iOS 8 first look video: Apple's new QuickType keyboard makes typing faster

Posted:
in iPhone edited July 2014
Major changes are coming to the virtual keyboard in iOS 8, as Apple has added a new predictive typing feature that attempts to guess what your next word might be, letting you choose from a total of three options.



As seen in the video above, the new QuickType feature immediately begins suggesting words, even before the user types their first word. A choice of three recommended words are given, and as iOS 8 learns a user's typing habits and preferred words, the recommendations will adapt accordingly.

QuickType also adapts if you begin deleting characters, recommending words based on the current arrangement of letters behind the cursor's current position.

If you don't like the QuickType feature, it can be easily removed. Simple place a finger on one of the recommended words and hold before swiping down and hiding the boxes. To bring them back, tap and drag a finger up off the top of the keyboard to expand the QuickType space.

In addition to QuickType, Apple will for the first time allow users to install their own third-party keyboards, such as Swype. Security is a key factor in virtual keyboards, with Apple emphasizing that any data from its QuickType keyboard or approved third-party keyboards will be kept locally on the device and never shared through the cloud.

iOS 8 is currently in beta for developer testing. It is expected to launch on iPhone and iPad this fall. AppleInsider will have continuing coverage of the iOS 8 beta test period throughout the summer.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    benjamin frostbenjamin frost Posts: 7,203member
    Love it! I look forward to reading War and Peace II written using only the three words predicted.
  • Reply 2 of 34
    hentaiboyhentaiboy Posts: 1,252member

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    iOS 8 learns a user's typing habits and preferred words

    I'll believe it when I see it...

  • Reply 3 of 34
    benjamin frostbenjamin frost Posts: 7,203member
    Deleted. Trying to be too clever, and ended up being an ass. It happens sometimes.
  • Reply 4 of 34
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    hentaiboy wrote: »
    I'll believe it when I see it...

    You'll be amazed at how much less typing you'll be doing. I use SwiftKey and if the word isn't one of the 3 predicated just typing one or two letters will produce a correct prediction.
  • Reply 5 of 34
    arlorarlor Posts: 532member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hentaiboy View Post

     

    I'll believe it when I see it...


     

    Android already does everything Apple claims to do here. Apple will do it better!

  • Reply 6 of 34
    macinthe408macinthe408 Posts: 1,050member
    AI: You guys haven't a clue what you're gonna write when you made that video, did you?! Can't you take a second and write out a script on a napkin or something before wasting our time showing a clumsy video of someone who can't possibly think of what to type?!
  • Reply 7 of 34
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,833member
    This larger keyboard area hints at bigger screen well.
  • Reply 8 of 34
    philkyphilky Posts: 20member
    Windows Phones already offer this feature, and is far more accurate with Traditional Chinese character recognition than current iOS 7. So what's the big deal? Apple is simply catching up with the rest. There isn't anything innovative to shout about!

    I miss Steve.
  • Reply 9 of 34
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    philky wrote: »
    Windows Phones already offer this feature, and is far more accurate with Traditional Chinese character recognition than current iOS 7. So what's the big deal? Apple is simply catching up with the rest. There isn't anything innovative to shout about!

    I miss Steve.

    you really have no idea what you're talking about.
  • Reply 10 of 34
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    nolamacguy wrote: »
    you really have no idea what you're talking about.

    Hmm... actually he does.

    WP8.1 does not predict words before you start typing, but as soon as you start, it offers options for your first word, and once you have your first word done, it offers options for next word before you start typing it... and so on.

    It works well, but I find it quicker to start typing next word and selecting from much narrower range of options, than checking if word I want to type is pre-predicted. Especially that WP8.1 can give more than 3 options, depending on words' size and screen width.

    Can't recall if WP8 was doing the same. I think not, but I'm not 100% sure.
  • Reply 11 of 34
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    philky wrote: »
    Windows Phones already offer this feature, and is far more accurate with Traditional Chinese character recognition than current iOS 7. So what's the big deal? Apple is simply catching up with the rest. There isn't anything innovative to shout about!

    I miss Steve.
    Um, it's because of Steve (and Scott Forstall) that Apple is playing catch up!
  • Reply 12 of 34
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    nikon133 wrote: »
    Hmm... actually he does.

    WP8.1 does not predict words before you start typing, but as soon as you start, it offers options for your first word, and once you have your first word done, it offers options for next word before you start typing it... and so on.

    It works well, but I find it quicker to start typing next word and selecting from much narrower range of options, than checking if word I want to type is pre-predicted. Especially that WP8.1 can give more than 3 options, depending on words' size and screen width.

