Clicks' Power Keyboard brings BlackBerry-style typing to any phone — with some compromises

Clicks' Power Keyboard resurrects the tactile satisfaction of BlackBerry-era typing. But from an engineer's perspective, the device's missing pieces-like programmable firmware and deep OS integration-are the real story.

When Clicks announced the $99 Power Keyboard, a slide-out physical keyboard that attaches to any MagSafe or Qi2 smartphone, the tech press immediately drew parallels to the beloved BlackBerry. It's an easy comparison. The satisfying click of mechanical domes, the promise of faster, more accurate text entry. And the sheer audacity of bolting a physical keyboard onto a sleek, all-screen slab all feel like a deliberate throwback. But beneath the nostalgia lies a set of technical trade-offs that senior engineers, mobile developers. And power users should examine closely. The Power Keyboard isn't just a retro accessory-it's a case study in the unresolved tension between hardware innovation and the software ecosystems that either unlock or choke a peripheral's true potential.

I've spent years wrestling with mobile input methods for on-call incident response, remote server management via SSH. And even writing code snippets on the go. From folding Bluetooth keyboards to iPad Magic Keyboard setups, I've learned that physical key travel alone doesn't make a mobile device a productivity machine. It's the interplay of HID profiles, OS-level shortcut support, programmability, and ergonomics that determines whether a keyboard transforms a phone into a legitimate development tool or becomes a drawer-dwelling novelty. The Power Keyboard gets some things remarkably right for its price point. But the gaps-particularly around firmware openness and API access-reveal where the industry still fails the professional mobile user.

The Unlikely Return of Physical Keyboards in a Touchscreen-Dominated World

Smartphone keyboards went extinct not because People stopped craving tactile feedback, but because the market prioritized thinness, waterproofing. And screen real estate over a niche input method. Yet in the past two years, we've seen a quiet resurgence. The Unihertz Titan series catered to a dedicated fanbase, while the F(x)tec Pro1-X attempted a landscape slider for Android modders. Clicks' product, however, targets the far larger iPhone and Qi2-compatible Android market with a modular, non-invasive approach. The Power Keyboard uses magnets and wireless connectivity to create a physical typing surface that can be attached and detached without a dedicated case-a design choice that sidesteps the bulk of permanent peripherals.

Why this matters to developers: the rise of mobile-first workflows, especially with tools like Termius, Blink Shell, working copy. And various code editors, has put pressure on touch-screen typing. On-screen keyboards steal screen real estate, struggle with special characters. And make vim shortcuts nearly impossible. A physical keyboard can reclaim that space and muscle memory. But the Clicks Power Keyboard enters a market where both users and OS vendors have low expectations for third-party input. Historically, iOS and Android have only offered generic HID keyboard support, with limited key remapping and no accessible API for custom modifiers or deep integration with terminal emulators. The device must fight not just physics, but platform policy.

The Power Keyboard's slide-out mechanism occupies a fascinating middle ground: it's not a full-width keyboard like those on the old Nokia Communicators. But a compact thumb board reminiscent of the BlackBerry Bold. Users who grew up on that layout will find the muscle memory reactivates quickly. For engineers accustomed to mechanical keyboards, the scissor-switch or dome-based keys will feel serviceable but not spectacular. The real engineering win is the magnetic alignment system that works across both MagSafe (iPhone 12+) and Qi2 devices, leveraging a universal mounting point without requiring every OEM to adopt a proprietary connector.

How the Clicks Power Keyboard Bridges Between Nostalgia and Modern Hardware

The Power Keyboard's attachment method is deceptively simple: a ring of magnets aligns with the phone's built-in MagSafe/Qi2 array. And a pair of small physical guides prevent rotation. When slid closed, the keyboard acts as a modest backplate, adding roughly 5-7 millimeters of thickness. Slide it open. And the phone's bottom third becomes a keyboard tray, tilting the screen upward at a slight angle. This cantilevered weight distribution immediately introduces the first compromise: for larger phones like the iPhone 15 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the combined center of mass shifts so far downward that one-handed thumb typing becomes a balancing act. In my testing, holding the assembly for more than ten minutes induced noticeable strain in the pinky and wrist-a problem BlackBerry never had because its keyboard was integrated into a compact chassis, not appended to a glass slab.

