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iOS 8 Roundup: The best third-party keyboards to try out right now

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In iOS 8, Apple is adding support for third-party keyboards. This means that iOS users can finally replace the default stock Apple keyboard with a myriad of choices already available on the App Store.

Keyboards are tied with an app. There is not a separate ‘keyboard store’. To find a keyboard, you search in the iOS App Store like any other app. Once you have downloaded an app that contains a custom keyboard, you must then enable it in Settings. Go to Settings -> General -> Keyboards -> Add New Keyboard and select the new app. This is kind of annoying, since it forces every app to instruct you how to install their keyboard in case you are new to the concept.

With that out of the way, what are the best keyboards available for iOS 8 to download today? Read on for 9to5Mac’s comprehensive roundup.

Swype — $0.99

Swype is the iconic custom keyboard. With incredible popularity on Android, as well being featured on stage at WWDC in June, Swype is looking to replicate its success on iPhone and iPad. In Swype, you drag your phone between letters of the keyboard to spell words and then release. Swype uses refined language models to determine what the user wanted to type. It also inserts a space after every word, to dramatically speed up typing. There’s some clever tricks too, like punctuation prediction: typing ‘How’s it going’ will suggest ‘?’ in the suggestion bar.

The team’s first version for iOS features the core app functionality; updates will include connectivity features, more themes and more languages. I actually found Swype particularly helpful on iPad, when using one-handed in portrait. Swiping is much more efficient than hunting-and-pecking on a large touchscreen.

SwiftKey — Free

On Android, SwiftKey and Swype battle for top spot. I believe the same battle will happen on iOS. SwiftKey and Swype have some overlap, with SwiftKey offering a ‘Flow’ mode for swipe-based text input which works well. SwiftKey focus on their “incredibly accurate” next word prediction, a better version of Apple’s QuickType. Unlike Swype, SwiftKey has cloud connectivity to allow the app to offer better predictions by analyzing information from your Twitter account, Facebook or Gmail inbox. The network access also allows SwiftKey to sync your personalizations across devices on both iOS and Android.

The standout feature of SwiftKey is that it supports writing in two languages at once. For example, the prediction engine is good enough that you can setup English and Spanish support simultaneously and just type normally. The keyboard will suggest words for both languages seamlessly.

Minuum — $1.99

Minuum’s headline feature is that it can shrink to a collapsed view, which saves screen space by grouping keys into separate buttons. There is also some swipe gestures to speedup basic operations. You can swipe left to delete words or swipe right to insert a space. Although sort of redundant on the large 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch screens of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Minuum’s compactness will appeal to iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 users. Although it supports iPad, I see no reason to choose Minuum over a more-standard layout on such a canvas. Customization options are limited right now, but the company is teasing more languages and new themes for future updates.

Fleksy — $0.99

fleksy

Fleksy has existed on iOS for a while, but up to now it has been the responsibility of individual developers to add Fleksy as an option in their apps. With iOS 8, Fleksy can become a first class citizen. Fleksy relaxes the need to be accurate with button taps. The software is designed to account for a lot of inaccuracy. This is shown best by the fact Fleksy does not draw separators between keys in the interface — they don’t think they are necessary. I found the accuracy to be impressive.

Fleksy integrates emojis directly, which is a big bonus. Like Minuum, it can also be shrunk down to a smaller size. You can also hide the spacebar for a ‘minimal’ appearance. Swipe gestures enable quick punctuation and word deletes. Fleksy supports over 40 languages and also comes with a selection of free and premium themes for some added flair. You can also switch between alternative character layouts like DVORAK and AZERTY if you are more accustomed to those orders.

TouchPal — Free

TouchPal uses an aesthetic that closely mirrors the default keyboard. I think the idea is to offer some additional features without forcing users to relearn habits they have built up with the stock keyboard. It works to some extent, but breaks down when the more subtle behaviors are not implemented accurately. TouchPal does offer some neat enhancements though, such as shortcuts for number and punctuation entry, an integrated view for entering emojis and more. Superscript inscriptions expose what long-press shortcuts are available.

