Microsoft's 'Word Flow' Keyboard for iPhone Launches in the U.S. App Store

[MacRumors]

After a closed beta earlier in the month, Microsoft today has launched its Word Flow Windows Phone keyboard in the United States iOS App Store for free. As expected, the iOS version of the app comes with a handful of themes for users to customize the keyboard with, along with the ability to speed up one-handed texting with its unique "Arc mode."

Word Flow keyboard's "Light" theme​

Arc mode bends the keyboard into a circular shape, hugging whichever side of the iPhone a user's dominant hand will be typing on, allowing for more efficient one-handed typing than a traditional iOS keyboard. Its default interface doesn't differ from other third-party keyboards, letting users switch between tapping and swiping on the fly to enter text.

As with Apple's included keyboard, Word Flow has a predictive text feature, and users can even turn on a word learning option that will bolster the app's predictive capabilities for each user by sending keyboard information to Microsoft. Elsewhere in the app, users will also be able to upload their own pictures as customized keyboard themes, and even track their typing speed once Word Flow is granted full access in Settings.

Word Flow keyboard with a custom image theme​

Anyone who wants to check Word Flow out can download it from the App Store for free [Direct Link], although it is currently limited to United States users only.

Article Link: Microsoft's 'Word Flow' Keyboard for iPhone Launches in the U.S. App Store

 

[Sheza]

US only... not interested.

 

[Aston441]

They are evil fork them.

 

[wegwhehwegqwegqew]

Kudos to Microsoft for using San Francisco instead of their own font. It always irks me when a good third party keyboard looks inconsistent with the interface.

 

[MMan5797]

This is the first third party keyboard I haven't uninstalled within minutes due to bugs. That said, there is definitely a learning curve and I'm not typing as fast as I can on the normal keyboard

 

[btbam91]

After a closed beta earlier in the month, Microsoft today has launched its Word Flow Windows Phone keyboard in the United States iOS App Store for free. As expected, the iOS version of the app comes with a handful of themes for users to customize the keyboard with, along with the ability to speed up one-handed texting with its unique "Arc mode."

Word Flow keyboard's "Light" theme​

Arc mode bends the keyboard into a circular shape, hugging whichever side of the iPhone a user's dominant hand will be typing on, allowing for more efficient one-handed typing than a traditional iOS keyboard. Its default interface doesn't differ from other third-party keyboards, letting users switch between tapping and swiping on the fly to enter text.

As with Apple's included keyboard, Word Flow has a predictive text feature, and users can even turn on a word learning option that will bolster the app's predictive capabilities for each user by sending keyboard information to Microsoft. Elsewhere in the app, users will also be able to upload their own pictures as customized keyboard themes, and even track their typing speed once Word Flow is granted full access in Settings.

Word Flow keyboard with a custom image theme​

Anyone who wants to check Word Flow out can download it from the App Store for free [Direct Link], although it is currently limited to United States users only.

Article Link: Microsoft's 'Word Flow' Keyboard for iPhone Launches in the U.S. App Store

This is pretty exciting considering how much better the windows phone keyboard was to the ios keyboard. Excited to give it a try.

 

[Sirious]

I'm in the UK, and while it might eventually come in the UK Store, is there a way I can try it now?

 

[jonnysods]

Dang this looks pretty cool, love the one hand typing. Not out in Canada either though, bummer.

 

[Yaboze]

It seems pretty nice so far. We'll see how I feel after a few days with it.

 

[emt1]

It's basically reading my mind.

 

[ck2875]

Kudos to Microsoft for using San Francisco instead of their own font. It always irks me when a good third party keyboard looks inconsistent with the interface.

Conversely, the lack of San Francisco font isn't the reason a lot of third party keyboard themes look like complete ****. To be fair, you did qualify your statement with "good" keyboards, but still.

 

[wegwhehwegqwegqew]

I'm in the UK, and while it might eventually come in the UK Store, is there a way I can try it now?

Make a second app store account.

To do it without a credit card, logout of your account, go into the app store and try to download a free app. Then sign up for a new US account and it won't ask for a credit card.

 

[gigapocket1]

Is it really that good??? Currently uses fleksy

 

[Spaceboy88]

Very well done for a first release. I love how they allow you to access emoji and then jump right back to their keyboard. That annoying cycling behavior from most 3rd party keyboards has kept me away from them.

I do wish it supported 3D Touch to move the cursor around which I use very frequently. I don't think that's limited by API access although I could be wrong.

Here's hoping that iOS 10 allows for Siri dictation on 3rd party keyboards as well.

 

[KALLT]

Kudos to Microsoft for using San Francisco instead of their own font. It always irks me when a good third party keyboard looks inconsistent with the interface.

It’s not San Francisco. You can tell from the capital Q and G.

 

[Chatter]

So typing this using the keyboard and the Swype functionality. Its good though the letters seem squished. Anyone else feel that? Not a bad first impression at all tbh but I don't think it's for me yet.

 

[Leonard1818]

I do like this one! When Apple announced inclusion of 3rd party keyboards, I was hopeful since the ONLY thing my wife and I liked about our Samsung Galaxy S phones was Swype.

Unfortunately, I never did find one I liked. This one, however, I seem to be picking up QUICKLY.

Good job Microsoft!

 

[Jal217]

I really like it but I just realized how often I use 3D touch for text selection. I really wish apple would put out an API for this and its dictation feature. Now I'm torn between this great one handed keyboard and those two deatures.

 

[applesith]

I like the idea of the keyboard arc. Just downloaded and giving it a try today. I wish the text input box would match the color of the keyboard.

 

[jezbd1997]

This is pretty exciting considering how much better the windows phone keyboard was to the ios keyboard. Excited to give it a try.

Are you new to this world..?

 

[ka-spot]

awesome! I like it very much, but I like more the fact that I'll skip it, just like Apple skipped Bulgaria for releasing Watch

 

[wegwhehwegqwegqew]

It’s not San Francisco. You can tell from the capital Q and G.

You're right. At first I thought maybe they had made a modified version but it seems to be Roboto. At a certain width they're very similar. What an odd choice.

 

[Fynd]

I'm in the UK, and while it might eventually come in the UK Store, is there a way I can try it now?

Make a US apple account. I have one for myself, as I'm in Canada, and I used it for this as well as some other apps (Paper by Facebook).

 

[KALLT]

You're right. At first I thought maybe they had made a modified version but it seems to be Roboto. At a certain width they're very similar. What an odd choice.

I am not sure that it is Roboto either, but they look very similar. I do not understand why Microsoft would choose Android’s system and Google’s corporate typeface. You can probably inspect the IPA bundle to see which fonts they have included.

Looking a bit more at it, there are more notable differences between San Francisco and this typeface. San Francisco for iOS has rounded shapes (C, G, O, Q) whereas this typeface here has flattened sides. I knew immediately that something was off and I think that this is it. The preview screenshots from a few weeks(?) ago showed lower-case letters which where more noticeable.

 

[TonyC28]

In Messages I have to change the keyboard for each thread I have going. Is that right or am doing something wrong?