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iPhone Tired of keyboard fail
- Thread starter jrpmsms
- Start date
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I'm also an Android user and Swiftkey hands down the best keyboard I have used so far. With that being said, I'm trying to like Swiftkey on iOS but the experience is completely horrible. I don't like how buggy and unpolished Swiftkey is for iOS. I don't like how it disappears when you need to type a password and sometimes doesn't reappear. My downloaded language packs have also disappeared. The third party keyboard implementation on iOS is a complete mess and this is where I blame solely Apple for being slow to implement 3rd party keyboard support. If Apple would have done this two or three years ago we would have had a polished experience instead, were going through what Android users have gone through four years ago. I have hope that 8.1 will address these issues, I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Yeah, issues. I was using Swiftkey for a while but found the swiping gesture to be a lot less accurate than the one for Swype so I switched back to Swype for when I want to type that way. But the experience isn't great, often the keyboard blocks the text box that I'm trying to type in so that I can't see what I'm writing.
I mostly use the stock keyboard because it just feels much less buggy, but it's not perfected yet either. Often when I'm trying to type a little quickly autocorrect will start plugging in entire words! I'll think I'm typing one word and then an entire nonsense phrase will appear.. This autocorrect tech is really waiting for a genius (an actual one, not an Apple Store employee, unless the two happen to combine in one person by chance) to nail down and make more useful than frustrating.
I mostly use the stock keyboard because it just feels much less buggy, but it's not perfected yet either. Often when I'm trying to type a little quickly autocorrect will start plugging in entire words! I'll think I'm typing one word and then an entire nonsense phrase will appear.. This autocorrect tech is really waiting for a genius (an actual one, not an Apple Store employee, unless the two happen to combine in one person by chance) to nail down and make more useful than frustrating.
It seems to work much better in iOS 8.1. I haven't had any issues of it crashing or failing to appear or reverting back to the default keyboard randomly like it would in iOS 8.0.2. Except for Messages, that is. Messages is still kind of a mess. The scrolling bug is still there, and the keyboard still likes to revert randomly (only within messages though.) everywhere else, it seems to work fine.
Armen
macrumors 604
3rd party keyboards are behaving all goofy right now. I'm waiting for 8.1 for a possible fix.
Here are symptoms I've seen.
1. Keyboard will not appear at all
2. when going to messages it doesn't scroll to the last message when keyboard appears forcing you to dismiss the keyboard, scroll down and then reactivate the keyboard.
3. In some apps the proper key doesn't even appear (Swype doesn't have a "done" key in the BoFA app).
4. Sometimes swype won't even recognize taps/swypes of the keys in a text quick reply.
bkends35
macrumors 6502a
It's not. I'm on 8.1 and with the new swiftykey update it still isn't even close to good. Messages still don't scroll up and it takes forever to appear. Honestly, third party keyboards are useless right now.
I really like SwiftKey and have those issues occasionally. Not enough to deter me. I found that when I have those issues, if I go into settings and remove is full access and give it back, it starts working properly again.
Yes... I've done this too. Or found an app that the keyboard worked in and then went back to where I was. But seriously... that's ridiculous to have to do that several times a day. And the auto correct on stock is insane (as mentioned earlier in this thread).
This makes Apple Maps look like a small goof.
Stuntman06
macrumors 6502a
I normally type in landscape on my iPhone. The landscape bugs in SwiftKey just make it impossible to use. I do believe that the third party keyboard experience will improve over time. I'm just shocked that it is so bad.
I first started using third party keyboards on Android over two years ago. Prior to that, my previous Android phone had a physical keyboard. Two years ago, third party keyboards worked really well. I even used one that was originally in beta that was just way better than any on iOS. I wasn't around on day 1 when third party keyboards first became available on Android. Day 1 for third party keyboards on iOS is a really poor experience.