KuaiBoard — $1.99

KuaiBoard is interesting. It has a massive selection of preset text snippets to quickly insert into your document. This spans email signatures, canned email responses and more. Another tab crawls your Address Book for contact information to insert, like names, addresses and phone numbers. You can also quickly attach a Maps link of your current location, if friends want to know where you are.

What’s nice about KuaiBoard is that isn’t meant to replace your default keyboard. It is meant to be used in conjunction with a normal QWERTY keyboard. This means its more of a shortcut screen than a full replacement. I like it. It means dedicated keyboard makers can focus on making keyboards, and the developer behind KuaiBoard can focus on adding the supplementary features.

TextExpander — $4.99

The TextExpander keyboard is unique. On the Mac, TextExpander allows users to type keywords and have them automatically transformed into longer phrases, useful for when users have to write the same thing many times over. On iOS, the sandbox model means TextExpander can’t really exist. With iOS 8, the keyboards system means the TextExpander service can be transient across all apps, as long as you are using TextExpander’s keyboard. That’s the tradeoff. If you aren’t already invested in the TextExpander ecosystem on the Mac, there is no reason for you to want to use this keyboard. However, having a syncing text-shortcut system is very powerful. Whether this is something that is worth sacrificing for better overall text input (keyboard development is not Smile Software’s focus) is a tough call.

Conclusion

After a few weeks of extensive testing with these keyboards, I am still unsure whether I will use these personally. The stock keyboard is very good (even better in iOS 8) and although swipe typing is useful, I’m not sure I’ll ever really miss it. The lack of inline autocorrect across all of these keyboards is a big sacrifice.

That being said, custom keyboards are huge business on Android. I’m sure the big players will be popular on the iPhone too, like Swype, Fleksy and SwiftKey, but it’s just not for me. A lot of this stems from the fact I am already ingrained into the behavior of the stock keyboard. I think custom keyboards will especially appeal to those switching from Android, who have already been using these alternatives for a while elsewhere. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Comments

  1. e.c. (@_edwardc) - 10 years ago

    Loving the new keyboards!

  2. Mihai (@lmihai) - 10 years ago

    Flesky looks good. I will try them all :)

  3. Cory © (@Nardes) - 10 years ago

    I loved swype back in the day when I had an android (pre-iphone-on-verizon-days)

  4. Overlord - 10 years ago

    TouchPal is amazing!
    I use it on my old iPhone 4 too.

  5. Does Swiftkey on iOS support the one handed feature that is on Android?

  6. none of those are available on US iTunes store

  7. Darren John Calvert - 10 years ago

    None of these are showing in the UK, USA, or SPANISH iTunes stores???

    • michaeledwards639 - 10 years ago

      Try the App Store dude

    • Ry L - 10 years ago

      I wasn’t able to find them by searching on the device, but clicking the link and downloading via itunes on my computer worked (which then put the app on my device automatically)

  8. Ryan Saffell - 10 years ago

    Try waiting until the apps are actually available before making an article live that says they’re available right now…bad journalism click bait.

    • Abraham Song - 10 years ago

      Good lord… Really? You’re reacting like this? Don’t people know that these things roll out slowly across different regions at different times? Get over your freakin’ entitlement dude. Seriously, it’s just a freakin’ keyboard.

  9. rzozaya1969 - 10 years ago

    Touchpal and Swiftkey are my top keyboards in Android. If they behave the same in IOS, they should be a good option.

  10. Are these even available? Can’t seem to download any of them.

  11. Andy Traub - 10 years ago

    These aren’t available as of 1:15pm Central. None of them.

