With the release of iOS 8, third-party extensions will now — finally — be allowed on Apple’s iPhones and iPads. This brings one feature for which Apple users have been begging since day one: third-party keyboards, and thus swipe-to-text. No longer will you be unable to reach certain letters while holding a drink in the other hand.
When Apple first revealed that third-party extensions would finally make their debut on iOS, it was announced that many of the popular third-party keyboards — available on Android for a long time — would make their way to the Apple platform. Specifically, this finally, finally bestows iOS users with the ability to swipe-type — a coveted feature that took seven years to arrive. Swype, SwiftKey, Fleksy, and TouchPal have all released keyboards for iOS 8, and we took them all for (much desired) spins.
On the iPhone, both apps work exactly how you always wished the iOS stock keyboard did. Put your finger down on the keyboard, slide it across letters, and you have your word. Lifting your finger off the screen creates a space, though you can still use the spacebar (and can still double tap it for a period). If you’re finding it difficult to swipe-type a word, you can still tap it out like you’re living in some sort of crazy stone age in which smartphones somehow managed to exist.
Installation is a breeze: download your replacement keyboard of choice — download links: Swype, SwiftKey, Fleksy, TouchPal – and simply follow the instructions after loading the apps. If you don’t want to watch the short tutorials play out, then go into Settings, General, Keyboard, then Keyboards (yep), Add New Keyboard, then finally select a keyboard from the list. Next time you’re using the iOS keyboard, hold the globe icon and then select your new keyboard. With Swype, you can hold the Swype icon to invoke a popup that either switches back to the old keyboard, summons another keyboard, or loads Swype’s settings, which contains different keyboard themes. With SwiftKey, you can simply tap the globe icon to switch back; SwiftKey’s settings — at the moment just a light or dark theme keyboard — is stashed away in the app that you downloaded and seems inaccessible from the keyboard itself, unlike Swype’s themes.
Read: How does Swype really work?
If you’re already used to swipe-typing, you’ll have to get used the apps’ numbers and symbols keyboards — they’re laid out a little differently than the stock iOS board. SwiftKey’s boards, however, don’t seem to differ. Other keyboards, like TouchPal, use gesture-swiping rather than separate character maps for symbols, whereas Fleksy makes emoji easier to access than other keyboards but doesn’t seem to swipe-type. You’ll also have to activate the keyboards per keyboard appearance, meaning for each different text message thread, per mobile browser, and so on, but you’ll only have to do it the once.
There are also some other quirks. For instance, you can’t access the keyboards from one of iOS 8′s vaunted new features: replying to a text from the lock screen — you’re stuck with the stock keyboard in that situation for now. TouchPal, strangely, doesn’t seem to actually add the word you swiped to a text field until you swipe the next word.
Overall, aside from the lock screen issue and having to get used to Swype’s (if that’s your keyboard of choice) weird character map, swipe-typing works great on the iPhone.
It’s still mind-boggling that Apple hasn’t either created its own swipe-typing keyboard yet, or acquired a company that makes one in order to make it native to iOS. Whatever Apple’s reasoning is, users should be thrilled that they can now turn to third parties for help.
By finally allowing third-party extensions into its mobile ecosystem, Apple has included a feature that’s not only extremely useful to users, but very important to the company’s future. When discussing mobile platforms with Android users, they’ll (very) regularly remind you that features you’re extremely excited about Apple including have been available on Android for a while. Along with the release of the larger iPhone 6 Plus that matches the size of popular Android phones, the green light for third-party extensions is closing the gap on the features Android had ages ago.
Many will argue that the difference between iOS and Android is, respectively, polish versus feature set, but if Apple keeps traveling down this path of becoming more lenient and fulfilling its users desires, there won’t be much of an argument anymore.
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