No Pixel 11, no problem: This app brings Gboard's Rambler mode to any Android phone without root

Among Gboard’s many useful features, a few aren’t available to non-Pixel users. One of these exclusive features is the impressive Rambler voice typing mode that recently debuted on the Pixel 11 series. However, if you’ve been itching to try it out on your Android phone and SwiftKey’s AI voice mode isn’t scratching that itch, there’s some good news for you.

Developer Akshay Kadam has managed to unlock Gboard’s Rambler mode and AI Writing Tools, bringing them to any Android device without root access. In a post on Reddit, Akshay explained that he used Jason Wu’s Gboard patch project as a starting point to build “PixelBoard.” This is a modded Gboard app with Rambler voice typing and writing tools enabled.

According to the developer, his primary objective with PixelBoard was to get Rambler voice typing and writing tools working on any Android phone while keeping the app as close to the stock Gboard experience as possible. As such, PixelBoard’s settings are not cluttered with advanced tweaks or extra options.

I tested PixelBoard on my vivo X300 FE, and Rambler voice mode worked perfectly out of the box. It easily removed all the pauses, “umms,” and other filler sounds from my speech, turning my “ramblings” into well-formatted text. I could also use the writing tools to quickly proofread, rephrase, shorten, or expand text.

The PixelBoard app can be downloaded from GitHub and installed on any Android phone without root. The app installs alongside stock Gboard, so you can switch between them if needed. You can also use Morphe Manager to patch your existing Gboard installation and enable Rambler and the writing tools.

The developer has also stated that he plans to keep updating PixelBoard with each new Gboard version, which is great news for anyone thinking of using PixelBoard as their default keyboard app going forward. If you’re concerned about privacy, you’ll be glad to know that PixelBoard’s source code is available on GitHub, as is the code for Jason Wu’s Gboard patch. So you can review the code to ensure everything is in order.