Acti Launches AI Agent Keyboard for iOS and Android — Custom AI Shortcuts Without Writing Code
A Singapore-based startup called Acti launched what it calls the "agentic keyboard" on June 30, 2026 — an iOS and Android keyboard app that doesn't just predict your next word but can take actions across apps using AI agents. It's backed by $5.3 million in seed funding from BITKRAFT Ventures and built by a team that previously grew Baidu's Facemoji Keyboard to over 300 million daily active users.
How It Works
Instead of switching to a separate chatbot app every time you need AI help, Acti lives inside your keyboard and works across all your apps — email, messaging, social media, notes, you name it.
The core concept is simple: Acti sits above your keyboard as a persistent AI layer. If a friend asks for restaurant recommendations in a chat, Acti can insert a local suggestion directly into the conversation. If someone mentions a stock ticker, Acti can pull the live price and drop it right there. No app-switching required.
Under the hood, Acti runs on Google's Gemini models, chosen for their balance of intelligence, speed, and cost-efficiency. All personal context stays on-device by default — the app doesn't access or store private messages unless you explicitly invoke a feature requiring external processing.
Skills: Custom AI Shortcuts Made Simple
Acti's standout feature is called Skills — programmable shortcuts that let you trigger multi-step AI tasks with a single keypress.
For example:
• Press and hold T → automatically translate selected text
• Press and hold C → insert a meeting link
• Custom skill: "When I type /weather [city], show the forecast" → built automatically
The key detail: you don't need to write code to create a Skill. You describe what you want in plain English, and Acti builds it. Early access testers reportedly built over 1,000 Skills in less than two weeks.
Skills can be private (for personal use) or shared publicly through a Skills Marketplace, where you can browse and install shortcuts created by other users — like Skills for accessing real-time World Cup data or Polymarket prediction market links.
Privacy First
Acti was designed with a local-first architecture. Your messages, keystrokes, and personal data stay on your device unless you explicitly trigger a Skill that requires cloud processing. This is a meaningful distinction from cloud-only AI assistants that process everything server-side.
The company says it does not store or train on user conversations — a claim that will matter to anyone who's been wary about typing sensitive information into AI-powered keyboards.
Business Model and Funding
Acti is free to download and use with basic features, with a subscription model planned for premium access. The subscription tier will offer more advanced AI models, higher daily usage limits, and additional premium Skills.
The company raised $5.3 million in seed funding led by BITKRAFT Ventures. The round also included undisclosed angel investors. Acti plans to use the capital for product development, hiring, and expanding the Skills ecosystem.
Who Built It
The founding team has serious credentials in consumer software at scale:
• Young Wang (CEO): Spent a decade at Baidu growing Facemoji Keyboard to 300M+ DAUs
• Mike Sun (CTO): Founding technical lead behind Baidu's Yike Album cloud-photo platform (10M+ DAUs)
• Junbo Yang (CSO): Joined from HashKey Capital
What This Signals
Acti represents a different philosophy about how consumers will use AI. Rather than building yet another chatbot and asking users to change their habits, Acti embeds AI into the interface billions of people already use every day: the keyboard.
If this model works, it could be the template for how AI assistants reach mainstream adoption — not as standalone apps but as invisible layers inside existing tools. The keyboard is a particularly strategic surface because it has access to every app and every conversation on your phone.
For developers, the Skills Marketplace creates an interesting platform dynamic. If Acti reaches scale, building Skills could become a distribution channel for AI-powered utilities, similar to how app stores work but at the keyboard level.
The catch? Third-party keyboards on iOS have historically struggled with adoption. Apple restricts them in certain contexts (like password fields), and users have to explicitly enable them in settings. Android is more permissive, but driving adoption for any new keyboard is a hard battle.
Still, with a team that's scaled a keyboard to 300M users before, Acti knows the challenge better than most.
Sources:
• TechCrunch: Acti puts AI agents directly into your smartphone keyboard