Gboard features Google Search, including web results (removed since April 2020)[8] and predictive answers, easy searching and sharing of GIF and emoji content, a predictive typing engine suggesting the next word depending on context, and multilingual language support.

In August 2018, Gboard passed 1 billion installs on the Google Play Store, making it one of the most popular Android apps.

[18] Gboard supports a variety of different keyboard layouts including QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY, Dvorak and Colemak.

[20] Another new update in March 2018 added Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Polish, Romanian, Balochi, Swedish, Catalan, Hungarian, Malay, Russian, Latin American Spanish, and Turkish languages, along with support for voice dictation, enabling users to "long press the mic button on the space bar and talk".

[23][24] In June 2017, the Android app was updated to support recognition of hand-drawn emoji and the ability to predict whole phrases rather than single words.

The Wall Street Journal also praised the predictive typing engine, stating that it "blows past most competitors" and "it gets smarter with use".