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third party keyboards
- Thread starter thebro20
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I've never had messages freeze, but keyboard just not coming up sometimes is definitely an issue. In general, there appear to be very few improvements to keyboard support in iOS 8.3.
I was anxiously waiting for this as I don't like the Apple keyboard very much and loved Swiftkey on Android. Here's what I found on 8.3 after re-installing Swiftkey, removing Apple's keyboard, and leaving Emoji.
- In the phone, Swiftkey popped up every time. No problem there.
- Lockscreen, even with Apple's keyboard removed, it, not Swiftkey, would pop up to quick reply to an iMessage, BUT without quicktype suggestions, just a keyboard.
- Emoji with just Swiftkey & Emoji turned on would not do the long press to pick a different ethnicity. It was just the good ol pre-8.3 emoji.
So.... after all that, I gave up. I'm back on Apple's keyboard with full Emoji. At least the spacebar is better, but it's not that awesome.
- In the phone, Swiftkey popped up every time. No problem there.
- Lockscreen, even with Apple's keyboard removed, it, not Swiftkey, would pop up to quick reply to an iMessage, BUT without quicktype suggestions, just a keyboard.
- Emoji with just Swiftkey & Emoji turned on would not do the long press to pick a different ethnicity. It was just the good ol pre-8.3 emoji.
So.... after all that, I gave up. I'm back on Apple's keyboard with full Emoji. At least the spacebar is better, but it's not that awesome.
I have a 6, I noticed the lag, but it was minor and not a big deal if the keyboard could be used completely throughout the system and if the Emoji keyboard would just be the emoji keyboard.
Worth noting that the issues described here are not really bugs:
Apple has intentionally prevented third-party keyboards from being usable while the phone is locked, presumably due to security concerns. It may be annoying, but in this case it's "works as designed."
In regards to Emoji, SwiftKey provides its own Emoji and does not (well, "cannot" actually) tie into the OS Emoji at all. It is up to Swiftkey to support ethnically diverse Emoji on their own.
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It's funny, but lag is the one area where I've had better luck on iOS than Android. Swiftkey on Android lags horribly on my 2014 Moto X - it's basically unusable. On iOS, by contrast, it's perfectly responsive when typing - it's just all the other stuff that doesn't work right.
yeah, I've heard that, but seems kinda ridiculous and really makes the experience uneven, which is odd for Apple.
yes, but if I have the keyboard installed and another keyboard, I should be able to hit the globe and get to the keyboard I want, including the Apple keyboard, Emoji keyboard, or really any keyboard. But... even if you have Apple's Emoji Keyboard on, it defaults to Swiftkey's. It's just.... confusing.
Ah, I think you're confusing how that button works. A single short press of the smiley face button on swiftkey will bring up swiftkey's built-in Emoji. If you instead want to switch keyboards, you need to hold down on this button until you get a menu, then select "switch to other keyboard".
huh.
that's not how it works with the Apple & Emoji keyboard installed. Ugh. Like I said, I'm kinda giving up on it. Will just do the Apple one.
That's how that button works in swiftkey. Holding and selecting Switch switches to the next keyboard, which if you have just the Emoji keyboard enabled will always be that one, but may be the Apple keyboard if you also have it enabled. In that case, you would in fact need to switch again when you got the Apple keyboard (which is admittedly a pain.)