Pixel 6 loses Gboard ‘Grammar check’ feature exclusivity

When the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro officially launched almost four months ago, they came with some exclusive features that none of the older Pixels – nor any other Android phones – had. One of these was the “Grammar check” feature on Gboard that underlines any detected grammar issues in real-time as you type. This blue underline could be tapped on to display a grammatically correct replacement.

However, an eagle-eyed Redditor found that this feature is now working on a Pixel 5 with the setting to toggle it on and off available in Gboard settings > Text Correction > Grammar check. I was unable to replicate this on a Pixel 3a even though the setting toggle is there and turned on. However, other publications have reported having been able to do so, which makes me think this may still be rolling out.

What makes this feature unique is that it runs strictly on-device using AI. Tony Mak and Simon Tong, Software Engineer and Principal Engineer of Google Research respectively, wrote:

Gboard on Pixel 6 works entirely on-device to preserve privacy, detecting and suggesting corrections for grammatical errors while the user is typing. Building such functionality required addressing a few key obstacles: memory size limitations, latency requirements, and handling partial sentences. Currently, the feature is capable of correcting English sentences (we plan to expand to more languages in the near future) and available on almost any app with Gboard.

This feature reminds me of what Grammarly currently offers and it will be really nice to see it spread out to more than just Pixel devices, hopefully with a future Gboard update. We’ll be keeping an eye on it and let you know when we begin to see this become more widely available.