This is a simple Android application that allows you to access the built in settings screen to select additional input language for your Android keyboard. The primary motivation for creation of this app was the fact that the Kindle Fire does not allow you to select languages while including the secret settings panel deep inside their code. Some other manufacturers appear to have done the same.
Full credit goes to Gero Zahn who was the first person who discovered the "hidden settings panel" for languages in the Kindle Fire.
Many thanks to the users who have tried this app out, provided valuable feedback and acted as beta testers.
The easiest way to install this app is by visiting Google Market or Amazon AppStore for Android.
If you are unable to install this app from either of those places, you can do the following to install it manually:
- Enable sideloading of third party apps as follows.
- On most Android devices, select the menu button from the home screen, then "Settings", "Applications".
- On the Kindle Fire only, tap the top right corner of your home screen, select "More", "Device".
- Make sure the checkbox described "Allow installation of non-Market applications" or "Allow installation of applications from unknown sources" is checked on.
- Download the APK file from the downloads section here (download link is below the QR barcode).
- Install the app on your device by click on it in the downloads list.
Feedback and comments should be directed via email, our website or via the GitHub bug tracker.
This app has been tested on Android 2.2, 2.3, 3.2, 4.0.3 and 4.1. It also has been tested on Kindle Fire (1st and 2nd gen), and Kindle Fire HD.
On the Kindle Fire (1st gen), even though there are many languages listed as available, only the following languages actually work:
- Danish
- English UK/US
- French
- German
- Hebrew
- Norwegian
- Russian
- Serbian
- Swedish
Based on emulator testing, the following languages SHOULD be supported on the Kindle Fire (2nd gen). Please report any that do not work:
- Arabic
- Czech
- Danish
- English UK/US
- Finnish
- French and French/Switzerland
- Hebrew
- Norwegian
- Russian
- Serbian
- Spanish
- Swedish
On Kindle Fire, you may need to delete an old version of this app before reinstalling an updated version.
This application only switches the language for the keyboard. If you want to switch the language of the user interface, here is a handy program [http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1404966] available at XDA developers (we take no responsibility for it)
** As of October 27th, 2012, the latest Kindle Fire (second generation) update has wiped out almost all the languages. Details can be found here: [#4] **
The second generation Kindle adds a Swype keyboard. If you download and install the beta version of the Swype keyboard from Swype, it gives you full language support. The beta site can be found here:
ONLY USE THIS STEP IF THE SWYPE BETA DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU
The following are instructions for installing a stock Android keyboard on a rooted Kindle Fire (second generation). Please note that WE DO NOT RECOMMEND rooting your tablet, but if it happens to be rooted, you can get multiple languages as follows - make sure to backup your device first
- Using adb or a file manager, rename LatinIME.apk and LatinIME.odex in the /system/app folder to LatinIME.apk.bak and LatinIME.odex.bak. If you are using adb, you may need to remount to read/write, and then remount back.
- Download the stock 4.0 Android keyboard from the downloads section.
- Install the stock keyboard using adb install or a file manager.
- Tap on the top right corner. tap on More.., Language and Keyboard, Keyboard.
- You should be able to see Android Keyboard selected on the list.
- To be safe, reboot the Kindle.
To reverse the process, uninstall the APK file provided, and rename the two original files back to their regular names in the /system/app directory.
Full credit goes to The Android Soul for writing the guide for the Galaxy S3 which was adapted for the Kindle Fire.
There is also an alternate solution, if you wish to install a second keyboard along side the original one:
- Install the new keyboard APK file using regular tools. You can find repacked versions of the stock Android keyboard online.
- Connect to the Kindle via "adb shell" or via a terminal app on the device.
- Type "ime list" to list available keyboards.
- Type "ime enable [keyboard]" to enable the new keyboard.
- Type "ime select [keyboard]" to select the new keyboard as the default one.
- Once you do that, you can now manage keyboards using the regular Kindle keyboard settings as long as you don't uninstall the new keyboard.
Please be aware that newer Kindle updates will probably wipe these methods clean
One of the interesting aspects of the new Kindle Fire is how much Amazon had customized or simply overrode the default UI, including some of the settings pages. One issue that has come up recently is how to enable ability to use languages other than English. A fellow Kindle Fire in Germany, named Gero Zahn, managed to figure out how to do that by using two separate apps which trick the Kindle Fire to opening the input language settings UI page which while hidden still remains on the device. His approach is described in detail in the following blog post and the credit for discovering this goes to him:
[http://blog.gerozahn.de/2011/11/kindle-fire-keyboard-layouts-solved/]
I was looking for a simpler way to do this and came up with a very simple Android app using Google’s AppInventor that does just that – gives you access to the input language settings. This approach does not require installing outside applications other than this app itself. For the technically inclined, here is a short explanation of what is happening:
Actions on Android that cross application boundaries are triggering using something called “Intents“. There are two of those that trigger language settings, of which the first (com.android.settings.LanguageSettings) has been customized by Amazon to show their own keyboard options. The second is the one that actually triggers the language selection menu and is called “com.android.inputmethod.latin.InputLanguageSelection“. The action for it is called “android.intent.action.VIEW“.
The original version of this app was developed via Google's AppInventor package, as of v1.2, this is now a native Android App. The easiest way to recompile and try this app out is to use Eclipse with Android plugins. Feel free to submit requests for features or patches.
This program is licensed under the GPLv3 or later, see LICENSE file for more information about copyright and licensing.
This program was developed by Yakov Shafranovich / Shaftek Enterprises LLC.
v1.5 (5) - 10/05/2012 - Support for Kindle Fire (2nd gen) and Kindle Fire HD. Support for Android 4.0.3 (ICS) and 4.1 (JellyBean).
v1.3 (4) - 01/22/2012 - Support for Android 3.x added; open sourced via GitHub
v1.2 (3) - 01/22/2012 - App rewritten as a real Android native app, dumping the AppInventor code; support for Android 4.0 added
v1.1 (2) - 12/01/2011 - Minor manifest changes to narrow down the range of eligible devices
v1.0 (1) - 12/01/2011 - First release