Compact mechanical keyboards are everywhere lately — watch enough TikTok, and it won’t be long before you spot their bold custom colors and satisfyingly loud clacks. Logitech is capitalizing on this trend with the Pop Keys, a tiny, typewriter-like keyboard that blends a cute aesthetic with a mix of fun and genuinely useful features.
The Pop Keys feels great to type on after some getting used to, and its surprisingly robust emoji keys and multi-device support make it more than just a fun novelty. But is it worth the $99? Here’s what I think after a few days of living with Logitech’s eye-catching keyboard.
The who, what and how
Who it’s for: If you want a compact mechanical keyboard and you value aesthetics as much as you do functionality, the $99 Logitech Pop Keys is for you. Its design is perfect for younger folks or those who simply love colorful tech, and its programmable keys and multi-device support make it a solid fit for the home office.
What you need to know: Pop Keys stands out with a variety of special features for both staying productive and just having fun. Its five programmable emoji keys can also be customized to perform just about any other function on your computer. The Pop Keys also lets you pair to and switch between three devices at once, making it useful for folks who use multiple devices throughout the day. Just note that it’ll take some getting used to if you have big hands or are coming from a larger keyboard.
How it compares: The Pop Keys is roughly on par with other compact mechanical keyboards in terms of price — sitting somewhere in between popular options like the $89 Keychron K2 and the $129 Vortex Tab 75 TKL. It’s not the only keyboard of its kind with multi-device support (you can get similar functionality on cheap nonmechanical models like the $29 Logitech K380), but its programmable emoji keys help set it apart from competitors.
A fun design built for the TikTok generation
It’s hard not to admire just how adorable the Logitech Pop Keys keyboard is. Blending the circular keys of an old-school typewriter with the vibrant keyboard aesthetic that’s all over TikTok, this cute, compact accessory feels tailor-made for Gen Z — or adults like myself who just like colorful things.
Pop Keys comes in three attractive variations: Daydream, which blends pleasant pastel colors like lilac, yellow and mint green; Blast, an aggressive yellow-and-black model that reminds me of Bumblebee from Transformers; and Heartbreaker, which features various shades of red and pink. It’d be nice if Logitech offered a few more hues or at least a set of swappable keycaps, but the existing color options are nice — especially the Daydream unit I’ve been testing.
There are few things I enjoy more than the satisfying clack of a mechanical keyboard, and I’m happy to say that Logitech mostly delivers in that department here. Its typewriter-like keys offer lots of travel, and each keystroke delivers a nice springy thwack — a sound that I personally love but one that might drive your housemates or fellow office workers up the wall. Those coming from a typical laptop keyboard might need some time to get used to the Pop Keys’ deep, loudly snappy keys, but I generally find mechanical models to be more comfortable and enjoyable to use.
However, as someone coming from large gaming keyboards like the Logitech G815, using the Pop Keys definitely came with a slight learning curve. Because the keys are so much smaller than what I normally use, I frequently found myself making accidental keystrokes and creating some pretty funny typos during my first few days with it. If you’re already coming from a compact mechanical keyboard, this may not be as big a deal for you. I also wish the Pop Keys offered some sort of height adjustment, as it lays a bit too flat for my liking compared to the more angled keyboards I typically use. Still, once I got the hang of things, I found the Pop Keys comfortable and enjoyable to use throughout long days of work and chatting with friends over Discord.
The extra keys are awesome — and not just for emoji
The Pop Keys keyboard looks cute and feels nice, but it really stands out when it comes to special features. The first thing you’ll likely notice on Logitech’s keyboard are the five dedicated emoji keys on the right, which allow you to, say, send a hearts-for-eyes face to your crush or a tearful laughter face to your group chat with a single click.
You can program what these keys do in the Logitech Options app for Windows and Mac, and Logitech even includes four swappable keycaps for the fire, heart, thumbs up and prayer emoji so that your keyboard can match exactly what you’re sending out. But quick access to emoji is just scratching the surface of what these buttons can do.
Dig a little deeper into the Options app and you’ll find the ability to program each emoji key to do, well, just about anything. These keys can be assigned productivity controls like copy and paste, media controls for playing and pausing, and even platform-specific features, such as summoning Cortana or switching apps in Windows. This is a genuinely useful feature — one that I’ve been using for easy one-button access to Task View when I need to jump between apps.
A smaller touch that I appreciate are the Pop Keys’ function buttons, which provide shortcuts to things such as taking screenshots, muting your mic and minimizing all of your Windows in addition to the volume and media controls you’ll find on most keyboards. The function row is also where you can instantly switch between up to three paired devices, which is one of the Pop Keys’ absolute best features.
Multi-device support for easy productivity
Logitech’s keyboard offers two forms of connectivity: a wireless USB transmitter and Bluetooth support, which makes it easy to pair to multiple gadgets at once. After connecting to my Windows 10 desktop via USB and pairing the Pop Keys to my iPhone 12 Pro and MacBook Pro via Bluetooth, I was delighted by how easy it was to switch between all three with a quick tap. I was able to type on each device the second I switched over, and was especially pleased to find that certain controls (such as screenshots and volume control) even worked on my iPhone and Galaxy Note 10+.
If you use multiple computers, tablets or phones throughout the day for work or content creation, the Pop Keys multi-device support is a great bonus that allows Logitech’s cute keyboard to double as a genuine productivity tool.
It’s worth noting that the keyboard is powered by two included AAA batteries and is rated to last three years before you have to replace them — a strong claim that I’ll need just a little more time to put to the test. I don’t see the Pop Keys’ batteries running out anytime soon, but I would have liked the keyboard to be rechargeable over USB at this price.
Bottom line
The Logitech Pop Keys is a great entry point for folks looking to get in on the compact mechanical keyboard trend. It’s got a colorful aesthetic you can show off to all of your social media followers, but it backs it up with comfortable, satisfying keys and a whole host of useful features. Being able to easily spam emoji is good fun, but the Pop Keys’ programmable buttons and multi-device support also make it a worthy addition to your home office.
If you don’t care about having a trendy mechanical keyboard, our top keyboard pick in the $99 Logitech MX Keys costs the same and offers a full-size layout with many of the same pairing features. Folks on a budget can also check out our low-cost pick in the $29 K380, which is similarly compact with multi-device support. And if you want a cleaner, more minimalist design, you can look at the popular $89 Keychron K2 mechanical keyboard.
But if you’re looking to add a vibrant, clackety keyboard with lots of cool extras to your desk — or your TikTok feed —? there’s a lot to love about Logitech’s tiny typewriter.
