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iOS 8: The Best Apple Keyboard Replacements

This article is more than 9 years old.

There is much to be admired in iOS 8, but one of the most useful and long overdue new features is support for third party keyboards. Following my iPhone 6 review I've now spent some time with the flood of replacements that have hit the App Store in the last week and broken down my favourites. But first...

How To Install A New Keyboard

Before we get to the keyboards, it is helpful to know how to install one. Thankfully Apple has made it simple, in fact more simple than on Android which has been my OS of choice for some time. Here are the steps:

  • Download a keyboard from the App Store
  • Open Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard
  • Select your keyboard from the ‘Third Party keyboards’ list

As a rule of thumb you can switch keyboards while typing just by tapping the globe icon in the bottom left corner. That said some developers have hidden it within their logo (Swipe) or behind the number key toggle button (Fleksy). A long hold will bring up the necessary setting.

iOS 8 Keyboard Limitations

Apple may have opened the door to third party keyboards, but it keeps them on a firm leash and they currently have a number of restrictions. Here are the main ones:

  • No access to Siri for voice dictation
  • Main keyboard settings and dictionary restricted to the default Apple keyboard
  • Some secure text fields do not allow input from third party keyboards
  • Keyboards must stretch the width of the display (unlike Swiftkey 'Layouts for Living' on Android)

Read more: iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: The Differences Between The New Apple iPhones

My Top 5 Keyboards

Swiftkey - Free

App Store Link

My favourite keyboard for Android has quickly become my favourite keyboard on iOS 8.

Swiftkey’s ace card is its capacity to learn. It automatically picks up your writing style and terminology and integrates this with the best predictive text on any keyboard. Start typing your address and once you've done that once or twice it will automatically predict each line so that entering it in future takes seconds. The same goes for email signatures, signing off your name, duplication of common sentences, anything.

Furthermore Swiftkey is incredibly accurate (either through standard or swipe typing - dubbed ‘Flow’). Like normal typing, swipe typing runs into problems with short words where keys are close together (for example if/of, on/in) but it has the best recognition I've seen.

It is worth pointing out there are some shortcomings compared to Android due to restrictions in iOS 8. As mentioned there are no compact keyboards (I miss narrow keyboards docked to one side of the screen to help one handed typing on big displays), strangely swipe typing isn’t available on the iPad and it cannot learn from your social media and email history as there is no access. That said for version 1.0 this is a great start.

Swype - $0.99

App Store Link

Along with Swiftkey this is one of the Apple launch partners for iOS 8. Creator Nuance already has a great relationship with Apple too since its voice technology is behind Siri and Swype is the original swipe typing keyboard.

Much like the battle between Android and iOS, Swype and Swiftkey tend to divide users. Swype is the simpler of the two. It focuses heavily on learning like Swiftkey, but is for users who primarily want to use swipe typing. It also does a few more things its own way such as the aforementioned hiding of the keyboard switching globe icon behind the Swype icon, which feels a little needless.

Given Swiftkey and Swype are so similar what sways me is I found Swiftkey to be a little faster in use. This could quickly change in what I'm sure will be a flurry of early updates (as it could for all keyboards in this list) but it is an advantage out the gate.

Fleksy - $0.99

App Store Link

Swipe typing has revolutioned mobile keyboards, but its evolution has not stopped there and Fleksy is the posterboy for a bold new step.

While you can still swipe type, Fleksy’s big differentiator is its inbuilt gestures for specific tasks. The main ones are swipe left to delete and swipe right to add a space as well as gestures for adding punctuation.

The upside is getting good at Fleksy can make you type faster than almost any other mobile keyboard. In fact the Guiness World Records organisation officially recognises Fleksy for setting the “fastest time to type a text message on a touchscreen phone”.

The downside is it is a lot of work. Continually swiping left for spaces quickly became tiresome to me as did swiping right for delete. I get that it can be faster, but I don’t lose much time hitting the delete key or using the automatic space insertion of Swiftkey and Swype.

Then again Fleksy is something very different and it knows it. As such it has a wide array of extremely colourful keyboards that make something of a fashion statement and its underdog status makes it cool. It also allows for a shorter version of the keyboard to take up less screen space, though again we wait Apple allowing narrower keyboards which are great on big phones and phablets.

KuaiBoard - $1.99

App Store Link

Formerly (and preferably in my opinion) named ‘QuickBoard’, KuaiBoard has a different aim than traditional keyboards: it is a forms specialist.

What this equates to is Kuaiboard is essentially a powerful copy and paste tool. It imports your contact information and lets you create common text templates (letters, signatures, directions of any length). All this data is then made quickly available along with useful shortcuts, such as quick sharing your location.

In practice this works well and you can fill most boxes from a lengthy form in one tap, but KuaiBoard is also extremely niche. This means you won’t be using it for the majority of your typing and you will then need to keep switching to it when forms/generic emails are required. It also currently doesn’t sync data across devices which means those painstakingly created templates have to be manually transferred. Synchronisation is promised in an update.

Kuaiboard will be a dream come true for those who have monotonous regular tasks, but for many it may prove too niche.

Minuum - $1.99

App Store Link

Perhaps the craziest keyboard currently available on iOS 8, Minuum is based entirely on prediction and starts guessing the moment you begin your tap or gesture.

The good news is this can be very fast and it also allows the keyboard to be compressed smaller than any keyboard I’ve encountered - something which isn't prohibitive as it learns your style. The issue is Minuum feels incredibly alien at first and somewhat unsettling as the correct prediction looks a long way off as you enter the first few letters. I also found it has some issues with compacted words (when you miss the space bar), something that is already a common complaint among other App Store reviews.

If you’re prepared to put in the time with Minuum it offers the smallest iOS 8 keyboard of any third party app so far therefore freeing up valuable screen space on older iPhones, but I haven’t had the patience to stick with it so far.

Read more: iPhone 6 And iPhone 6 Plus vs iPhone 5S And iPhone 5: Should You Upgrade?

Early Days

Good, bad, crazy or dull, perhaps the most exciting thing about third party keyboards in iOS 8 is just now numerous and fully realised many are from the get go - even if nearly all began life on Android. Furthermore the keyboards are already proving incredibly popular with Swiftkey top of the free apps chart and Swype top of paid apps.

All of which means competition will only heat up further in coming months and that my selection is just the tip of the iceberg. The likes of ‘TextExpander’ ($4.99) - a popular Mac utility - will likely gain traction and TouchPal (Free) - a Swype clone with smart gesture-based secondary number and punctuation selection - has the potential to find a wide audience.

There is also scope for some wildly creative keyboards. Coming soon is Adaptxt (popular on Android) which adapts word suggestions based on your location and writing context (SMS, email, social media) which is sometimes incredible and sometimes bizarre. Meanwhile the inevitable flood of emoji-based keyboards is already building.

With both Android and iOS now supporting third party keyboards and iPhones only getting bigger Pandora’s Box is open and it isn't shutting any time soon.

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