How the T9 Keyboard Works
The T9 keyboard is Key Launcher's primary interface. Instead of typing on a cramped QWERTY keyboard, you use a large, comfortable 9-key grid where each key represents multiple letters.
T9 Key Layout
| Key | Letters |
|---|---|
2 | A B C |
3 | D E F |
4 | G H I |
5 | J K L |
6 | M N O |
7 | P Q R S |
8 | T U V |
9 | W X Y Z |
Search Example
To search for "Spotify":
- Tap
7→ S - Tap
7→ p - Tap
6→ o - Tap
8→ t
Typing just 7-7-6-8 is usually enough — Spotify rises to the top. Tap it or press Enter to launch.
How It Handles Different Languages
Key Launcher converts any app name into T9 digits before matching, so you can always type without accents, tones, or special characters. Here is how each script is handled:
English & Basic Latin
Standard mapping — each letter maps directly to its key (a→2, s→7, etc.). Case is ignored.
Vietnamese & Other Accented Latin Scripts
Accented characters are stripped to their base letter before matching. You never need to type diacritics.
| App name | Type this |
|---|---|
| Tin tức (News) | 8-4-6-8-8-2 (tinttuc) |
| Đường (Street) | 3-9-6-6-4 (duong) |
| Ứng dụng (App) | 8-6-4-3-8-6-4 (ungdung) |
This works for any Latin-based language with accented characters: French, Spanish, German, Turkish, Polish, etc.
Chinese (Simplified & Traditional)
CJK characters are converted to Pinyin (romanized pronunciation) and then mapped to T9 digits. Each character becomes one Pinyin syllable.
| App name | Pinyin | Type this |
|---|---|---|
| 微信 (WeChat) | wèi xìn → wei xin | 9-3-4 (wei) or 9-4-6 (xin) |
| 支付宝 (Alipay) | zhī fù bǎo | 9-4 (zh) matches word-start |
You can type the start of any syllable to match. Tones are ignored.
info Pinyin conversion requires Android 10 (API 29) or later. On Android 9 and below, Chinese app names fall back to a basic Latin transliteration.
Russian & Cyrillic Scripts
Cyrillic characters have their own native T9 mapping — they are not transliterated to Latin first. The Russian alphabet is distributed across keys 2–9:
| Keys | Cyrillic letters |
|---|---|
2 | а б в г |
3 | д е ё ж з |
4 | и й к л |
5 | м н о п |
6 | р с т у |
7 | ф х ц ч |
8 | ш щ ъ ы |
9 | ь э ю я |
So to search for "ВКонтакте" (VK), type 2-5-6-6-8-2-5-8-3 matching the Cyrillic letters directly.
info When your system language is Russian, a Show Alternative Characters toggle in Keyboard Config controls whether the Cyrillic letters are printed on the keys. Matching works regardless of the toggle.
Greek & Other Non-ASCII Latin Scripts
Characters like Greek (α, β, γ…) or extended Latin are transliterated to their Latin equivalent via Android's built-in ICU transliterator (Any-Latin; Latin-ASCII), then mapped to T9 digits normally. Results may vary by Android version and locale.
Match Modes
For every query you type, Key Launcher tries four matching strategies in order, stopping at the first hit:
- Word-start match — your digits match the beginning of a word or Pinyin syllable. Fastest, highest priority.
- Name-start match — your digits match from the very beginning of the full app name.
- Contains match — your digits appear anywhere inside the name.
- Initials match — each digit matches the first letter of successive words. Type
2-6and it finds "Angry Orange", "Adobe One", etc. (Requires at least 2 digits.)
Ranking & Auto Launch Settings
Go to Settings > Search Settings (see Search Settings for the full breakdown):
- Auto Launch: When only a few results remain (or after a set number of keys are pressed), Key Launcher opens the first match immediately — no need to lift your finger.
- Quick Open chip: When auto-launch is off, an "Open [App]" chip appears on the keyboard once the result count is small enough, giving you a one-tap launch.