Gboard for Android is now capable of recognizing your hand-drawn emoji, no matter how shoddy they look. Which should make it easier to find the perfect emoji to sum up your feelings. This is just one of a number of improvements Google has made to its keyboard app for Android users.

Emoji have become an important part of the internet. They help us add context to comments, informing the recipients of the intended meaning. This is especially important these days, when intent is more important than ever. Which is why we love Gboard's brand new skillset.

Gboard Gets Even Better

Google has today released an update for Gboard for Android, giving the keyboard app a few new tricks up its sleeves. These improvements/new features are all available as part of Gboard for Android v6.3, which you can download from the Google Play Store right now.

First is the aforementioned ability to recognize hand-drawn emoji. Now, when you're searching for the perfect emoji, instead of scrolling through them all, you can just draw the emotion you'd like to express directly onto the screen. Gboard will suggest different emoji based on your drawing.

Gboard will also now suggest phrases when predicting what you want to type next. Until now, like most other keyboard apps, Gboard has only suggested individual words one at a time. However, suggesting common phrases could help you complete sentences with even less effort.

Last but not least, Gboard now offers even more results when you search for something. And you'll have the option to quickly and easily click through to Google Maps, watch a YouTube video, or call a business. In other words Gboard is starting to play nicely with Google's other apps.

Gboard Isn't Yet Perfect

Gboard for Android keeps on getting better, with each update improving its usefulness. Especially as it now supports 200 languages. It isn't yet perfect, but Google is clearly taking feedback and suggestions on board for future iterations. Which is all we can really ask of the company.

Do you use Gboard on your Android device? If so, what do you think of it? What new features would you like Google to add? How could Google improve Gboard? Will you be making use of Gboard's ability to recognize hand-drawn emoji?

Note that there are other Android keyboards for emojis that you may prefer to use if you're a heavy emoji user, and you should also know how to send iPhone emojis on Android.

Image Credit: Frank Behrens via Flickr