SwiftKey Keyboard for iOS Updated With Emoji, Flow Typing on iPad

[MacRumors]

SwiftKey is one of the most popular third-party keyboard options on iOS, and today it received a major update adding a highly requested feature -- emoji. Emoji can be accessed by tapping on the smiley at the bottom of the keyboard, and there's also a new predictive emoji tool that learns the most frequently used emoji and suggests them while typing.

We've built emoji right into SwiftKey Keyboard so you can now express yourself when words don't quite cut it. Just as it learns the words and phrases that matter to you, SwiftKey also learns and predicts which emoji you use most often so you can spend less time looking for that perfect smiley (or slice of pizza -- whatever you're into).

Using a lot of emoji in text will cause emoji to pop up more frequently in the word prediction box, making it easier to insert fun characters into text.

Today's update also includes SwiftKey Flow for the iPad, a feature that was previously limited to the iPhone. With SwiftKey Flow, it's possible to type faster via swiping on the screen. Finally, there are also 11 new languages available in SwiftKey, including Bulgarian, Croatian, Greek, Hinglish, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, and Turkish.

SwiftKey Keyboard for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Article Link: SwiftKey Keyboard for iOS Updated With Emoji, Flow Typing on iPad

 

[Traverse]

I'ved tried several third party keyboards (my favorite being Flesky), but I always end up back with the default Apple keyboard. 3rd party implementation is still buggy, still poses a privacy concern (albeit mild), and I've honestly never had an issues using the stock keyboard.

 

[joshuaclinton]

Now just needs dictation and I'll be all set!

 

[bushido]

thank god now I don't have to keep switching back and forth to the stupid laggy default keyboard to use emoji.

 

[RMo]

On the iPhone and iPod touch, emoji was all that I missed, though I used them rarely and didn't mind switching keyboards to do so. On iPad, I really missed the Swype-style typing, so much that I actually got Swype to do so (which can also do at least some emoji, though you kind of need to know what you're looking for). I liked SwiftKey better in most other respects, so I'm glad to see I can use it on the iPad now, too. Hope it doesn't still mess up on iPhone-size apps on iPad, though.

 

[scrmtrey]

Still no Slovenian lang.

 

[misterc0w]

Why not Nintype?

It costs money, I know and it's a bit more complicated, but such a joy to type/swipe with both thumbs once you get the hang of it.

It has become my default keyboard.

 

[bushido]

It costs money, I know and it's a bit more complicated, but such a joy to type/swipe with both thumbs once you get the hang of it.

It has become my default keyboard.

ive tried that but the settings menu is soooooo big and all over the place i had no idea and no desire to read through all of that to even understand what to do. its like you need a tutorial to understand the settings alone

 

[djtech42]

I don't understand why Apple doesn't allow you to just add additional functionality to the stock keyboard instead of having to design everything from scratch.

 

[gigapocket1]

Best third party keyboard is nintype. By far!

 

[thefunmachine69]

I like Fleksy much better. What I don't like about these third party keyboards, is the fact that you have to switch back to the default keyboard to be able to use the dictation feature of iOS. So most of the time I just use the stock keyboard.

 

[CrAkD]

I'm all done with 3rd party keyboards until apple fixes the implementation. I want to smash my 6+ in s million pieces everytime I need to type something and the keyboard doesn't pop out.

 

[gogogut]

I decided not to use SwiftKey when released due to all the privacy concerns. What is the update on that? Still concerns or worth just activating all the features for the best experience?

 

[TsunamiTheClown]

These Emoji still look pretty racist to me.

 

[Chatter]

Now just needs dictation and I'll be all set!

YES please!

 

[xraydoc]

I was a big fan of SwiftKey on Android. Very glad it's steadily improved on iOS.

It previously wasn't quite ready for full-time use (missed key click sound, failed to pop up some times, etc.) but I'm giving it another go with this new update.

Spent about 15 minutes with it composing some emails and entering URLs and so far it's been performing quite well.

I did attempt to enter a iTunes store review on it, but the form is coming up blank with this keyboard selected (haven't yet tried it with stock). This, however, I'm blaming on an iOS bug and not a SwiftKey bug.

What I'd like to have with SwiftKey, though I don't know if iOS exposes an API for it, is haptic feedback instead of audible key click.

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YES please!

I think I read Apple is restricting this unfortunately.

 

[blairh]

Sounds like they haven't addressed all the bugs that make Swiftkey borderline impossible to use smoothly? It's the single worst thing about the iPhone IMO.

 

[avanpelt]

Apple's implementation of third-party keyboard support has been sloppy, at best.

It's almost like Apple is being passive-aggressive with their users:

"You want third-party keyboards? We told you that we make the best keyboard and now we're going to prove it to you! Want to use dictation with third-party keyboards? Sorry, you can't do that. Want the third-party keyboard to pop up reliably every time you tap a text field? Not gonna happen. Want the text input from the third-party keyboard to be able to reliably fill out web forms? Not a chance in hell. Here, users, are the third-party keyboards you've whined about for years. But guess what? The experience sucks just like we told you it would; but hey, at least you got what you wanted!"

Of course, we didn't get what we wanted. I'm cautiously optimistic that iOS 9 will fix the third-party keyboard issues and finally let us modify which apps are the defaults for certain tasks. We'll see...

 

[solamar]

w/o dictation, all 3rd party keyboards are useless to me. I use that more than the keyboard these days.

 

[lars666]

Would prefer SwiftKey over Swype, but SwiftKey doesn't automatically place a space after a comma or period. Heaven knows why not ...

 

[mattopotamus]

Would prefer SwiftKey over Swype, but SwiftKey doesn't automatically place a space after a comma or period. Heaven knows why not ...

Are you sure it is not in the settings? For android phones it is in the swiftkey settings.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I am enjoying the emoji bar I have in Nintype. Yes, it is crazy complicated to setup, but once you do it, it's a blast to use. I have one bar for numbers, then one bar for my favorite emoji, then another for markdown shortcuts. I'm also using the globe button to automatically insert the date, and have some other shortcuts within the shift key. I moved a lot of my TextExpander shortcuts to be within the letters too. There is a specific bit that you can write so it moves to the next line in a shortcut, but I haven't messed with that yet.

Needless to say, it replaced the majority of the keyboards I was interested in using.

I wish it had iCloud syncing and had a library of little pictures to represent shortcuts though. But that's not really an issue in general.

I have used SwiftKey on Android. I wish the iOS version was more like it. That's why I ended up deleting it when it first came out.

 

[lars666]

Are you sure it is not in the settings? For android phones it is in the swiftkey settings.

Unfortunately not in the settings of the iOS. (Or, if yes, I am totally blind.) I can't see any rational argument why SwiftKey is set this way by the programmers as there's no instance in our language where there is NO space after a comma ...

 

[NavySEAL6]

I don't like that it requires full access.

Is that risky?

 

[star-affinity]

I don't like that it requires full access.

Is that risky?

I think they seem pretty honest about it here:

https://support.swiftkey.com/hc/en-us/articles/201466641

I'm not worried at least.


I do agree that it should be a bit les buggy when it comes to not always showing up, but it hasn't happened to me so far with this latest version.

It's nice to be able to both tap and swipe.
The gripes I have still are:

•No Undo/Redo button on the iPad version.
•No dictation button (one has to switch to Apple's keyboard to use that).
•SwiftKey isn't always coming up as the keyboard when one switches to an app, even if it was the keyboard you used last. A bit inconsistent.

But maybe some of these problems are because of iOS and not SwitfKey?
Overall, I like SwiftKey a lot. I'm using the brighter theme ”Nickel Light” that more resembles Apple's keyboard.