Google's Gboard keyboard for iOS and Android packs a bunch of useful features, and now it looks like the company is working on adding a 'Smart Reply' feature for the keyboard too.
Smart Reply is already available in certain Google apps, like Inbox, Gmail and Allo. Now, some online sources detail that the inclusion of this feature is going to be implemented in an upcoming version of Gboard for Android, which leads us to believe that, based on the contents of your screen, it will suggest contextually relevant phrases that you can use to reply with, just by tapping once instead of having to type.
Since it is still in the works, we can't say yet what the feature will look like in the Gboard, but for reference, here is how Smart Reply will look like in Gmail:
The feature is being built to work with a bunch of messaging apps, including Hangouts, Android Messages, Allo, Facebook Messenger and Messenger Lite, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Tencent.
Gboard is beyond just negating the need to type, it also slashes the amount of time you will end up using to think about how to word your replies, and whether it is okay to respond with a more concise message than usual.
It would be cool to see Smart Reply come to Gboard, we all have different contacts on a bunch of different messaging services. It would be great to see this support other tools like Telegram and Slack. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long before our keyboard can do our texting for us.
If you do not know what Gboard is, have a look at the video below.
