Guide

Getting started

Adding the keyboard

On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard and choose Hare. Settings → Keyboard Access in the Hare app takes you there too.

Allow Full Access (optional)

Tap Hare in the keyboard list and turn on Allow Full Access. Hare types without it, using the keyboard’s own dictionary; with it, the keyboard can use the app’s settings, schemes, learned words and scripts. Turning it on does not make Hare upload what you type; see the privacy policy.

Switching to Hare

In any text field, tap or hold the globe key and choose Hare.

Preparing the dictionary

The first time you open the Hare app, it prepares the built-in Rime Ice dictionary and downloads the sentence grammar model Hare Chat (about 6.8 MB). Keep Hare in the foreground meanwhile; the keyboard is ready when it finishes.

Keyboard layouts

Choose QWERTY or 9-key under Features → Keyboard Layout in the Hare app; the options below it change with the layout.

QWERTY pinyin

• Key preview: shows the letter enlarged above the key as you press it.
• Swipe up for symbols: swipe up on a letter key to type the small symbol above it without opening the symbol page. Q to P carry 1 to 0 by default; under Features → Swipe Up for Symbols you can give each key your own symbol, or turn it off.

Xiaohe Shuangpin

• Choose Xiaohe Shuangpin under Features → Pinyin Spelling. Each character takes two keys: the initial, then the final.
• Show finals on keys: the small letters on each key are the finals it stands for; turn them off once you know them.
• Radical filter: while you type pinyin, the emoji key becomes 辅. Press it, then type a radical in Shuangpin, such as yj for 讠, and only characters with that radical stay among the candidates.

9-key

• Picking the pinyin: a run of digits can spell several pinyin, which the keyboard lists; tap one to lock that part. Delete first takes back the pinyin you just picked, then removes digits.
• Swipe for letters: swipe left, up, right or down on a number key to type one of its letters, handy for English or pinyin abbreviations; Show Swipe Hints marks them on the keys.
• Frequent symbols: the 9-key symbol page has four rows of three slots, each holding up to 4 symbols. With one, a tap types it; with several, taps cycle through them and a swipe in one of four directions picks one. Set them under Features → Frequent Symbols.

iPad

iPad has its own keyboard, laid out for the screen size; on the 11-inch, Air and mini it has four rows with symbols on the letter keys.

iPhone Duo

• Globe key: the keyboard has a globe key on both the outer and inner displays; tap it to switch keyboards, or hold it to list them all.
• Split keyboard held sideways: held sideways on the inner display, the QWERTY keyboard splits into two halves, one for each thumb. Spread two fingers to split and pinch to join; swipe two fingers left or right to shrink the keyboard to that side for one hand, and swipe back in the empty side to restore it. Candidates sit over the right half; opening the full list covers only the right half, so the left keeps typing; the 123, symbol and emoji pages split too. Choose whether it starts split under Features → Split Keyboard When Held Sideways.
• 9-key held sideways: candidates and readings sit on the left, the 9-key grid on the right. The leftmost column holds H, and while you type it shows Words, Characters and Retype; split, it also holds 123, #@¥, 英 and the globe key.
• Swap the two columns: if you’re left-handed, turn on Left-Handed: Swap Side Columns under Features, and the two columns trade places on iPad and iPhone Duo.

Typing and candidates

Smart correction

When your finger lands on a neighboring key, Hare uses where you pressed and the rules of pinyin to find what you meant, and what you actually typed stays among the candidates. It works on QWERTY, Xiaohe Shuangpin and 9-key, each with its own switch under Features.

Whole sentences

You can type a whole sentence before picking. The sentence grammar model judges which reading makes sense, so homophones such as 吧 and 把, or 是 and 事, come out right. When two ways of splitting the sentence both make sense, the other one is offered second, and the one you usually write moves first.

Picking part by part

When the whole sentence isn’t right, pick it part by part from the start. Picked words stay in the field ahead of the remaining pinyin and are entered together once everything is picked. Pick the wrong one and press delete: it turns back into pinyin.

Word suggestions and smart learning

After you enter a word, the candidate bar suggests the next one from the dictionary and your habits. Smart learning moves the words you pick, and the words you usually follow them with, to the front; learning happens only on the device. Both are under Features → Candidates & Suggestions and can be turned off separately.

Mixed Chinese and English

Type English words without switching keyboards and English candidates appear; capitalize the first letter and the candidates are capitalized too. Turn it on or off under Features → Candidates & Suggestions.

Emoji candidates

Related emoji appear among the candidates as you type pinyin. Turn them off under Features → Candidates & Suggestions.

Expanded candidates

When you expand the candidate bar to see more, the right side lets you show single characters only or words only.

Moving the cursor

Hold the space bar and slide left or right to move the cursor; sliding along the candidate bar works too.

Where pinyin shows

Pinyin is written into the text field by default, underlined. In apps such as Messages, tapping the field can make it disappear, and you can’t hold to move the cursor while typing; if that bothers you, turn it off under Features → Pinyin & Punctuation and pinyin shows in the keyboard instead.

Double space for a full stop

Press the space bar twice quickly after text for a full stop. Turn it on or off under Features → Pinyin & Punctuation.

Shortcuts

Quick phrases

Under Features → Quick Phrases, tap + to add one: the name is only for finding it, the code is the letters you type, and the content is the text that goes in. For example, with the code jtdz and your home address as the content, type jtdz and tap the candidate to fill in the whole address. A letter code can also be entered with the space bar; on 9-key, press the number keys that carry its letters; a code made of digits is typed on the number page and tapped.

