With the latest One UI 8 changes, Samsung has added new gestures that make typing feel quicker and smoother. These shortcuts let you handle everyday actions like copying, pasting, or undoing text with simple swipes.
Each direction is customizable, so you decide what every gesture does. You can even assign a swipe to start voice input, open Writing Assist, switch languages, or trigger shortcuts you use most.
The swipes that replaced my taps
Copy, paste, undo—all with swipes
After setting up a few gestures on the Samsung keyboard, I typed a short note to see how they worked. A two-finger swipe up sent the text to the clipboard, and swiping down pasted it to another app. What usually took a few taps happened in a single swipe sequence.
Undo and redo worked just as well. A two-finger swipe left brought back what I removed, while a swipe right repeated the last change. These gestures stay consistent across apps where the Samsung keyboard appears, so copying from Samsung Notes and pasting into WhatsApp or Gmail takes only a moment. There’s no need to reach for copy or paste icons anymore.
Then I added a few three-finger shortcuts to round things out. I set a swipe up to launch Writing Assist to refine sentences quickly, and a swipe down to open the emoji panel for quick reactions. Pick actions that match what you do most, such as switching languages or starting voice input.
Set it up once and make it yours
Customize gestures to match your flow
All of these live inside Samsung’s Keys Café module in Good Lock. If your phone runs One UI 8 or later, update Keys Café from the Galaxy Store and launch it. In Keyboard -> Gesture, you will see two toggles, one for two-finger gestures and another for three-finger gestures.
To keep the same animation across all swipes, turn on Use design for all gestures at the top of this page. Below it, tap Gesture design to open Theme Park from the Good Lock suite. There, you can adjust how gestures look by changing their effects, colors, and motion style. Under the Etc tab, you can control the line’s thickness, speed, and transparency to personalize how gestures appear when you type.
For mine, I set Copy and Paste for up and down, and Undo and Redo for left and right. For three fingers, I use Writing Assist on the upward swipe and the emoji panel on the downward.
When you finish, the gestures work immediately. Setup is quick, and you rarely need to revisit it unless you want changes. Preferences stay saved after restarts or updates. If gesture options don’t appear, update Good Lock and Keys Café, then check again.
What your keyboard can do beyond typing
Fine-tune details for better control
While you’re still in Keys Café, open Extra order. This section includes settings that make the Samsung keyboard easier to use. Start with Auto replacement sensitivity. It determines how quickly autocorrect reacts to what you type. At higher levels, the keyboard changes unfamiliar words more often. Lowering it makes corrections more selective, which helps when you use names, slang, or multiple languages.
Next, enable Turn off delete accelerator. Normally, holding backspace begins deleting whole words after a short delay. With this option on, the keyboard removes text letter by letter instead. It takes longer but gives precise control when you edit long messages or tidy paragraphs. If you want to adjust how fast each press responds, navigate to the keyboard settings -> Swipe, touch, and feedback -> Backspace speed. Set it to Slow for detailed editing or switch to Normal or Fast when clearing shorter lines.
Finally, turn on Use sticker suggestions in a larger view. When you type words like love or tired the keyboard suggests matching emojis or stickers above the keys. Enlarging that strip makes them easier to spot and select quickly. Together, these tweaks reduce miscorrections, prevent over-deleting, and help the keyboard respond the way you prefer.
Where typing meets your voice
Now that gestures are set, you can make the keyboard more practical with voice typing linked to the side key. Press and hold the key to start dictation, then release to stop. Samsung voice input pairs well with this shortcut because it stops the moment you lift your finger, which is handy for short phrases and names.
You can choose your voice engine in Samsung Keyboard settings -> Voice input. Samsung Voice Input works offline after you download language packs, while Google Voice Typing supports more languages but needs an internet connection.
If you translate messages, open Translation in keyboard settings. Choose Samsung for offline, private translation or Google for broader language support. These tools live on the keyboard, so you don’t need to switch apps to write, speak, or translate.