I first started using third party keyboards on Android over two years ago. Prior to that, my previous Android phone had a physical keyboard. Two years ago, third party keyboards worked really well. I even used one that was originally in beta that was just way better than any on iOS. I wasn't around on day 1 when third party keyboards first became available on Android. Day 1 for third party keyboards on iOS is a really poor experience.
Swype beta on Windows Mobile 5 many, many years ago, using my fingernail on a resistive screen, was practically flawless compared to what's going on now.
Seems apple's own messages app is the most broken of all
Although spotlight seems close second
Hoping 8.1 fixes a lot of this fit'n'finish that iOS8 is sorely lacking
Although spotlight seems close second
Hoping 8.1 fixes a lot of this fit'n'finish that iOS8 is sorely lacking
I like swiftkey a lot, because it's text prediction is flat out phenomenal, and far, far better than what the native keyboard does. Quite often I can type entire sentences with just the predicted words because it learns quickly how I write and what my phrasing tends to be. It's swiping isn't as accurate as Swype, but it is good enough that when I activate a 3rd party keyboard, it's SwiftKey 95% of the time. Only if I need to use one hand for a long time will I switch to Swype and use that.
However, the bugs are annoying. I don't mind the switch to the native keyboard in password fields (I'm glad Swiftkey can't log that), but there are two big things I want:
1) I want my iOS keyboard shortcuts to work in the 3rd party keyboards. I have a shortcut for my website's image folder URL, which I use often on photography forums, and it sucks having to either type the whole thing or switch to the stock keyboard to get the shortcut. I also have shortcuts for my email addresses, etc.
2) While all the little bugs are a bit annoying, the biggest one for me is the fact that often in SwiftKey, I can't hit 'submit' on a post in some situations with the keyboard activated...it changes something when looking for a predicted word or something. Sometimes a backspace will cause it to allow the button to reactivate, but other times I need to switch to stock to get it to work.
General iOS 8 complaint, though: What's up with the random loss of touch input from time to time when rotating orientation. It's not super common, but it's annoying.
However, the bugs are annoying. I don't mind the switch to the native keyboard in password fields (I'm glad Swiftkey can't log that), but there are two big things I want:
1) I want my iOS keyboard shortcuts to work in the 3rd party keyboards. I have a shortcut for my website's image folder URL, which I use often on photography forums, and it sucks having to either type the whole thing or switch to the stock keyboard to get the shortcut. I also have shortcuts for my email addresses, etc.
2) While all the little bugs are a bit annoying, the biggest one for me is the fact that often in SwiftKey, I can't hit 'submit' on a post in some situations with the keyboard activated...it changes something when looking for a predicted word or something. Sometimes a backspace will cause it to allow the button to reactivate, but other times I need to switch to stock to get it to work.
General iOS 8 complaint, though: What's up with the random loss of touch input from time to time when rotating orientation. It's not super common, but it's annoying.
macduke
macrumors G5
Third party keyboards have been such a convoluted and confusing experience for me that I refuse to even try to use them any more. It's ridiculous how they just disappear and I have no way to switch back to the stock keyboard unless I go dig through settings and delete the installed keyboard that is screwed up.
Armen
macrumors 604
You'd think this would work in theory. I went one step further and removed the primary english keyboard and emoji keyboard and left only Swype and it still behaves that way.
pacorob
macrumors 68020
Maybe Apple will release iOS8.1 later today and that should resolve a few bugs related to 3rd party keyboards. See for details the TS of the general 3rd party keyboard topic.
I'm on 8.1 beta, and I can confidently say the keyboard situation is just as bad as ever.
Keyboards are not as "bad" as you say, and that's not how it works, you have to wait for the apps to get updated for 8.1, only then you can say they are as bad.
fishmd
macrumors 68000
It's not the apps that are flawed. It's the framework Apple provided. The apps are doing what they're supposed to do. iOS isn't. Apple needs to fix the framework. The apps don't have to update so long as Apple fixes this properly.