Pasting from the clipboard

After you copy text, Paste appears in the candidate bar; tap it to paste. You can also have it show what you copied. iOS asks for permission the first time the clipboard is read; to stop the question, choose Allow under Settings → Hare → Paste from Other Apps on your iPhone.

Dates and times

• rq date, sj time, xq weekday, dt the full date and time.
• nl today’s lunar date; a capital N plus a date, such as N20260101, converts it to the lunar calendar.

Symbols and codes

• A capital R plus a number, such as R1234, gives the amount in formal numerals, 壹仟贰佰叁拾肆元整.
• A capital U plus a Unicode code point, such as U62fc, types 拼.
• v plus pinyin initials for symbols:vfh special symbols, vjt arrows, vsx math, vdw units, vxl Greek letters, vtq weather, vxz zodiac signs, vpy pinyin with tone marks.
• uuid makes a random UUID.

Simplified and Traditional

Under Settings → Language → Output Script in the Hare app, choose Simplified, Traditional, Traditional (Taiwan) or Traditional (Hong Kong). Pinyin, correction and learning work as before; candidates and the text you enter are converted to the chosen Traditional standard once the keyboard comes up again. The first time you choose Traditional, a conversion dictionary of about 1 MB is downloaded; until then the keyboard still writes Simplified.

The output script is set apart from the app’s interface language: the interface can be Simplified while you type Traditional, or the other way round.

Schemes and grammar models

Built-in Rime Ice

Hare includes the Rime Ice dictionary, and its correction and typing tests are tuned on that version. Check for updates under Schemes → Rime Ice: see what changed before you decide, and the words you’ve taught it stay. You can go back to the built-in version at any time. When GitHub can’t be reached, mirrors are tried automatically, and you can enter a working proxy under Download Proxy.

Sentence grammar model

The sentence grammar model judges which reading of a whole sentence makes sense, so the first candidate for long sentences is right more often; phrases are unaffected. Switch or remove it under Schemes → Rime Ice, where each model shows its size:

• Hare Chat (about 6.8 MB, the default): what people say in everyday chat, picked from the Wanxiang model; nearly as good on long sentences as the full model of about 400 MB.
• Hare Chat Light (about 1.9 MB): for when space is tight.
• Hare Lite (about 2.0 MB): cut from the Baguwen model.
• Baguwen、Wanxiang: the full large models, downloaded from GitHub.

When you switch, the old model is replaced only once the new one has downloaded; after you remove a model, none is downloaded again by itself.

Hare Pro features

Hare Pro is a one-time purchase with no subscription, and works on every iPhone and iPad with the same Apple Account. Buy it or restore it under Settings → Hare Pro in the app. The features below need Full Access.

The H menu and scripts Pro

• Turn on scripts under Features → Scripts and an H appears at the left of the candidate bar: tap it to open your scripts, or hold it to run the script you chose or start Translate as I Type. You can hide the H while typing so candidates start at the left edge, and show the script menu as icons only so more scripts fit on screen — on by default on iPhone.
• Translate, Polish, Summarize and Reply are built in.
• Write your own scripts, or add one from the AI templates and edit its prompt; drag to reorder the H menu, and add back built-in scripts you deleted.
• Templates without AI: they fill in the text and write it straight away, offline; Quote, for example, wraps text in 「」.
• An image you copied within the last 5 minutes can be sent along, if the service and model accept images.

Translate and Translate as I Type Pro

• Translate: set a primary and a second language under Translation Settings. With Smart Auto Translation, text in the primary language goes into the second, and anything else into the primary; you can also choose the source and target yourself.
• Translate as I Type: tap H, choose Translate, then Translate as I Type. Write Chinese in the box above the keyboard; when you pause, the translation goes into the chat field. Tap Done when finished. Tap the chat field to edit the translation, then tap back into the box to write the next part.
• System translation: from iOS 26 you can use Apple’s offline translation with no key; download the languages first under Settings → Apps → Translate.

Themes and colors Pro

The Default and System themes are free. Hare Pro unlocks every theme and custom colors: set light and dark separately, recolor just a few keys, add a gradient or a background image from your photos, with the background fading into the system at the top and bottom edges. Export a color set as a file to share it; an imported one is saved as a new set under My Colors. Set it up under Settings → Keyboard Theme.

Sync across devices Pro

• Turn it on under Settings → Data Sync. By default it uses the Hare folder in iCloud Drive, so every device that turns on sync uses the same folder; you can pick another folder instead. It syncs whenever you open or leave Hare.
• It syncs the words you type, your input level’s character count, suggestion habits, quick phrases, key symbols, frequent symbols, recent emoji, feature switches, and your scripts, AI services and translation settings. The keyboard layout, touch learning and keyboard theme belong to each device and are not synced; service keys stay on the device.

Settings and more

Haptics and sounds

Under Settings → Haptics & Sounds, turn on key haptics, set their strength, or turn on key sounds. These need Full Access; there are no key sounds while the phone is silenced.

Interface language

The Hare app can follow the system language or use 简体中文, 繁體中文 or English. Change it under Settings → Language; it takes effect when you reopen the app.

App appearance

Under Settings → App Appearance, choose System, Light or Dark; the keyboard follows the system’s light or dark appearance.

My typing

The home screen counts the characters you’ve typed, the days you’ve used Hare, corrected slips and accepted suggestions, and works out your input level from them. Only counts are kept, never what you typed.

FAQ

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