GoKawiilApple adds more Indigenous languages, including Blackfoot and Comanche, to iOS 27 keyboard
Apple's iOS 27 update expands keyboard support to additional Native American languages such as Blackfoot, Comanche, and Northern East Cree, building on last year's iOS 26 additions like Haitian Creole and Nez Perce. Apple's iOS keyboard now supports more than 200 languages and variants, and Cherokee has been part of the system since 2010 through an ongoing partnership with the Cherokee Nation.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. says the tribe has only about 1,500 fluent speakers left, mostly elderly, making digital tools like keyboards and dubbed media urgent for passing the language to younger generations. By embedding Indigenous languages into everyday technology, Apple could help normalize their use among youth who spend much of their time on phones, though the broader success of language revitalization depends on community programs like immersion schools that go beyond any single tech feature.
- iOS 27 adds keyboard support for Blackfoot, Comanche, and Northern East Cree, among other Indigenous languages.
- Apple's iOS keyboard now supports over 200 languages and variants, with Cherokee included since 2010.
- Cherokee Nation leaders view accessible technology as key to language survival amid a shrinking base of fluent elder speakers.
Apple iPhone 15 — The iPhone's keyboard now supports Cherokee and other Indigenous languages, making it a genuinely useful tool for language learners and immersion communities to text, type, and preserve their mother tongue daily. Having that support built directly into the device you already carry everywhere makes practicing and teaching a living language far more natural than relying on separate apps or workbooks.
See Apple iPhone 15 on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: wired.com — Julian Chokkattu, 2026-10-12
Published there as: “How Apple Puts Indigenous Languages on the iPhone Keyboard”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.