Review: Aoiktye Procreate Keyboard (2nd gen)

Review unit provided by Aoiktye

Aoiktye Procreate Keyboard is a bluetooth keyboard shortcut remote designed for use with Procreate, probably the most popular drawing app on the iPad.

Official retail price is US $39.99 and this can be purchased from Aoiktye's website and Amazon. Links further below.

This is a keyboard designed to improve the productivity of artists who use Procreate. And it does a really good job.

The items included in the box are the quick start guide, a micro USB cable for charging the internal battery and the keyboard remote.

The built-in 250mAh battery is not removable. Battery life is rated up to 84 hours. A full charge requires 2 hours.

The keyboard is made of plastic. Build quality is solid enough.

The keys are at an incline when keyboard is on the table.

Four rubber feet beneath has good grip on the table.

Power switch is on the right side, micro USB charging port is at the top.

The keyboard is lightweight enough to hold in one hand comfortably for extended period of time.

I use my iPad Pro outdoors for sketching occasionally and this is not a keyboard I would bring outdoors because I need my non-drawing hand to hold the tablet. This keyboard works best at home or when you can rest the iPad Pro on the table or a stand.

There are 19 keys on the keyboard and here's what they do (top down, left to right)

- First column -
Bluetooth connection: Press and hold to get into Bluetooth pairing mode
Increase brush size
Decrease brush size
Switch colours
Shows Hue, Saturation, Brightness palette
- 2nd column -
Hide the toolbars to maximise the canvas
Shows quick menu of shortcuts
Shows colour palette
Shows selection tools
Shows colour balance palette
- 3rd column -
Shows layers palette
Paint tool, shows brush palette
Undo
Shows transform palette
Eyedropper
- 4th column -
Remove the layer - doesn't work on it's own
Eraser tool, shows eraser palette
Redo
Command button - calls up menu of shortcuts

All the shortcuts are kinda self explanatory.

All the shortcuts work well. The keys are springy, have good travel and feedback when pressed. The product works predictably and consistently.

The only button that doesn't work on its own is the "Remove Layer" button located at the top right. To clear the layer, you have to press the combination of Cmd + Remove Layer buttons.

This keyboard really helps improve productivity to make the drawing process more seamless.

This keyboard allows your left hand to access all the tools that you would normally would access with your Apple Pencil to. You can call up any palette or tool without using the Apple Pencil, especially the brush, eraser, layer buttons on the right side.

Imagine you're drawing and want to erase and get back to drawing. With the Apple Pencil, to erase, you can either tap on the eraser button, or you can double tap Apple Pencil. To paint, you tap on the paint button, or double tap Apple Pencil again. With the keyboard, you just press the keys and your Apple Pencil pen tip never leaves the spot you're drawing. It's very seamless.

The best way to describe this is to imagine drawing on your computer using a pen tablet or pen display and you can only use the pen but not the keyboard. That's obviously not very productive. But once you have the keyboard, you now have access to all the keyboard shortcuts.

The Aoiktye Procreate Keyboard works well and is just US $39.99 which is definitely worth the money. This is something I can recommend easily to artists who use Procreate often.