Why does the bar above my custom keyboard look different on iPhone?
A plain strip sitting right above a fully themed keyboard — a Done button, arrows, a formatting row — is not part of the keyboard at all. It is drawn by the app itself, through a system feature a keyboard extension has no access to, which is also why it stays exactly the same no matter which keyboard you switch to.
The theme is doing its job everywhere you would expect — the backdrop, every key, the pressed state, right down to the corners. Then, in a thin row sitting directly above the top edge of the keys, there is a plain grey bar with a Done button, or a pair of up-and-down arrows, or a handful of formatting icons, looking exactly like it does on Apple’s own keyboard and nothing like the theme underneath it. It reads like the theme simply forgot a strip along its own top edge. It did not forget anything. That row is not part of the keyboard to begin with.
Two rows, drawn by two different pieces of code
A keyboard extension is handed an empty rectangle at the bottom of the screen and draws every key, background and colour inside it from scratch — that rectangle is the entire keyboard, theme included, and it is where a third-party keyboard’s code has full control. The strip some apps add directly above that rectangle is a separate thing: an accessory row the app itself builds, using an ordinary iOS feature meant for exactly this — a Done button to dismiss a numeric pad, arrows to jump between two fields in a form, a Send button, a row of formatting icons above a note. It sits above the keyboard on screen, but it is drawn by the app’s own code, not by the keyboard extension underneath it.
Where this row actually shows up
- A numeric or PIN field often gets a plain bar with just a Done button, since there is no return key to submit it otherwise.
- A login form or any screen with several fields in a row often adds Previous and Next arrows to that same bar, so you can jump between fields without dismissing the keyboard.
- Notes-style apps commonly add a row of formatting icons — bullet lists, indentation, a checklist toggle — directly above the keys.
- Messaging apps sometimes build their own Send button into this row rather than relying on the keyboard’s return key.
A related but separate system layer is the AutoFill suggestion strip for saved passwords, passkeys and text-message codes, covered in its own guide — it uses the same general idea of a system-drawn row above the keyboard, though it is Apple’s own feature rather than something each app builds for itself.
Why a themed keyboard cannot reach it
A keyboard extension has no way to see, let alone repaint, a view that belongs to the app hosting it. The app’s accessory row is built and owned entirely inside the app’s own code, in the same way a keyboard’s theme is built and owned entirely inside the keyboard’s own code — each side draws its own rectangle and stops at the edge of it. This is the same architecture behind why Reduce Transparency or iOS 26’s Liquid Glass reach some parts of the screen and not others: a setting or a theme only changes what the code that owns a given pixel was built to change, and a keyboard was never handed ownership of anything above its own top edge.
So a plain, unthemed bar directly above fully themed keys is not a bug in the keyboard, and it is not something the keyboard’s developer forgot to style — it is a row that keyboard was never in a position to draw in the first place, on any keyboard, third-party or Apple’s own included.
Why switching keyboards does not change it either
The row belongs to the field and the app that built it, not to whichever keyboard happens to be active underneath. Tap the globe key and move to a different keyboard, and the same Done button, the same arrows, the same formatting icons stay exactly where they were, because nothing about switching keyboards touches the app’s own view. This is the same rule that decides what an app can and cannot do to a keyboard generally: an app controls the field — what kind of input it expects, what the return key says, whether this accessory row exists at all — and none of that is a decision any keyboard gets a vote in.
How to tell this apart from other mismatched bars
- A plain bar sitting above the top row of keys, with a Done button, arrows or formatting icons in it → this is the app’s own accessory row, covered here. No keyboard, custom or Apple’s, draws or themes it.
- A thin strip that does not match the theme right at the very bottom edge of the keyboard, below the last row of keys → a different case, covered in a separate guide about the home indicator area, and one a keyboard’s own layout code can actually fix.
- A row offering a saved password, a passkey or a text-message code → the system AutoFill strip, which behaves the same way as the accessory row in that no keyboard draws it, but is a distinct Apple feature rather than something each app builds for itself.
Where Kibo fits
Kibo’s 56 themes cover the rectangle it actually owns — the keys, the backdrop, the pressed state, the corner radius — completely, the same way any well-built keyboard theme does. An accessory row a host app adds above that, a Done button on a numeric field or a formatting row in a notes app, sits outside that rectangle entirely and stays exactly as that app built it, whether Kibo, Apple’s keyboard, or any other third-party one is active underneath. Kibo’s own toolbar — the Copy word, Copy line and Paste buttons — is a different thing again: it is drawn inside the keyboard’s own rectangle, themed along with everything else, and it is the one place Full Access gets read, for the Paste and Copy actions specifically. It is free to download.
Frequently asked questions
What is the plain bar above my custom keyboard?
Almost always an accessory row the app itself built and drew — a Done button, Previous/Next arrows, or a formatting row — using a system feature meant for exactly that. It is not part of the keyboard, so a keyboard’s theme has no way to reach it.
Why doesn’t my keyboard’s theme cover that bar too?
Because the keyboard never owns it. A keyboard extension draws its own rectangle at the bottom of the screen; the accessory row above it is a separate view the host app builds and controls, and no keyboard, third-party or Apple’s own, has access to repaint someone else’s view.
Does switching to a different keyboard change that bar?
No. The row is tied to the app and the field, not to whichever keyboard happens to be active. Switching keyboards with the globe key leaves it exactly as it was.
Is this the same as the AutoFill strip for passwords?
Related, not the same. Both are drawn above the keyboard by something other than the keyboard itself, but AutoFill is a specific Apple system feature for saved credentials, while the plain accessory bar with a Done button or formatting icons is built by each individual app.
Try it on your own keyboard
Kibo is a free custom keyboard for iPhone with real mechanical key sounds, a wardrobe of themes and RGB backlight effects. No account, no ads, and it works with Full Access left off.