  12. Andrea Anderson - 10 years ago

    omg this was so annoying! I’m like WHY CANT I GET IT seems like this article was a bit premature

  13. jonasnygaardc - 10 years ago

    Also not available here in Denmark yet…

  14. frankman91 - 10 years ago

    SwiftKey on Android is absolutely amazing how well its “next word” predictions are. You have to give it a few weeks to really pick up your typing habits, but to me it’s second to non.

    You can also skin it to look like anything, switch on / off number row, have full key pad width, “thumbs” mode with hollow center, or left / right bias “one handed” mode (again, at least on Android).

    That said, its not free. It says free, but that’s only for 30 days, then its like $3 or something; not the end of the world, but worth noting.

    • Bob Steenson - 10 years ago

      Some of the best Swiftkey features — optional number row, optional keypad arrangements, many different themes — aren’t available on the IOS 8 version. One benefit, though, it’s free. (I’d rather pay a couple of bucks and have an optional number row … that bugs me more than anything else on my iPad after using an Android phone the rest of the time.)

  15. If you guys want to download these keyboards then click on the link in this article to get them! I couldn’t find them either until I clicked on the links.

  16. xbepax4224 - 10 years ago

    I have the keyboard apps but can’t use them systemwide ..

    • Jared (@GunningGunny) - 10 years ago

      They do not show up on the in the keyboards section at all… I’m beginning to think that Apple didn’t include it. lol

      • clintaustin26 - 10 years ago

        Typing this while cycling through them right know. They seem to be working really well. I didn’t realizero how much I missed Swype and Swiftkey.

  17. Ant Irizarry - 10 years ago

    Managed to get Swiftkey onto my iPhone 5s through iTunes via Macbook air. And to reiterate what everyone else said, maybe you should have waited until all apps were available or at least stated they aren’t available for download.

  18. I went directly to the Fleksy website and I was able to redirect to iTunes and download the app. Haven’t tried to use it yet as my iOS 8 is still downloading.

  19. stluke2351 - 10 years ago

    I cant find ANY of these in the App store.

  20. So I went to Mac iTunes via your link and bought Swype, then searched in the iOS App Store for my purchase, found it, and successfully installed. I followed the instructions to go to Settings > General > Keyboards, and installed the Swype Keyboard… And………..
    NOW I HAVE NO KEYBOARD AT ALL. Seriously, the Swype keyboard just appears as either a gray box, or no keyboard pops up at all. The only way to get back to the stock keyboard is to go back into settings and uninstall the Swype keyboard entirely.
    Something is wrong…

    • I just uninstalled the Swype app completely, reinstalled, and still having the same issue. I’d recommend NOT installing it, at least on a 5S right now. Its totally broken.

    • Colin Conway - 10 years ago

      I’m having the same issue here. The app doesn’t necessarily need to be uninstalled, just deleted from settings. Swiftkey and KuwaiBoard also have the same issue.

    • clintaustin26 - 10 years ago

      maybe try a hard reboot to straighten things out? I installed several of these at the same time and they were all waiting in keyboard settings to activate them and I can cycle through and use all of them no problem. It just takes a second for it to pop up when you switch between keyboards. One thing I did do is launch each app before I went into settings. Maybe try that?

    • I’m having the problem too on my iPhone 5. Tried several different keyboards, restarts, etc.

  21. Tom McAvoy (@TEMcAvoy) - 10 years ago

    Fleksy can be downloaded via a Mac. Not really sure I am a fan so far.

  22. Javier Delgado - 10 years ago

    I just downloaded Swiftly via Mac iTunes App Store

  23. andreww500 - 10 years ago

    Just tried out SwiftKey and Swype and to be honest they are pretty awful. I don’t see any advantage to SwiftKey, and Swype is badly implemented. It takes forever to appear, it’s stuttery, sometimes it doesn’t show up and all of the themes (with the exception of the default one) are ugly…

    • clintaustin26 - 10 years ago

      swiftkey and swype both worked great for me on my admittedly brief tryout just now. Very fast to type by swiping from letter to letter. I think touchpal might be my favorite though. Swiping up for numbers is something I really missed from my jailbreak.

