46

I don't know if this is standard ICS behavior or if it's due to my Cyanogenmod based ROM, but every time I open the soft keyboard by clicking on a text box/area a notification appears in the notification drawer that says "Select input method." I don't mind seeing this notification one time, but I'm already using the input method I want and I'd like to disable the notification.

Is this standard behavior for Ice Cream Sandwich? Can it be disabled?

4
  • Do you have an external keyboard paired/plugged in or anything of that sort? That's the only time I've seen it appear, personally. Feb 16, 2012 at 18:38
  • No I don't. I'm using just my phone and nothing else, and there's no hardware keyboard on my particular phone (Droid Bionic) Feb 16, 2012 at 18:46
  • Why do you want to disable the notification? Oct 13, 2015 at 3:23
  • Setting -> Notifications ->Android System -> Virtual keyboard; Works at least on Galaxy S10, Android 11. May 17, 2021 at 17:11

10 Answers 10

30

This is a standard 'feature' of ICS. Aside from the notification, changing input methods can be accomplished through the "language and input" section of the phone menu. If you disable and uninstall all keyboards except for one, so there is nothing else to switch to, the notification may disappear.

11
  • 1
    Unfortunately, this is true. The only way to disable it is to run a custom ICS ROM that the ability to disable it (a few do).
    – dymmeh
    Feb 16, 2012 at 20:43
  • 4
    Ha that's kinda lame. I guess I have my answer then. Feb 16, 2012 at 21:02
  • 3
    I'm not sure about stock ICS, but in CyanogenMod 9 there is a toggle that allows you to hide this notification. I will post this as a separate answer.
    – Chahk
    Jun 7, 2012 at 18:14
  • 4
    I am using alternative keyboard and can't disable the default. Which means I have two I input methods. Thus I can't get rid of notification. Sucks... Nov 9, 2012 at 20:23
  • 1
    @LiamW: Can't disable it on my Samsung S III. The checkbox in the "Language and input" (in Settings) is checked and grayed out. My phone is not rooted. Dec 18, 2012 at 12:03
22

I'm not sure about stock ICS, but in CyanogenMod 9 & 10.2 you can disable this notification by going to "Settings -> Language & input" and de-selecting the "Selector notification" option just below the list of keyboards.

4
  • I'm using CM 11 and no longer have this option :(
    – Ben
    Dec 27, 2013 at 17:00
  • 1
    @Ben CM 11 is still a work in progress. Most of the CM 10.2 features are currently being forward-ported, and should eventually re-appear. Give it some time.
    – Chahk
    Dec 27, 2013 at 19:41
  • I confirm that CM11 does have this option now, and also most ROMs that are based on it.
    – killogre
    Jun 15, 2014 at 13:45
  • 1
    This option is also present in Paranoid Android (4.6 BETA 1)
    – Rudey
    Sep 18, 2014 at 10:26
14

Go into language settings and disable(uncheck) all of the other keyboards but the one you wish to use. go to applications settings, find the "all" tab, find the other stock keyboards and disable them. restart. worked for me.

3
  • This should definitely be marked as correct answer, IMO. On my stock ICS GNexus, I did this (while leaving my Google voice keyboard option enabled), and once I restarted, the icon no longer appears. Finally!
    – Davek804
    Jun 11, 2012 at 3:03
  • Just a note, this doesn't seem to work with JB 4.2. :/
    – Cᴏʀʏ
    Apr 25, 2013 at 22:18
  • This seems to work perfectly fine on my Google Nexus 4 running Android 4.4.4. Jul 3, 2014 at 16:13
8

This is a feature in ICS and above. Its goal is to make it easy to switch input methods.

It only appears if you have more than one IME enabled. The sad thing is that if you use a non-stock keyboard this will always appear.

If you want to get rid of it simply go into

Settings -> Apps -> All (tab) 

and find the default keyboard(s). Open the entry and choose disable.

3
  • What's "the default keyboard" called? Aug 19, 2014 at 7:11
  • Google Keyboard is the name for Nexus devices for example.
    – András
    Oct 9, 2014 at 9:29
  • This worked just fine on my non-rooted phone, using (customly installed) Gboard input.
    – zrajm
    Mar 12, 2020 at 15:24
5

Yes it is standard behavior in ICS. This appears if you have more than one keyboard selected in the ICS keyboard & language settings page, which is always the case if you use a third party keyboard. Some custom roms (particularly CM9 and AOKP) allow you to disable it in their extra settings.

2

On Xperia devices you can disable this by disabling the "Smart Keyboard" option in
Settings->Xperia->Smart Keyboard.

1
  • Cannot find this on my Z5 Compact.
    – sivabudh
    May 14, 2016 at 7:32
1

Use Titanium Backup to backup, then uninstall "Android keyboard"

1
  1. You DON'T need to be rooted to do this. The "Disable" function is part of Android, it does not delete the app. Disable can also be used to turn off bloatware apps if your squeamish about rooting to get rid of them. It does however stop the app from working at all, so be sure that its not used or connected to any of the apps you use. Unlike using root and Titanium Backup to delete or "freeze" an app, Disabling will not keep you from being able to take any updates. When the update checks the app will still be there, just turned off

  2. System Settings-->Language & Input Go down to the Keyboard & Input Methods section and uncheck everything but the keyboard that you plan to use, including "Google voice typing" and "moto Chinese input" (for me that means leaving Swiftkey checked). having only one checked should stop the notification. However on the Bionic there are two input methods that the checkmark is blocked out on so you can't uncheck them: the stock keyboard and Swype. These two are what would keep the stupid notification coming back. So you need to go turn the things off manually in apps.​

  3. System Settings-->Apps-->All-->Android Keyboard (AOSP)-->Disable-->OK System Settings-->Apps-->All-->Swype-->Disable-->OK As far I know disabling these shouldn't mess with any other apps on your phone if you have another keyboard installed from the market, so don't worry about the notification that pops up when you hit "Disable".If you are worried about it...then you'll have to live with the notification. If something down the road does cause you a problem and you think this is it then just go back to apps-->all, scroll all the way down, and hit "Enable", then reboot and you should be good to go. If you use one of these two instead of a third party keyboard I'm sure you could just disable the other one and get the notification to go away.

  4. Power off and reboot your device.

  5. Open up texting and test that when you select the input field A) you don't get a notification and B) That a keyboard shows up at all :icon_eek: If you don't get a keyboard at all don't panic, there's just one more step to do.If you still get a notification go back to step one and make sure that any other keyboards are unchecked. ​

  6. System Settings-->Language & Input-->Default-->Select your keyboard (for me this is Swiftkey) Your keyboard of choice should be the only option in this list, select it and then go test to make sure everything works right.

Source

-2

Go to Settings > Language and Input and uncheck Google Voice Typing.

-3

If all else fails just disable the stock Google search (which automatically reactivates Google voice typing & therefore 'select input method') and use Google search from a downloaded app. Yahoo or Bing can also be replacement search engines.

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