TouchPal shows off third-party sliding keyboard input in Apple's iOS 8

Posted:
in iPhone edited June 2014
With Apple set to open iOS 8 to third-party keyboards when it launches this fall, TouchPal on Wednesday showcased its own upcoming text entry software, with a sliding style of text entry that allows users to keep their finger on the screen at all times.



The video shows how TouchPal will allow users to slide their finger over the letters on the keyboard to automatically form a word. Users can also slide up for numbers and down to access symbols.

The keyboard is also said to support mistyping correction and next-word prediction, though neither feature is shown in the new video posted online Wednesday.

TouchPal told AppleInsider that it is planning to make its keyboard available to test for some iOS 8 beta users in the coming weeks.




The video comes after popular custom keyboard company Fleksy offered a sneak peek screenshot of its software running on iOS 8 last week. Developers can sign up now to be among the first to test Fleksy once its available, though no release date has been given.

TouchPal and Fleksy will join SwiftKey and Swype, both of which are also confirmed to be coming to iOS 8. And Apple's integrated keyboard will also be upgraded with QuickType, a new feature that suggests words to users and adapts to their language over time.




Apple revealed last week that third-party keyboard support will be available through the new extensions capability for developers in iOS 8. The keyboards will be available to use system-wide once a user installs them, and Apple will present users with the following warning before they enable a third-party keyboard:

"Full access allows the developer to transmit anything you type, including things you have previously typed with this keyboard. This could include sensitive information such as your credit card number or street address."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    j1h15233j1h15233 Posts: 274member
    Certainly looks interesting. I'm very curious to try third party keyboards in a real world scenario though.
  • Reply 2 of 46
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I don't recall it being mentioned during the keynote but any secure field in an app will use the default keyboard even if you have chosen to use a 3rd-party option.
  • Reply 3 of 46
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Interesting, thanks. But since secure fields are going to be passwords 9/10 times they'll mostly be covered by TouchID anyway.
  • Reply 4 of 46
    Here's a good way to predict which stories show up on Appleinsider. Read Macrumors, then look for a similar story to show up here about 45 minutes later.
  • Reply 5 of 46
    dnd0psdnd0ps Posts: 253member

    Get the jailbreak swype tweak and combine that with the standard keyboard im happy

  • Reply 6 of 46

    "Full access allows the developer to transmit anything you type, including things you have previously typed with this keyboard. This could include sensitive information such as your credit card number or street address"

     

    Anyone else nervous?

     

    Does my phone know everything I've previously typed?  I'm kinda guessing it's more like a weighted word/phrase dictionary of some sort that it builds over time, rather than a simple verbatim history.  Even so, I think I'll be skipping a 3rd party keyboard until I know more.

     

    Ah, wait - it appears only to be things typed with that particular keyboard.  Is that how everyone else reads it?  Still.... kind of nervous.

  • Reply 7 of 46
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by jinglesthula View Post

    Anyone else nervous?


     

    Anyone nervous about this is smart enough not to use third party keyboards or allow them access. Anyone else is stupid enough that they deserve what happens. Actually, anyone dumb enough not to be nervous won’t be smart enough to install a third party keyboard in the first place. :p

  • Reply 8 of 46
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    I suppose there are a lot of people interested in these types of keyboards, but I've never had much luck with them. I prefer to tap on the keys or have suggested words I can select. Yes, I'm too old to "get it". :p

  • Reply 9 of 46
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    Anyone nervous about this is smart enough not to use third party keyboards or allow them access. Anyone else is stupid enough that they deserve what happens. Actually, anyone dumb enough not to be nervous won’t be smart enough to install a third party keyboard in the first place. :p


     

    Ha!

  • Reply 10 of 46
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Christ alive paranoiacs, Apple aren't the only trustworthy company out there! What exactly have Swype, Swiftkey and the like done to earn this suspicion? Android certainly hasn't suffered for them.
  • Reply 11 of 46
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,799member

    A fool and his money are soon parted, why pay a third party to record your key strokes? Makes no sense. And to top it off only .5% or 1% of the users out there will even try third party keyboards, this is just a item (so-called feature) checked off from the Geek list.

  • Reply 12 of 46
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    All I want is for Apple to improve the shift key and give me the option of a black keyboard. That's all. :D

  • Reply 13 of 46
    waterrocketswaterrockets Posts: 1,231member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Crowley View Post



    Christ alive paranoiacs, Apple aren't the only trustworthy company out there! 

    Yeah, I don't get it, but it's a consistent paranoia.

  • Reply 14 of 46
    It's a great news to know that Apple has allowed third part keyboards installion in the new iOS 8. And I also love the Family Sharing feature! Swiftkey also would work great on iOS 8! :)

    Check my blog: http://www.downloadios8beta.blogspot.in/
  • Reply 15 of 46
    Anyone nervous about this is smart enough not to use third party keyboards or allow them access. Anyone else is stupid enough that they deserve what happens. Actually, anyone dumb enough not to be nervous won’t be smart enough to install a third party keyboard in the first place. :p
    Pretty funny.

