If you’ve ever been mid-Showdown match, watching a teammate rush a full-health Edgar without backup, you know how frustrating it is to not get a warning out fast enough. Figuring out how to type in Brawl Stars isn’t just for sending silly memes to your squad after a win—it’s one of the most underrated tools for climbing ranks and making casual play way more fun. Most players don’t realize there are small tweaks you can make to cut down on typing time, avoid typos, and even get around the game’s strict chat filters when you need to. I’ve spent three years playing Brawl Stars across every rank tier, and I’ve tested every trick in the book to make in-game typing as painless as possible. This guide breaks down everything you need to know, from basic setup to hidden hacks most players never find.
How to Type in Brawl Stars: Basic Setup for All Devices
First, let’s cover the basics so you don’t waste time fumbling for the chat box mid-fight. During any match, you can open the chat by tapping the small speech bubble icon in the top left corner of your screen, right next to the player list. By default, chat is only enabled for friends and club members, but you can turn on match chat with randoms in the Privacy and Social settings menu if you want. Just know that opening chat to strangers means you might run into toxic messages, so toggle that setting on only if you’re comfortable ignoring unneeded negativity.
There are two quick setup tweaks that will make your typing experience 10x better before you even send your first message. First, enable quick chat first and customize your default phrases before you jump into a match. The generic pre-set phrases are almost useless for actual team play, so swapping them out for strategy-focused lines takes less than a minute and saves you so much time later. Second, disable in-game chat vibration because it will throw off your aim mid-match if you get a reply while you’re in the middle of a fight. If you play on an emulator, you can also map a keyboard key to open the chat box so you don’t have to click the icon with your mouse, which cuts 2-3 seconds off every time you need to send a message.
Top Shortcuts to Cut Typing Time During Matches
Every second counts in Brawl Stars, so typing full sentences is almost never a good idea during active play. Even if you’re a fast typist, spending 5 seconds typing a full paragraph means you’re not focusing on the map, avoiding enemy attacks, or collecting objectives. The best players rely on short, universally understood shorthand to get their point across in 1-2 words, no full sentences required.
The Brawl Stars community has settled on a set of common shorthand terms that almost all regular players will recognize, even if you’re matched with randoms from another region. These are the most useful ones to memorize first:
- Obj: Short for objective, used to tell teammates to focus on the gem mine, safe, or bounty star instead of chasing random enemies across the map
- Ret: Short for retreat, used to warn teammates they’re walking into a trap or outmatched by the enemy team’s composition
- Low: Lets your team know you’re at 20% health or less and need backup, healing, or space to back off and regenerate
- Ult up: Tells your squad you have your super ability charged and are ready to use it for a push or defense
If you play regularly with a club team or group of friends, you can also make up your own custom shorthand for specific strategies you use often. For example, my club uses "bot focus" to remind everyone to target the Siege bot instead of enemy players, which has won us so many close matches. Just don’t make your custom terms so obscure that random teammates you get paired with have no idea what you’re talking about.
How to Avoid Chat Filters and Common Typing Mistakes
Brawl Stars has a very strict chat filter to keep the game family-friendly, which means a lot of harmless, strategy-related terms get blocked for no reason. For example, typing "throw" to call out a teammate who’s making mistakes that cost the match will get blocked automatically, so most players type "thrw" instead to get around the filter. That said, never use offensive language even if you think you can get around the filter. Multiple players reporting you for toxic chat can lead to a temporary or permanent chat ban, and in extreme cases, even a full account ban.
The most common typing mistake I see players make is typing while they’re standing in the open, which makes them an easy target for snipers like Piper or Brock. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve knocked out an enemy who was too busy typing a complaint to notice I was standing right next to them with a charged Colt super. Another easy mistake to avoid is double check who you’re sending the message to before you hit send. It’s way too easy to accidentally send a joke meant for your club to the enemy team, or send a frustrated message to your friends list instead of the match chat.
If you’re prone to typos, stick to 1-2 word messages instead of full sentences. You don’t need to write a whole paragraph explaining why your team should push left; just type "push left" and everyone will get the point. You can also turn off auto-correct for Brawl Stars in your phone’s keyboard settings, since auto-correct often changes common character names like "Edgar" to "editor" or "Byron" to "byron" which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but can confuse your team when you’re trying to warn them about an incoming attacker.
When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Type During Matches
A lot of players write off in-game typing entirely as a waste of time, but that’s not true. There are specific times when typing a quick message can win you the match, and times when typing will definitely make you lose. The best times to type are during the 10-second pre-match countdown, when you can tell your team what your plan is, or when you’re respawning, since you have 3-5 seconds where you can’t do anything else anyway. For example, if you’re playing a support Brawler like Poco, typing "I’ll heal, push with me" right before the match starts lets your team know they don’t have to play as cautiously.
There are also times when you should never type, no matter how important you think your message is. Don’t type when you’re holding 10 gems in Gem Grab, when you’re carrying the ball in Brawl Ball, or when you’re the last player alive in Showdown. In those moments, even a 2-second distraction can cost you the entire match. If you’re in a high-stakes ranked match, stick to quick chat only unless you’re respawning. It’s not worth risking a rank up just to type a snarky comment to the enemy team.
For fast-paced modes like Siege or Hot Zone, you almost never have time to type at all, so rely entirely on your pre-set quick chat options for those game types. I’ve seen too many teams lose a Siege match because one player was too busy typing to defend the IKE from the enemy bot. If you really need to have a longer conversation with your team, save it for after the match ends in the post-game lobby, when you’re not risking a loss.
At the end of the day, learning how to type in Brawl Stars is all about balance. You don’t need to be a fast typist to get value out of in-game chat—you just need to know what to say, when to say it, and how to say it as quickly as possible. Try out the shortcuts and settings tweaks from this guide in your next few casual matches, and you’ll be surprised how much better your team coordination gets. Just remember to keep your messages short, positive, and focused on winning, and you’ll never have to worry about typing costing you a match again.