the text where you want it. 9 to 5 Google During testing, I noticed that the keyboard will keep track of that edit history even if you dismiss it in the app and then restore it, and that note appears to be deleted after you exit the app where you entered the text yourself.

Have you seen this new option in Gboard on your phone yet? Did it save you a headache yet? Let us know in the comments.