    Can't recall if WP8 was doing the same. I think not, but I'm not 100% sure.
    And Windows Phone 8 was all about catching up to iOS and Android. All these companies borrow good ideas from each other and 3rd parties (or they just buy the 3rd party apps). But the integration is unique, not like Samsung and some of their blatant copying.
  • Reply 13 of 34
    darklitedarklite Posts: 229member
    Quote:

     In addition to QuickType, Apple will for the first time allow users to install their own third-party keyboards, such as Swype.


    Brilliant change, the lack of Swype-style keyboards was one of the major factors keeping me away from iOS. Glad to see Apple's keyboard support finally reach parity with Android.

     

    Quote:

    Security is a key factor in virtual keyboards, with Apple emphasizing that any data from its QuickType keyboard or approved third-party keyboards will be kept locally on the device and never shared through the cloud.


    Bit disappointed by this. It would be nice to see it shared through iCloud for cross-device use, and they could potentially have linked it in with Yosemite too for faster learning.

  • Reply 14 of 34
    taekattaekat Posts: 7member
    Blackberry has also had this keyboard for a few years. Apple truly is catching up to the competitors but have innovated in many other areas - do not underestimate the techfruit company!
  • Reply 15 of 34
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    AI: You guys haven't a clue what you're gonna write when you made that video, did you?! Can't you take a second and write out a script on a napkin or something before wasting our time showing a clumsy video of someone who can't possibly think of what to type?!

    The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
  • Reply 16 of 34
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member

    I think quicktype is nothing special. I just kept typing as normal and to me it's more of an autocorrect feature.  I turned it "off".  

  • Reply 17 of 34
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    I think quicktype is nothing special. I just kept typing as normal and to me it's more of an autocorrect feature.  I turned it "off".  

    Autocorrect only predicts the current word. Quicktype will also try to predict the next word based on your writing style. It gets better the more you use it.
  • Reply 18 of 34
    popinfreshpopinfresh Posts: 145member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nikon133 View Post





    Hmm... actually he does.



    WP8.1 does not predict words before you start typing, but as soon as you start, it offers options for your first word, and once you have your first word done, it offers options for next word before you start typing it... and so on.



    It works well, but I find it quicker to start typing next word and selecting from much narrower range of options, than checking if word I want to type is pre-predicted. Especially that WP8.1 can give more than 3 options, depending on words' size and screen width.



    Can't recall if WP8 was doing the same. I think not, but I'm not 100% sure.

    While both Android and Windows Phone 8.1 offer similar keyboard features, neither are the "same" as what Apple has done with Quick Type. The major difference is that Apple has made this context aware on a number of levels. Who you are talking to, what app you are using, and what conversation is already going on in the thread. This distinction is a pretty big difference. As they demoed, many people will communicate differently via email vs messages. I am usually fare more formal in an email and much more casual in communication style in a messages conversation. This was well demoed and will be very useful for a lot of people.

     

    -PopinFRESH

  • Reply 19 of 34
    os2babaos2baba Posts: 262member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nikon133 View Post





    Hmm... actually he does.



    WP8.1 does not predict words before you start typing, but as soon as you start, it offers options for your first word, and once you have your first word done, it offers options for next word before you start typing it... and so on.



    It works well, but I find it quicker to start typing next word and selecting from much narrower range of options, than checking if word I want to type is pre-predicted. Especially that WP8.1 can give more than 3 options, depending on words' size and screen width.



    Can't recall if WP8 was doing the same. I think not, but I'm not 100% sure.

     

    That's the way I used to type using Swiftkey.  And I was totally impressed by how accurate the predictions were.  At some point I noticed that there was another mode where you just type the text and SwiftKey corrects the words based on context.  I didn't think that would work at all.  But I thought I'd try it out and boy does it work!  Now I just type in the sentences without pausing to look or select the suggested words and it's soooooo much faster.  This was like when I first switched over from a file locked source code control system to a concurrent source code control system and took a leap of faith that the automated merging would not totally screw up my code.  And it turned out to be everything it promised to be. 

     

    Between this and the significantly improved workflow from the the inter-app extensibility, user experience on iDevices is going to take a dramatic turn for the better.

  • Reply 20 of 34
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    popinfresh wrote: »
    While both Android and Windows Phone 8.1 offer similar keyboard features, neither are the "same" as what Apple has done with Quick Type. The major difference is that Apple has made this context aware on a number of levels. Who you are talking to, what app you are using, and what conversation is already going on in the thread. This distinction is a pretty big difference. As they demoed, many people will communicate differently via email vs messages. I am usually fare more formal in an email and much more casual in communication style in a messages conversation. This was well demoed and will be very useful for a lot of people.

    -PopinFRESH

    That's possible. I don't know how Android is doing it, I'm not using Android. Re WP8.1, there seem to be some context awareness, but I don't know how deep does it go, or how efficient it is. WP8.1 is not officially out, after all - I'm playing with Developers Preview, and it is also still work in progress - there were already two chunky updates for it, since it was made available for developers.
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