Microphone icon is missing from Gboard? Here’s what to do

Google’s Gboard is probably the most widely used keyboard on Android. Besides timely updates and a plethora of resourceful features, the app is usually stable and reliable. However, it seems that some users are unable to access the Voice Typing feature as the Gboard microphone is missing. Learn how to get it back with the steps below.

Table of contents:

1. Ensure that Voice Typing is enabled
2. Clear data from the Gboard and check permissions
3. Reinstall Gboard
4. Leave the Gboard Beta program
5. Rollback to an older version of Gboard

Gboard Voice Typing not showing

If your Gboard Voice Typing is not showing, enable the “Show suggestion strip” in Gboard settings (thank you for the tip, Daniel). If that does nothing, enable Voice Typing, check Gboard permissions, reset or reinstall Gboard, or sideload an older version of the app.

1. Ensure that Voice Typing is enabled

Firstly, make sure that Google Voice Typing is enabled in the first place. This feature does come with the Gboard but chances are that it’s not enabled by default.

Here’s how to enable Voice Typing on Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Choose System.
3. Select Language & input.
4. Tap the On-screen keyboard.
5. Tap Manage on-screen keyboards.
6. Enable Google voice typing.

2. Clear data from the Gboard and check permissions

There’s also a chance that Gboard’s locally-stored data is corrupt so clearing local data is a good idea. Another thing you should check is permissions. Especially the permission to access the microphone. You need to grant it to Gboard in order for Voice Typing to work.

Follow these steps to clear the data and grant permissions to Gboard:

1. Open Settings.
2. Choose Apps & notifications.
3. Select All apps.
4. Open Gboard from the list of available apps.
5. Tap Storage.
6. Tap Clear data.
7. Restart your device.
8. Get back to Gboard settings and open Permissions.
9. Ensure that Microphone permission is granted.

3. Reinstall Gboard

On the other hand, if the previous step failed, you can reinstall Gboard or uninstall updates and update it again in case it’s the preinstalled system app. This should address the problem with the microphone missing on Gboard.

Here’s how to reinstall Gboard on Android:

1. Open Play Store.
2. Look for Gboard and expand the app.
3. Uninstall Gboard (this action will uninstall updates if Gboard is a system app).
4. Restart your device and update or reinstall Gboard from Play Store.

4. Leave the Gboard Beta program

Another possible solution early adopters should consider is to leave the Gboard Beta program. Although you’ll get new features, chances are that the Beta version you are running is not as stable and has a problem with Voice Typing.

Just go to Play Store > Gboard, scroll down, and tap Leave under the Beta program section.

5. Rollback to an older version of Gboard

Finally, you can roll back to an older version or even upgrade to the current Alpha/Beta version via the APK. In order to do so, you need to download an APK from the APK Mirror and sideload it on your device.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Navigate to APKMirror and download an older (but recent) APK version of Gboard. Beta versions are also an option but we suggest avoiding them due to the aforementioned stability issues.
2. Uninstall the Gboard app.
3. Allow app installation from external sources.
4. Install APK, sign in, and look for improvements.

And, with that solution, we can conclude this article. Thank you for reading and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more articles like this.

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in December 2020. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.