Acti Launches an AI Keyboard for iPhone and Android That Can Take Action Inside Your Apps
A new startup is trying to turn the smartphone keyboard into something much more powerful than a place to type. Acti, a Singapore-based company whose name is short for “action,” has launched an AI-powered keyboard for iOS and Android that can do more than predict your next word. It can help complete tasks directly inside the apps you already use every day, including messaging, email, social media, and workplace tools.
The idea is simple: instead of jumping between a chatbot, browser, search app, calendar, translator, and messaging app, Acti brings AI assistance directly to the keyboard. Since the keyboard appears across nearly every app on a smartphone, Acti sees it as the perfect place for a personal AI agent.
Acti founder and CEO Young Wang says today’s AI assistants are limited because user context is often scattered across different apps. By sitting at the keyboard level, Acti can work across many daily interactions and help users act faster without constantly switching screens.
For example, if a friend asks where to eat nearby, Acti could help insert a local restaurant recommendation into the conversation. If someone mentions a stock, the keyboard could help provide the live price without forcing you to leave the chat. If you need to translate a message, share a meeting link, or pull in quick information, Acti is designed to make those actions happen from the keyboard itself.
The app is powered by Google’s Gemini AI models, which Acti chose for their mix of speed, intelligence, multilingual support, reliability, and cost efficiency. Gemini also supports one of Acti’s main features, called Skills.
Skills work like customizable AI shortcuts built into the keyboard. A user can assign a specific action to a key and trigger it with a long press. For instance, long-pressing “T” can translate a message into another language, while long-pressing “C” can instantly create and share a meeting link.
One of the most interesting parts of Acti is that users do not need programming knowledge to create these shortcuts. They can simply describe what they want the keyboard to do in plain language, and Acti builds the Skill for them. Before the public launch, early users created more than 1,000 Skills in under two weeks, showing how flexible the system can be.
Skills can be kept private for personal use or shared publicly through Acti’s Skills marketplace. The company says users can discover tools created by others, including Skills for real-time sports data, market information, and other quick-access actions. Over time, this Skill Hub could become an important part of Acti’s ecosystem and may also open the door to future monetization.
Privacy is another major focus for Acti. The company says the keyboard follows a local-first approach, meaning personal context stays on the user’s device by default. Acti says it does not access or store private messages, conversations, or personal information unless a user intentionally activates a feature that requires external AI processing.
Wang’s interest in reinventing the keyboard comes from years of experience in mobile input technology. He previously spent a decade at Baidu, where he helped grow Facemoji Keyboard to more than 300 million daily active users. He believes large language models have changed what typing can become.
According to Wang, text is no longer only something people type. It now carries intent, and that intent can often be turned directly into action. That shift convinced him that the keyboard, one of the most-used tools on any smartphone, is ready for a major AI-era upgrade.
Acti’s business model is still developing, but the company plans to offer paid subscriptions. Premium plans may include access to more advanced AI models, higher daily usage limits, and additional features for power users.
The startup has also raised $5.3 million in seed funding, led by BITKRAFT Ventures. The investment reflects growing interest in AI tools that fit naturally into everyday mobile behavior rather than requiring users to open separate chatbot apps.
Acti’s leadership team includes CTO Mike Sun, who previously served as a founding technical lead behind Baidu’s Yike Album cloud-photo platform, which reached more than 10 million daily active users. The company’s CSO, Junbo Yang, joined from HashKey Capital, where he led numerous consumer technology investments.
Acti is now available on both iOS and Android. If its approach catches on, the smartphone keyboard could become one of the most important entry points for everyday AI use, helping people search, translate, respond, schedule, and share information without ever leaving the conversation.
