SanskritTypist is an iPhone and iPad keyboard that turns ordinary Roman letters into Sanskrit as you type. Type "raama" and get राम or rāma — inside any app, with no new key layout to learn.
In one paragraph
SanskritTypist is a paid iOS keyboard app that lets you write Sanskrit phonetically. It installs two system-wide keyboards — one that outputs Devanagari script and one that outputs IAST with full diacritics — and both accept ordinary Roman letters on the QWERTY layout you already use. It runs entirely on device and collects no data.
| What it is | A custom iOS keyboard for typing Sanskrit in Devanagari or IAST |
|---|---|
| How you type | Phonetic Roman input on the standard QWERTY layout — no new layout to learn |
| Keyboards included | Devanagari and IAST, switchable with the globe key |
| Platforms | iPhone & iPad (iOS/iPadOS 18.0+) |
| Price | One-time purchase only — no subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads |
| Privacy | Apple App Privacy label: no data collected. No Full Access required. |
| Offline | Yes — transliteration runs on device |
| Size / version | 15.7 MB · version 2.2 · updated 20 August 2026 |
| Developer | @NatashaTheRobot |
| Where to get it | App Store — SanskritTypist |
Two keyboards, one app
Add one or add both. They appear side by side in the iOS keyboard list, and the globe key moves between them mid-sentence — useful when you are writing an English paragraph that quotes a Sanskrit line.
Type with your regular Roman keys and watch every syllable appear in Devanagari. Vowels are context-aware: at the start of a word you get the independent letter, after a consonant you get the mātrā. Consonants that meet form the proper conjunct.
| You type | You get |
|---|---|
| raama | राम |
| siitaa | सीता |
| hanumaan | हनुमान |
| k + i + i | की |
| long-press m | म् · ं · ॐ · ँ |
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the standard in academic publishing, critical editions and most Western Sanskrit textbooks. Long-press a letter to reach its diacritic family and get correctly formatted IAST without a Unicode picker or a compose key.
| Long-press | You reach |
|---|---|
| a | ā |
| n | ṅ · ñ · ṇ |
| s | ś · ṣ |
| r | ṛ · ṝ |
| → result | Gaṇeśa · Śiva · Lakṣmī |
Why it feels different
The keyboard Apple ships requires you to learn where each Indic character sits. The usual alternative is typing into a desktop transliteration site and pasting the result back into your phone. SanskritTypist removes both steps: you spell the sounds, it writes the script.
It is the QWERTY layout you already use. You spell the sounds and the script follows — the learning curve is about ten seconds long.
Transliteration happens as you type, not after you press space. You see की form the moment you type the second i.
Independent vowels at word start, mātrās after consonants — decided for you. Type i first and get इ; type it after k and get कि.
Halants, conjuncts like क्ष, anusvāra, candrabindu and ॐ live one long-press away, so the base layout stays uncluttered.
Notes, Messages, Mail, Pages, Anki, Obsidian, WhatsApp, Google Docs, Safari search bars. If it takes text, it takes Sanskrit.
No Full Access request, no network calls, no analytics. Apple's privacy label reads no data collected, and the keyboard works in airplane mode.
Two minutes
Download the app, enable the keyboards in iOS Settings, then tap the globe key inside any app. iOS requires this three-step enable for every third-party keyboard — it is not specific to SanskritTypist.
Get SanskritTypist from the App Store and launch it once. Opening it registers both keyboard extensions with iOS.
Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard, then pick Devanagari, IAST, or both under SanskritTypist.
In any app, tap 🌐 on the keyboard to switch. Long-press 🌐 to jump straight to a specific keyboard when you have several installed.
Who uses it
Anyone who needs to put Sanskrit into an iPhone or iPad and does not want to fight the keyboard to do it.
Sanskrit studentsType homework, flashcards and Anki decks in Devanagari or IAST without leaving your phone.
Scholars & translatorsProduce publication-ready IAST with correct diacritics inline, instead of pasting from a character map.
Yoga teachersWrite āsana names and mantras properly in class notes, handouts and social posts.
Chanters & practitionersKeep a personal library of mantras and ślokas in the script you actually recite from.
Privacy
No — and SanskritTypist does not. It never requests iOS Full Access, the permission that would let a keyboard extension reach the network. Transliteration is a lookup table running on your device, so the keyboard works in airplane mode and there is nowhere for keystrokes to go. Apple's App Privacy label for SanskritTypist reads no data collected.
Questions
Install a Sanskrit keyboard from the App Store, then enable it under Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard. With SanskritTypist you type Sanskrit phonetically using ordinary Roman letters — typing raama produces राम — so there is no new key layout to memorise.
Devanagari (देवनागरी) is the Indic script Sanskrit is traditionally written in. IAST — the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration — writes the same sounds in Roman letters with diacritics, as in rāma or Gaṇeśa. Devanagari is used for reading and recitation; IAST is standard in Western academic publishing. SanskritTypist ships one keyboard for each, so you can move between them mid-sentence.
No. SanskritTypist uses the standard QWERTY layout you already know. You type the sounds in Roman letters and the keyboard converts them as you go — siitaa becomes सीता. The Devanagari keyboard built into iOS, by contrast, requires learning where each Indic character sits.
On the Devanagari keyboard, double the vowel: aa gives आ or the ā mātrā, ii gives ई or ी. On the IAST keyboard, long-press a key to reach its diacritic variants — long-pressing s offers ś and ṣ, long-pressing n offers ṅ ñ ṇ, long-pressing a offers ā.
Yes. It is a system-wide iOS keyboard extension, so it appears in any app with a text field — Notes, Messages, Mail, Pages, Safari, Obsidian, Anki, WhatsApp, Google Docs. Tap the globe key to switch to it and tap again to switch back.
No. SanskritTypist does not request Full Access and collects no data — Apple's App Privacy label reads “No data collected.” Transliteration runs entirely on device, so the keyboard works offline and nothing you type is transmitted anywhere.
iPhone and iPad running iOS or iPadOS 18.0 or later. The app is 15.7 MB, rated 4+, and supports Family Sharing for up to six family members.
It is a paid app: a single one-time purchase on the App Store, with no subscription, no in-app purchases and no ads. Check the App Store listing for the current price in your region.
The Devanagari keyboard produces standard Unicode Devanagari, so it can be used for any language written in that script, including Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and Konkani. The transliteration scheme and long-press character sets are tuned for Sanskrit, so Sanskrit is where it feels most natural.
By context. A vowel at the start of a word produces the independent form — i gives इ — while the same vowel after a consonant produces the mātrā, so k + i + i gives की. You never have to choose between the two forms yourself.
One download, two keyboards, and every text field on your iPhone becomes Sanskrit-ready.
SanskritTypist