diff --git a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardSwitcher.java b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardSwitcher.java
index dd71e9d4f..f35126750 100644
--- a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardSwitcher.java
+++ b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardSwitcher.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import com.android.inputmethod.latin.SubtypeSwitcher;
 import com.android.inputmethod.latin.WordComposer;
 import com.android.inputmethod.latin.settings.SettingsValues;
 import com.android.inputmethod.latin.utils.ResourceUtils;
+import com.android.inputmethod.latin.utils.ScriptUtils;
 
 public final class KeyboardSwitcher implements KeyboardState.SwitchActions {
     private static final String TAG = KeyboardSwitcher.class.getSimpleName();
@@ -372,6 +373,9 @@ public final class KeyboardSwitcher implements KeyboardState.SwitchActions {
     }
 
     public int getCurrentKeyboardScriptId() {
+        if (null == mKeyboardLayoutSet) {
+            return ScriptUtils.SCRIPT_UNKNOWN;
+        }
         return mKeyboardLayoutSet.getScriptId();
     }
 }
diff --git a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/utils/ScriptUtils.java b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/utils/ScriptUtils.java
index 00355c307..9ab7c7778 100644
--- a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/utils/ScriptUtils.java
+++ b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/utils/ScriptUtils.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import java.util.TreeMap;
  * A class to help with handling different writing scripts.
  */
 public class ScriptUtils {
+    // Used for hardware keyboards
+    public static final int SCRIPT_UNKNOWN = -1;
     // TODO: should we use ISO 15924 identifiers instead?
     public static final int SCRIPT_LATIN = 0;
     public static final int SCRIPT_CYRILLIC = 1;
@@ -89,6 +91,8 @@ public class ScriptUtils {
             return (codePoint >= 0x370 && codePoint <= 0x3FF)
                     || (codePoint >= 0x1F00 && codePoint <= 0x1FFF)
                     || codePoint == 0xF2;
+        case SCRIPT_UNKNOWN:
+            return true;
         default:
             // Should never come here
             throw new RuntimeException("Impossible value of script: " + script);