Skip to content
Pastiera

Languages and Layouts

Included layout support

Pastiera ships with built-in layout mappings and language support beyond plain qwerty. The current app assets include layouts such as:

  • qwerty
  • azerty
  • qwertz
  • greek
  • arabic
  • ukrainian
  • serbian cyrillic
  • german multitap qwertz
  • vietnamese telex qwerty
  • phonetic or transliteration-oriented layouts for several languages

Support also depends on dictionaries and subtypes, so a layout may exist even when suggestion support is more limited.

Languages and Maps

Use Settings > Languages and Maps to manage input styles that are not limited to your current Android system locale.

This section lets you:

  • add an input style
  • choose a language
  • choose a keyboard layout
  • add a custom locale code
  • see whether a dictionary exists for that locale
  • open the IME picker after adding a new style

This is the main place for users who switch between multiple languages or want a layout that differs from the device default.

Layout switching

In normal use, you can switch language or keymap from the status bar language button or with the relevant hardware shortcut flow, depending on your setup.

Pastiera keeps layout conversion separate from physical key position for ALT, SYM, and Ctrl-related mappings. That means:

  • the visible character result can change with the layout
  • the physical-position logic for some modifier mappings remains consistent

Custom layouts

Pastiera supports JSON-based layout import and export. The app is designed for:

  • loading custom mappings
  • enabling or disabling layouts
  • deleting custom layouts
  • previewing mapping behavior

This is useful if you need a niche language layout, a custom remap, or a personal optimization.

Multi-tap layouts

Some layouts are single-output, while others define multi-tap alternatives. Examples include language-specific accented or script-specific flows. Pastiera uses the layout definition itself to decide whether a key behaves as:

  • single output
  • multi-tap

Vietnamese Telex

Vietnamese Telex is now part of the shipped layout set. To use it:

  1. Open Languages and Maps.
  2. Add or edit the Vietnamese input style.
  3. Choose the Telex layout.
  4. Test vowel and tone combinations in a normal text field.

If the layout is available but suggestions are not, check whether a matching dictionary exists for that locale.

Current state

As of March 2026:

  • built-in language/layout coverage is broader than the older public docs suggested
  • newer additions such as Vietnamese Telex, German multitap, Ukrainian, and Serbian Cyrillic should be considered first-class documented features
  • some language combinations may intentionally run without dictionary-backed suggestions

SCREENSHOT_TODO: languages-and-layouts-input-styles