Lol. Some of us can't even get the 3rd party keyboards to work in Messages app at all. Fine elsewhere - not messages, reminders, or notes! There's something borked somewhere.
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iOS Custom Keyboard Megathread
- Thread starter Shawzborne
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Lol. Some of us can't even get the 3rd party keyboards to work in Messages app at all. Fine elsewhere - not messages, reminders, or notes! There's something borked somewhere.
Quite honestly, not having dictation is a feature to me. I never use it, and I hate when I accidentially press it and get the annoying sound. If I could disable it somehow I would.
Are there any 3rd party keyboards that have the look and feel of a more Android-like keyboard? I like the fact that when I press the shift key, the letters actually go from lower case to upper case. And the long-hold option to access the character keys on the second keyboard page is also another option I heavily use (though somewhat less now that I have a G3 and it has an extra row on the main keyboard with numbers).
I put SwiftKey on my Touch, but I can't see any real benefits over the stock keyboard. Though I suppose the cloud feature could come in handy if you use multiple devices frequently. Swype doesn't interest me, I am used to pressing each key individually. I just want visible case changes on the keyboard and long hold for characters.
I put SwiftKey on my Touch, but I can't see any real benefits over the stock keyboard. Though I suppose the cloud feature could come in handy if you use multiple devices frequently. Swype doesn't interest me, I am used to pressing each key individually. I just want visible case changes on the keyboard and long hold for characters.
I know exactly what you mean, i had iOS 8 GM Installed from last week and had so many problems getting the 3rd Party Keyboards to Work and download yesterday
Swiftkey works in the messages app for me but I don't like that it reverts to the original iOS keyboard after time.
What is the best keyboard with voice dictation? Kinda would suck to have to keep switching back and forth keyboards, I don't see any on the first post that have the little microphone symbol, except one that has Dragon. Any ones using native?
*****OOps, forgot to look at the forum first, didn't think someone already would've answered the question.*****
*****OOps, forgot to look at the forum first, didn't think someone already would've answered the question.*****
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I'm personally fine with stock keyboard. There's a lag/glitch when I try changing to a 3rd party keyboard and they look weird. Most importantly I see no performance/ efficiency boost since I'm pretty fast and accurate.
Swipe is faster if you regularly type with one hand, if you type with 2 hands in standard keyboard and 1 hand on swipe it's about the same speed.
Has anyone noticed that when using any of the 3rd party keyboards the speech to text key/feature is missing?
With Swype it takes literally one button to get back to default keyboard though. Then one button to get back to Swype. Simple enough to get to dictation key when you need it. Meh.
I've been using swiftkey a bit and am definitely enjoying it so far, but I've noticed that apps that use the Send button normal keyboard don't seem to work, I never get a send, or equivalent button with swiftkey. Anybody else seeing this?
I want to love Swiftkey but my phone keeps switching back to the default keyboard at random times.....Ugh!
Not sure if this will help anyone else, but I found this over on the Apple support forums.
Go to Settings - General - Accessibility
Towards the bottom you'll see a setting for Guided Access. Set this to Off. Your third-party keyboards should now work as expected.
I couldn't get Swype to even show up but once I turned that setting off, it worked fine. Hope that helps!
Go to Settings - General - Accessibility
Towards the bottom you'll see a setting for Guided Access. Set this to Off. Your third-party keyboards should now work as expected.
I couldn't get Swype to even show up but once I turned that setting off, it worked fine. Hope that helps!
I went and turned off the stock Apple keyboard in the settings so now its just SwiftKey and emoji and now I get SwiftKey first every time!
When I need to enter passwords the stock Apple keyboard just pops up like normal even with it turned off in the settings.
Here's a tip to hopefully save a lot of grief to people using 3rd party keyboards:
You can EDIT your SETTINGS(app)/General/Keyboard/Keyboards settings to move the keyboard you wish to use most up to the top of the list. That makes it your default keyboard.
You can then either cycle through the other keyboards with the Globe key at the bottom-left of your spacebar, OR go ballistic and remove the other keyboards once and for all so that only the 3rd party keyboard is left.
You can EDIT your SETTINGS(app)/General/Keyboard/Keyboards settings to move the keyboard you wish to use most up to the top of the list. That makes it your default keyboard.
You can then either cycle through the other keyboards with the Globe key at the bottom-left of your spacebar, OR go ballistic and remove the other keyboards once and for all so that only the 3rd party keyboard is left.
My two cents:
Swype
+ Swiping is accurate
+ Shortcuts for punctuation and numbers are great
+ After connecting to a few services, suggestions much better than stock
+ Don't need to add words to my customer dictionary because it learned them from Gmail and Evernote
- Can't type regularly with it whatsoever (personally), much worse than stock or SwiftKey
- Dislike lack of visual feedback about the actual word I'm currently swiping, only shows alternatives until releasing
- Kind of ugly, IMO. The default flat keys they use on Android are much nicer
SwiftKey
+ Swiping and regular typing both accurate, can switch between them without feeling like I need to switch keyboards
+ Like the obvious, centered visual of the word it's currently guessing for my swipe
- More private but more manual learning process for custom words
- Fewer shortcuts
- Seems buggier so far, some wonky backspace and return key behavior
Conclusion
~ SwiftKey is the better choice for anybody who plans to regularly switch between keying and swiping.
~ Swype is potentially better for those dedicated to swiping due to shortcuts
~ Note that Swype uses the suggested words line to offer you corrections/alternatives first whereas SwiftKey defaults possible next words unless you hit backspace first
Swype
+ Swiping is accurate
+ Shortcuts for punctuation and numbers are great
+ After connecting to a few services, suggestions much better than stock
+ Don't need to add words to my customer dictionary because it learned them from Gmail and Evernote
- Can't type regularly with it whatsoever (personally), much worse than stock or SwiftKey
- Dislike lack of visual feedback about the actual word I'm currently swiping, only shows alternatives until releasing
- Kind of ugly, IMO. The default flat keys they use on Android are much nicer
SwiftKey
+ Swiping and regular typing both accurate, can switch between them without feeling like I need to switch keyboards
+ Like the obvious, centered visual of the word it's currently guessing for my swipe
- More private but more manual learning process for custom words
- Fewer shortcuts
- Seems buggier so far, some wonky backspace and return key behavior
Conclusion
~ SwiftKey is the better choice for anybody who plans to regularly switch between keying and swiping.
~ Swype is potentially better for those dedicated to swiping due to shortcuts
~ Note that Swype uses the suggested words line to offer you corrections/alternatives first whereas SwiftKey defaults possible next words unless you hit backspace first
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wait wut? how do you turn off the apple keyboard in settings?!?
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omg nevermind i figured it out, just hit the "edit" button
I've noticed that the iOS versions of third party keyboards do not pack all of the functions and features of their Android counterpart. I suspect that the developers had to only focus on making the keyboards ready for release on day 1, so some things had to be cut. I fully expect that over time, the iOS versions will gain the languages, functions and features of their Android counterparts. I just don't know how long we have to wait for that to happen.
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If you have been using the iOS keyboard for a while, switching to a different keyboard will involve some learning curve. You will at first find typing on any new keyboard to be slower than what you are used to. I've been using Android keyboards (Kii and SwiftKey) for over a year. When I started using an iPhone and the iOS keyboard, it took some time to really get used to it. My typing was slower at first, but got better over time.
I also find that the third party keyboards on iOS lack some features that I like on the Android versions. Android versions have alternate keyboard layout for you to choose from. It's like the split keyboard you see on iPads. I generally choose these alternate split layouts on my phone because I can type better than on a standard layout.