Naratgeul Keyboard
A keyboard extension built to type on the KT Naratgeul layout on an iPhone, because iOS does not ship it. Made to be used, not sold — it never went to the store.
KT Naratgeul is a 12-key (3×4) consonant-first Korean layout. Where Cheonjiin starts from vowels, this one puts consonants first and grows them with a stroke key — ㄱ→ㅋ, ㄴ→ㄷ→ㅌ — so the same word takes fewer taps. It shipped on LG phones and became part of a 2011 Korean standard, but it is not on the iPhone.
So the keyboard extension was built directly. It carries the jamo composition state machine (initial, medial, final), compound vowels and final clusters, and backspace that walks the composition back, with the composer's behaviour pinned down by its own tests. Alongside Naratgeul, the keyboard also carries SKY, a Naratgeul flick variant, a short-vowel layout, and Korean QWERTY, so the layouts can be swapped and compared in real use.
There was never a release plan. It is a personal tool built because mistyped Korean on an iPhone costs real time, and it has been untouched since May 2026.
Systems and features
- The KT Naratgeul 12-key layout, consonant-first with stroke and twin-consonant keys
- A jamo composition state machine (initial, medial, final) with compound vowels and final clusters
- Tests that pin down the composer's behaviour
- Five layouts — Naratgeul, SKY, Naratgeul flick, short-vowel, Korean QWERTY — switchable for comparison
- Installed on one phone; no store release planned
Current status: Built for personal use and untouched since May 2026. No store release is planned.
Ideas and feedback are welcome
If this project makes you want to say something — a direction, a doubt, a feature idea — send it over. Prototype-stage projects change shape based on exactly this kind of input.
Search terms
Naratgeul Keyboard · 나랏글 자판 · KT나랏글 · iOS 한글 키보드 · Korean keyboard extension · UIInputViewController · 아이폰 한글 키보드 · iOS Korean keyboard extension · Naratgeul keyboard iPhone · 12 key Korean layout · 천지인 대안 자판