Key facts
- Acti has launched an AI-powered keyboard for iOS and Android.
- The keyboard allows users to take actions on their behalf within apps.
- It aims to reduce app switching by embedding AI tools directly into the user interface.
- The platform is powered by Google's Gemini models.
- Users can create custom shortcuts called Skills for multi-step tasks.
- Acti utilizes a local-first model for user privacy, keeping personal context on the device by default.
Singapore-based startup Acti has launched an AI-powered keyboard for iOS and Android, aiming to integrate AI agents directly into smartphone applications. The keyboard, named Acti, allows users to perform actions and access information without leaving their current app, addressing the fragmentation of user context across multiple applications.
According to Acti founder and CEO Young Wang, the keyboard's ability to "sit across all of them" provides a user-centric context layer, which he believes is foundational for the AI-agent era. The platform leverages Google's Gemini models for their intelligence, speed, and cost efficiency. A key feature, called Skills, enables users to program single-key shortcuts for multi-step tasks, such as translating messages or sharing meeting links.
Acti emphasizes user privacy with a local-first model, meaning personal context generally remains on the device unless a feature explicitly requires external processing. Wang, who previously scaled Baidu's Facemoji Keyboard to over 300 million daily active users, sees text as a carrier of intent that can now be translated into action, motivating the reinvention of the keyboard for the AI era.
The company plans a subscription-based revenue model for advanced features and higher usage limits. Users can create Skills by describing desired actions in plain language, and these can be kept private or shared publicly. Acti has secured $5.3 million in seed funding, led by BITKRAFT Ventures, with the team also including CTO Mike Sun and CSO Junbo Yang.