    But I was under the impression that the reason why it took Apple so long to allow third-party keyboards and other such features… Is because they had to find a way to do it while maintaining our security and privacy.

    True with android devices, third party keyboards can take and use your private sensitive information… But if I'm not mistaken I think Apple has found a way to circumvent this.

    It would be very un-Apple like if they didn't.
  • Reply 16 of 46
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by StephanJobs View Post

    But I was under the impression that the reason why it took Apple so long to allow third-party keyboards and other such features… Is because they had to find a way to do it while maintaining our security and privacy.

     

    Which is true; that’s exactly what they’ve done. They recognize, however, that some keyboards might want to call out for added features, so they give the option to do so in a popup (which, as has been said, WILL send everything you type to whomever owns the company behind the keyboard).

     

    The main question here isn’t anything regarding Apple, but rather why a keyboard would NEED to call off-device for ANY reason in the first place.

  • Reply 17 of 46
    tribalogicaltribalogical Posts: 1,182member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Crowley View Post



    Christ alive paranoiacs, Apple aren't the only trustworthy company out there! What exactly have Swype, Swiftkey and the like done to earn this suspicion? Android certainly hasn't suffered for them.

     

    No-one is saying Apple is the only trustworthy company out there. But they have set a pretty high bar. 

     

    A part of me is wondering whether you were being sarcastic or not? In particular due to that last sentence. "Android certainly hasn't suffered for them." I laughed, no guffawed, out loud at that one.

     

    I mean, really...? You mean Android, the least secure mobile platform on the planet? 97% of all of today's mobile malware lives on or emanates from Android devices. It's a huge security hole swarming with hapless (often clueless) victims and so, yeah. I'm going to err on the side of caution when it's revealed that a company, ANY company with a keyboard app, can transmit all my current (and past??) keyboard input to... um.... where? And why, exactly?

     

    Seriously...

     

    How about this. When (and only when) I know there's no extra NSA (or hacker or malware) layer in between, when I know where that data (everything I type!!!) is being sent, and WHY it's being sent, and exactly how securely it's being sent and/or stored, and to what purpose, and when I'm specifically told what's being done with that data, AND who can or can't access and read it after it's sent? Once I know all that, then yeah, maybe then I'll use their 3rd party keyboards. Until then? Nah..............

     

    It isn't being paranoid, it's being "not stupid". Because using them without knowing all of that information first would be privacy suicide... just saying.

  • Reply 18 of 46
    dickprinterdickprinter Posts: 1,060member

    Holy crap, using the current iOS7 keyboard I would've typed (touched) a longer sentence, gotten a reply, and replied back in the same time as this guy typed his first sentence. Can't wait to try the new iOS8 keyboard, which is, I'm sure, even faster!

  • Reply 19 of 46
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    "Full access allows the developer to transmit anything you type, including things you have previously typed with this keyboard. This could include sensitive information such as your credit card number or street address"

    Anyone else nervous?

    Does my phone know everything I've previously typed?  I'm kinda guessing it's more like a weighted word/phrase dictionary of some sort that it builds over time, rather than a simple verbatim history.  Even so, I think I'll be skipping a 3rd party keyboard until I know more.

    Ah, wait - it appears only to be things typed with that particular keyboard.  Is that how everyone else reads it?  Still.... kind of nervous.

    I believe anything typed in a 'secure' box (where you put in CC numbers and passwords) does not register with the keyboard. What you're typing doesn't show up in the predictive word spaces. The numbers/passwords are never saved into memory.
  • Reply 20 of 46
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    No-one is saying Apple is the only trustworthy company out there. But they have set a pretty high bar. 

    A part of me is wondering whether you were being sarcastic or not? In particular due to that last sentence. "Android certainly hasn't suffered for them." I laughed, no guffawed, out loud at that one.

    I mean, really...? You mean Android, the least secure mobile platform on the planet? 97% of all of today's mobile malware lives on or emanates from Android devices. It's a huge security hole swarming with hapless (often clueless) victims and so, yeah. I'm going to err on the side of caution when it's revealed that a company, ANY company with a keyboard app, can transmit all my current (and past??) keyboard input to... um.... where? And why, exactly?

    Seriously...

    How about this. When (and only when) I know there's no extra NSA (or hacker or malware) layer in between, when I know where that data (everything I type!!!) is being sent, and WHY it's being sent, and exactly how securely it's being sent and/or stored, and to what purpose, and when I'm specifically told what's being done with that data, AND who can or can't access and read it after it's sent? Once I know all that, then yeah, maybe then I'll use their 3rd party keyboards. Until then? Nah..............

    It isn't being paranoid, it's being "not stupid". Because using them without knowing all of that information first would be privacy suicide... just saying.

    Do you know Android is the least secure, or are you going by numerous reports you've read? I can definitely say Windows XP was a malware magnet because I had tons of malware instances, but I shop almost daily on my Android phone using SwiftKey and not once has any of my accounts been compromised. Any claim of malicious purposes by 3rd party keyboard devs is pure FUD.
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