MessagEase

Lore & Background

MessagEase was first released in 2002 for the Palm, with a paper following in 2003. It was originally a competitor to the T9 predictive input method on 12-button phones, where each of the 9 primary characters needed to be pressed twice, and secondary characters required pressing the main button then one of the remaining 8 buttons. In that first iteration, it was not significantly faster than multi-tap input. The software is now exclusively for touch screens and no longer supports physical 12-button phones; all characters are entered by tapping or swiping.

The keyboard layout is a 3x3 matrix with letter placement optimized for minimal movement distance. The 9 most frequent letters (ETAONRISH) are accessed by a single tap. The next 17 less frequent letters are triggered by a single move from or to the central key (O), except for Z which is centered around the 'E' key. Special characters (38 including accents and punctuation) are shown when the user drags the space bar upward. A vertical bar on the right (or left in left-handed mode) gives access to cut/copy/paste, numeric keypad, uppercase/lowercase control, and F1-F12 keys. Small movements like drawing a circle or back-and-forth motion can write uppercase letters or add accents.

Reader's Guide

MessagEase is significant as an early and persistent alternative to QWERTY for touchscreen devices, designed to improve typing speed and efficiency through a compact 3x3 grid. The article states its layout is 67% more efficient than a standard QWERTY software keyboard and 31% more efficient than multi-tap, based on Fitts' law modeling. It supports multiple user dictionaries for word prediction and correction. The software is developed and patented by ExIdeas and is currently available for Android, iOS, and Apple Watch. As of 2024-02, ExIdeas appears to intend to move to a subscription model, with a nag screen prompting users to subscribe; this change is not described on their web page and has led to numerous users changing their five-star reviews to one star on Google Play. Open-source alternatives include Thumb-Key (on F-Droid and Google Play) and FlickBoard (on Izzysoft and Google Play). A closed-source alternative, Tessera Keyboard, is available on Google Play and attempts to recreate a more refined user experience while retaining notable MessagEase features.

Did You Know?

• The letter V is typed by dragging the finger from A to O, and D by moving from O to E.
• A green trail shows the path of the finger during swipes.
• As of 2024-02, a nag screen asks users to join a subscription model, causing many users to change their five-star reviews to one star on Google Play.