      • andreww500 - 10 years ago

        I just can’t stand that delay when you expect the keyboard to appear. It’s especially bad in places like spotlight.

      • clintaustin26 - 10 years ago

        are you on a 5s? It doesn’t seem that bad to me. But lets be honest, we’re going to play around with multiple keyboards for a bit and then settle in on a favorite and not switch so much anyway. Hopefully in the future the whole thing will be optimized to remove the delay.

      • andreww500 - 10 years ago

        Nope. I’m on a 5 at the moment. I guess we will see how it performs on the 6/6+ on Friday. Right now I am finding most of the keyboards to be pretty buggy. Especially Flesky (which I actually quite like).

  24. Ry L - 10 years ago

    Minuum looks kinda cool, even though i don’t need the extra screen real estate on my upcoming phone.

    If anything, I’m looking forward to PopKey!

  25. accdla - 10 years ago

    nice! top 3 ranked? anyone whose tried them all

    • andreww500 - 10 years ago

      1) Swype
      2) Flesky
      3) SwiftKey

      I have found them all to be pretty buggy though but those are the best three in my opinion.

  26. cm477 - 10 years ago

    Don’t most of these apps ask for full access and can send your keystrokes to the company? Isn’t that a deal breaker for most? I guess Android users don’t care.

  27. Stuart Nicholson - 10 years ago

    I agree. I’vespent a day playing around with Swiftkey and Fleksy. I think Apple have done great job with their own built in predictive keyboard and having used it for awhile through betas and GM it does learn how I write so usually can peck away at the three choices at the top. Also this Full Access worries me a bit.

  28. The keyboard I would iike most is the standard keyboard, but add a row of numbers on top. Along with a paste and copy button. None of the screenshots of these keyboards here or the few I checked in the App store seem to have this, unless it just isn’t pictured/highlighted. With more screen real estate, I don’t see why this hasn’t been added as a standard, it saves having to switch keyboard screens.

  29. Kevin A (@kevinsky) - 10 years ago

    I started using Swiftkey on Android because it was the only android keyboard I could find that had a Canadian English option. I quickly got so used to swipe-based typing that when I decided that I’m going to switch back to iPhone this fall, swipe typing was the biggest thing I was going to miss. So on the one hand I’m glad to see swiftkey for iOS, on the other hand the autocorrect suggestions are sometimes pretty questionable. It suggests words that would never fit in the sentence for any reason. And that’s even after I let it read my twitter and Facebook to learn my typing style.

  30. Manel Menano - 10 years ago

    Swype has very few language options other than English, and that is a huge deal breaker. Especially since even swift key (which is free) has more. I really like the look of fleshy even though it’s not even mentioned in the article.

  31. Robin (@pacorob) - 10 years ago

    Unfortunately none of the mentioned swype keyboards have a support for Dutch (except for Fleksy but that isn’t a real swipe keyboard).

    I’m looking forward to the switch of an existing iOS7 app called Path Input which is already available for iPad and iPhone and will soon be upgraded to iOS8 keyboard. Path Input already supports Dutch in the current app and works great!

  32. lordvithis - 9 years ago

    My gripe with these custom keyboards is that the ones I have tried — Swype and SwiftKey — don’t support iOS’s built in keyboard shortcuts. I don’t know if this is a limitation of the API available to developers, or whether they just haven’t bothered to include support in anticipation of having a similar built-in feature in future releases, but it’s annoying whatever the reason.

  33. Janet Loken - 9 years ago

    When I pair my Apple keyboard to Ipad 3, it works, but the touch keyboard also starts popping up?

  34. Osama Mohamed - 9 years ago

    it says enable full access to change key color.. anyone know how?

  35. Osama Mohamed - 9 years ago

    All Useless Keyboards. i was looking for a bigger letters but unfortunately i bought stupid apps :(

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.