Features that Android users always brag about are mostly about the customization of the device, which Apple didn’t give much liberty to its users. But iOS 8 changed that to some extent. Apple allowed some customization in its iOS 8 software release to all the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users. One of the prominent new feature in iOS 8 is the support for 3rd party keyboards. Which means Apple finally gave up strict control over iOS interface after years of its birth.
Swiftkey was one of the first 3rd-party iOS keyboards that hit the app store as a default iOS 8 keyboard. Swiftkey for iPhone, Ipad and iPod Touch is mainly a predictive keyboard that makes suggestions by learning your writing style. It’s amazing when it accurately predicts what you’re going to type next, like mentioned earlier, it learns your writing style and it’s real good at it. The other cool feature of the keyboard is its swiping feature dubbed as “flow”, allowing users to type by simply swiping on the keys without tapping.
The app learns your writing style to give you super-accurate autocorrect and intelligent next-word prediction, reducing keystrokes and getting smarter over time.
It’s almost creepy how well Swiftkey can predict your thoughts. It’s the basic technology used in Swiftkey that gives it the ability to learn your writing style and make prediction based on what it has learnt. If you sign up through your Facebook or Google Plus intoon Swiftkey’s cloud feature, it will begin learning your writing style based on what you’ve written on these social media sites. Swiftkey also allows you to sync your Swiftkey’s cloud across multiple devices.
“Flow”, the swiping feature in Swiftkey, is – in my opinion – an awkward way to type by swiping instead of tap to type. Swiping to type gives a feeling of writing a wrong word but, admittedly, Swiftkey is super efficient at correcting your swiping mistakes and auto-correcting the word to the one that you wanted to type.
While Android users are enjoying it in multiple themes, Swiftkey for iOS comes with only two color options: Nickel Light and Nickel Dark. Hopefully with time, the Swift developers will add more themes to iOS keyboard.
Download Swiftkey for iOS
You can download Swiftkey for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch from the app store for free. [iTunes Link]
It requires iOS 8 or later and it’s compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Swiftkey is also optimized for iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. Here’s where you can download iOS 8.