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How to change the keyboard color on iPhone

Published · 3 min read

Apple’s keyboard comes in two colours, light and dark, and it takes whichever the whole phone is using. Anything else — pink keys, a black board with green letters, your own photo — needs a keyboard from the App Store.

In short. To switch the iPhone keyboard between light and dark, go to Settings › Appearance (iOS 27) and choose Light, Dark or Automatic. There is no setting for any other colour. For that, add a third-party keyboard under Settings › General › Keyboard › Keyboards and choose its colours in its own app.

The one colour setting Apple gives you

The keyboard follows the phone’s appearance. In iOS 27 it is under Settings › Appearance; in iOS 26 and earlier it was Settings › Display & Brightness. Choose Dark for a dark keyboard, Light for a light one, or Automatic to change at sunset. The Dark Mode button in Control Center does the same in one tap.

Two accessibility switches change the keyboard slightly, under Settings › Accessibility › Display & Text Size: Increase Contrast makes edges and text stand out more, and Reduce Transparency makes the see-through background more solid. Neither gives you a colour of your own.

Apple’s two keyboard looks beside a themed keyboardOn the left, Apple’s keyboard in Light and in Dark. On the right, a pink themed keyboard with its background, keys, letters and special keys each in their own colour. Apple’s keyboard two looks, chosen for the whole phone q w e r t y u i o p a s d f g h j k l ⇧ ⌫ z x c v b n m 123 ⏎ q w e r t y u i o p a s d f g h j k l ⇧ ⌫ z x c v b n m 123 ⏎ Light Dark A keyboard you can theme every colour, in light and in dark q w e r t y u i o p a s d f g h j k l ⇧ ⌫ z x c v b n m 123 ⏎ Background Keys Letters Special keys
Apple’s keyboard has two looks and follows the phone. A themed keyboard colours each part separately.

How to get a keyboard in any colour

  1. Install the keyboard from the App Store and open its app once.
  2. Go to Settings › General › Keyboard › Keyboards and tap Add New Keyboard.
  3. Pick it from the list of third-party keyboards.
  4. In any text field, touch and hold the emoji or switch-keyboard key and choose it.

The colours are then chosen in that keyboard’s app, not in Settings. A colour needs no Full Access, so if a keyboard asks for it, check what else it uses it for — our explainer covers what it changes.

Before you settle on a colour, check two things. Can you still read the letters outdoors? And does the theme have a dark form as well, so it does not glare at night?

Colours in Pilcrow

Pilcrow, the keyboard we make, has a Themes tab with eight finished looks, each with a light and a dark form that follows the phone. Pick one, or open the editor: Background, Keys and Letters come first, and every other colour — special keys, pressed keys, borders, the long-press strip — is under Advanced. The preview at the top is the real keyboard, so you see each change as you make it.

The Candy look: pink keys with bold rose letters.
Candy, one of the eight looks. It switches to its dark form with your phone.

Tap Surprise me for a random theme: every look keeps its letters at a contrast of at least 4.5 to 1 against the keys. Themes beyond the three standard looks are part of what you unlock after the three free days.

Last checked October 2026 against Apple’s iPhone User Guide for iOS 27. If anything here is out of date, write to info@pilcrowtype.com.

Sources

  1. Apple, Use Dark Mode on your iPhone and iPad
  2. Apple, Make text easier to read on iPhone
  3. Apple, Add or change keyboards on iPhone
  4. Apple Developer, Configuring open access for a custom keyboard

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