Using Threebrook Input

Turn it on

The app is in Chinese. Where a setting is mentioned below, its Chinese name is in brackets so you can find it.

1. After installing, open Threebrook Input, tap Enable keyboard (启用输入法) and turn it on in the system list of keyboards.
2. Go back to Threebrook Input, tap Choose keyboard (选择输入法) and pick Threebrook Input.
3. To switch to another keyboard later, tap the globe icon at the bottom left, below the keys, and pick one from the list.

When you turn it on, Android warns that the keyboard “may be able to collect all the text you type”. Android shows this for every keyboard. Threebrook Input doesn’t request network permission, so it can’t collect or send anything; see the privacy policy.

Pinyin, double pinyin and 9-key

• Switch layouts from the keyboard’s menu: 9-key keypad (中文9键), full pinyin keyboard (拼音全键), double pinyin, plus handwriting and stroke keyboards.
• Choose a double-pinyin layout in Settings › 输入法 › 输入设置 › 双拼方案. There are seven, including common ones such as Xiaohe and Ziranma, and Luanxu 17.
• Whole-sentence input: type the pinyin for a whole sentence in one go; the full sentence comes first and Space enters it. Initials alone work too: zgrm gives 中国人民.
• In Chinese mode, type English words such as hello or wechat and the English word comes first.

How it learns

Threebrook Input doesn’t use the engine’s built-in “pick it once and it’s first” learning. It has its own rules, so one wrong pick can’t push your everyday words down:

Rule	What it means
3 uses to reach first	A word needs about 3 uses before it can come first; until then it’s second at most. Words that were already near the top don’t move down.
Deleting doesn’t count	If you press Delete right after entering a word, that use isn’t recorded. Pressing any other key first means it counts.
Unused words fade	A word’s weight halves every 30 days, and words you stop using are removed.
Not learned	English mode, anything longer than 20 characters, and anything typed in password fields or private browsing.
New words remembered	A word you build character by character (三 then 溪) is remembered as the whole word 三溪.

Full pinyin, double pinyin and the 9-key keypad share one learning record: a word learned in one is also near the top in the others.

My words

Settings › 输入法 › 我的词库 (My words) lists every learned word with its pinyin, how many times you’ve used it, when you last did and where it ranks now. Tap one to delete it, or clear them all at the top right. Once deleted, candidates go back to their original order.

Voice input

1. Before the first use, add the voice model: Settings › 输入法 › 语音识别 (Speech recognition). The page links to two files (model.int8.onnx, about 228 MB, and tokens.txt); download both in your phone’s browser.
2. Tap 导入模型文件 (Import model files) and select both files in the file picker (long-press the first, then tap the second). When the page says it’s installed, you’re done.
3. In any text box, hold the mic on the keyboard toolbar and speak; let go and the text appears. Slide up before letting go to cancel.

• Mandarin, English, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean, with punctuation added automatically.
• Recording happens only while you hold the mic, up to 60 seconds at a time. It’s discarded after recognition: never saved to a file or uploaded.
• You can delete the model on the same page. You can also download the files on a computer and copy them to your phone before importing.

English spelling correction

In English mode, a misspelled word gets the right spelling among the candidates: tomorow → tomorrow, recieve → receive, dont → don't. The order is what you typed, then up to 3 corrections, then completions.

Space still enters exactly what you typed; nothing is replaced automatically. Tap a correction if you want it. It corrects single words and doesn’t look at context.

Clipboard, phrases and more

• Clipboard: text you copy is kept in the keyboard’s clipboard panel, up to 50 items by default. Turn it off, change the limit or clear it in Settings › 键盘 › 剪贴板.
• Phrases: add phrases in the keyboard’s phrases panel, so addresses and replies you type often are one tap away.
• Dark mode: follows your phone by default; pick a theme or background image in Settings › 键盘 › 主题.
• Key feedback: key sounds and vibration are in Settings › 键盘 › 按键效果.

Your data and uninstalling

• Learned words, clipboard history, phrases, settings and the voice model are kept only in Threebrook Input’s own storage on your phone. Nothing is synced and we have no copy.
• This data doesn’t move to a new phone. Uninstalling Threebrook Input makes Android delete all of it.
• Threebrook Input doesn’t check for updates. New versions are published on this site; install over the old one to update, and your learned words are kept.

Still stuck?

Write to support@threebrook.com with your phone model, Android version, Threebrook Input version (Settings › 关于) and what happened. If the app crashes, tap 导出崩溃日志 (Export crash log) on the About page and attach the file; it doesn’t contain anything you typed.