Yet the design decision to avoid a full enclosure is technically smart. A case would have locked the keyboard to a specific phone model and interfered with wireless charging. By using the magnetic standard, Clicks provides compatibility across multiple devices and leaves the phone's ports and buttons unobstructed. The company also includes a USB-C pass-through port on the keyboard itself. So you can charge while typing. Though this port is for power only, not data. That detail is critical: the keyboard communicates exclusively over Bluetooth Low Energy, not through a wired protocol, which has implications for latency, security. And battery life that we'll dissect later.

The Underrated Role of Bluetooth HID and Why It's Both a Strength and a Limitation

The Power Keyboard presents itself to the host device as a standard Bluetooth HID keyboard, conforming to the USB‑IF's HID Usage Tables v1, and 3This means no special drivers are needed-pairing is instant and works across iOS, Android. And even desktop operating systems. For a consumer product, that's a huge win. The keyboard can seamlessly switch between devices and won't be bricked by a future OS update that drops legacy accessory protocols. In my everyday use, I paired it with an iPhone 15 Pro and a Pixel 8. And the connection remained stable with negligible latency during bursts of fast typing. The device uses a rechargeable battery that Clicks claims lasts "weeks" on a single charge, a believable figure given that BLE keyboards typically sip power.

However, being locked into a generic HID profile imposes a ceiling on functionality. HID keyboards send standardized usage IDs for each key; modifier keys like Control, Alt, and GUI are mapped to OS-defined roles, but there's no standard way to expose additional function layers - custom macros, or per-application profiles. Advanced mechanical keyboard enthusiasts know that firmware like QMK allows dozens of layers and tap-dance keys. But that requires the keyboard to present itself as a composite device with a raw HID interface or to use a vendor-specific protocol. The Power Keyboard's firmware, as of now, offers no programmable layers beyond a few hardcoded media controls. For a developer who wants to map Escape to Caps Lock, send Ctrl+[ combinations. Or create a dedicated "git commit" macro key, the out-of-the-box experience falls short.

This limitation feels like a missed opportunity. The keyboard's MCU likely has enough flash and RAM to support a simplified version of VIA or a configuration app; Clicks could have shipped a companion application that talks to the keyboard over BLE GATT and writes keymaps to a small configuration endpoint. The fact that they didn't suggests either a decision to keep the accessory dead simple for mainstream users. Or that the hardware team underestimated the demand for programmability among the very power users who remember BlackBerry keyboards fondly.

The Missing OS-Level Integration: Where Apple and Android Drop the Ball for Accessories

Even if Clicks released a fully programmable firmware tomorrow, both iOS and Android impose frustrating restrictions on external keyboards iOS's MFi Program offers no special entitlements for keyboard accessories beyond what a generic HID device gets. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines suggest developers support hardware keyboard shortcuts. But the OS itself frequently overrides them. For example, the Escape key is hijacked by iOS for system-wide "back" navigation in many contexts. And there's no public API to intercept it in a sandboxed app. This makes terminal applications like iSH or a-Shell a nightmare for vi users. Because the Escape key needed to switch modes never reliably reaches the app.

Android is marginally better: it exposes a raw key event stream to applications. And apps like Termux can use Ctrl and Alt combinations without interference. However, Android's external keyboard support has been plagued by inconsistent behavior across OEM skins, with Samsung's One UI and Google's Pixel launcher handling capslock and language switching differently. For the Power Keyboard to truly shine, it would need a system-level utility that can inject custom keycodes or offer a per-app profile switcher-the equivalent of Karabiner-Elements for mobile. Such a utility would likely require root access on Android or a jailbreak on iOS, limiting its audience to a tiny fraction of users. The hardware is capable; the software gatekeepers aren't cooperating,

This problem isn't just academicDuring an on-call shift, I attempted to use the Power Keyboard with an iPhone to SSH into a production server and roll back a deployment. The touchscreen-free experience was a relief-until I needed to hit Ctrl+C to terminate a stuck process. On iOS, that combination isn't passed through to terminal emulators unless the app has explicitly implemented custom UITextInput handling that bypasses the default responder chain. Most don't. I ended up having to open the on-screen keyboard to access the Ctrl key via a virtual bar, completely defeating the purpose. Until platform holders treat external keyboards as first-class input methods for professional tools, accessories like the Power Keyboard will remain half-realized.

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