How to install a third-party keyboard on an iPhone or iPad running iOS 8

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  • Reply 21 of 55
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post

     

    Oh, we trust the safety measures. We don't trust inactivating the safety measures. Giving third parties "Full Access" is b.s.


     

    So now iOS users can't trust that every app in the Apple App Store is safe?  I don't buy that.  Apple wouldn't knowingly allow unsafe apps into their app store and you can bet they examined 3rd party keyboards with extra scrutiny.

  • Reply 22 of 55
    I see. I suppose I was coming from a "Worst case scenario" perspective. It just feels a little strange to me still. I also kind of don't care for it scanning gmail. Using Facebook and Twitter seems fine since that is public. I admit not doing much research into this topic but reacting to the article. Swift Key sounds fairly decent in their policies but others may be different.

    We will see how it pans out. It will likely be alright. I just can see why people might feel uncomfortable. Though at the end of the day I trust that Apple would have a strict policy for approving these apps just like everything else. 8-)
  • Reply 23 of 55
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RyanneJ View Post



    I see. I suppose I was coming from a "Worst case scenario" perspective. It just feels a little strange to me still. I also kind of don't care for it scanning gmail. Using Facebook and Twitter seems fine since that is public. I admit not doing much research into this topic but reacting to the article. Swift Key sounds fairly decent in their policies but others may be different.



    We will see how it pans out. It will likely be alright. I just can see why people might feel uncomfortable. Though at the end of the day I trust that Apple would have a strict policy for approving these apps just like everything else. image

     

    On Android you have to specifically grant SwiftKey access to GMail, Facebook, and Twitter all separately.  You can still use the keyboard without doing this.

  • Reply 24 of 55
    Yeah, that allow all access thing really harshed that desire. Native keyboard it is!
  • Reply 25 of 55
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,226member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post



    They're not getting a copy of every single thing you type.



    http://swiftkey.com/en/privacy/

    Beautiful! Not everything. Just most everything. Swiftkey even wants access to my Contacts to "establish a base for your personalized language model." B.S. Users can't even change the default preferences without giving full access, which is absolute hogwash.

     

    Whoopy-big deal if these keyboards are locked out when entering data in password fields. There's a lot more in my confidential information than just passwords. With 3rd party keyboards, there are just too many fingers in the pudding. Too many ways for people to screw up.

  • Reply 26 of 55
    cpsro wrote: »
    Beautiful! Not everything. Just most everything. Swiftkey even wants access to my Contacts to "establish a base for your personalized language model." [SIZE=16px]B.S. [/SIZE][SIZE=16px]Users can't even change the default preferences without giving full access, which is absolute hogwash.[/SIZE]

    Whoopy-big deal if these keyboards are locked out when entering data in password fields. There's a [SIZE=16px]lot[/SIZE] more in my confidential information than just passwords. With 3rd party keyboards, there are just too many fingers in the pudding. Too many ways for people to screw up.

    That's still not most everything. If you have uncommon names in your contact list then SwiftKey will learn them. It's all to improve the UX not to spy on the user. With the multitude of Android users using 3rd party keyboards for years any data breaches would've been discovered. Again I don't think Apple would've allowed these keyboards if there was a real life concern, and not a bunch of hypothetical what ifs.
  • Reply 27 of 55
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member

    Not interested in most of these. Something that intercepts keystrokes and is free or dirt cheap makes me nervous.

     

    I make one exception for the new TextExpander for iOS and its keyboard, as this is an app I use on all my devices, and finally having my shortcuts available in all iOS apps, including Mail, is something I have waited for a long time – and this is a developer I do trust. Between this and the 1Password update (works in Safari and supports TouchID), my two biggest gripes have been removed (on day one of iOS 8).

  • Reply 28 of 55
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,307member
    Hee...Hee...Hee..Key-logger
  • Reply 29 of 55
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,226member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post



    With the multitude of Android users using 3rd party keyboards for years any data breaches would've been discovered. Again I don't think Apple would've allowed these keyboards if there was a real life concern, and not a bunch of hypothetical what ifs.

    This kind of 3rd party threat to privacy and security is one of the principal reasons I've stuck with iOS, recommended iOS, and not even entertained the thought of jailbreaking iOS in eons. Swiftkey has absolutely no business requiring Full Access before letting me change preferences. Where was Apple in the review of that policy? Where will Apple be when (not if) Swiftkey's systems are hacked?

  • Reply 30 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ddawson100 View Post

     

    I just installed iOS 8 and went to look for the new keyboards. Searching for "Swype" or "Swype Nuance" and Swift or "SwiftKey" or "SwiftKey Keyboard" is not helpful. The result is for items that aren't made by Nuance or SwiftKey. That's bad news and is going to give the legit keyboards a bad reputation.


     

    NM. I just went and those are there now.

  • Reply 31 of 55
    I would still rather see these not require an app. Seems an odd and unnecessary step. Just be able to go into settings rather like we do with ringtones to access a special 'store' for these keyboards, emoji/stickers, language support packs etc.
  • Reply 32 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post



    I would still rather see these not require an app. Seems an odd and unnecessary step. Just be able to go into settings rather like we do with ringtones to access a special 'store' for these keyboards, emoji/stickers, language support packs etc.



    Understand why you say that, but there are some things they do have for apps (update mechanism, kill switch if needed, developer certificate revocation if needed, a review process) that do make some sense for internet connected keyboards IMHO. I assume something as simple as a possibility to hide app icons from the Springboard (as you can do on the Apple TV) would be acceptable for most.

  • Reply 33 of 55
    I found this on Fleksy's website, although it refers to Android devices:


    You may encounter a warning message when installing our application on your Android device that says Fleksy may be able to collect "all the text you type, including personal data like passwords and credit card numbers"?. This alert appears whenever any third-party input method is enabled. Fleksy is designed NOT to receive or log such sensitive data.
  • Reply 34 of 55

    Maybe it's just teething problems, but if it's really just syncing prefs and such like they say (and I am sure that this is 99% accurate), why could I not get either SwiftKey or Fleksy to even display the keyboards until I turned on full access?  Surely if it's an option, it's optional, but in both cases when I enabled the keyboards without full access to them, and then switched to them in a notes app, the keyboards simply failed to show anything onscreen, not even the button to switch to a different keyboard, resulting in me having to either turn full access on to make it work, or remove the keyboard to allow me to use another.  All or nothing, it seemed.

  • Reply 35 of 55

    According to the SwiftKey website:

     

     

    Two types of data can be transferred while using SwiftKey Keyboard.

    First, anonymous usage stats are periodically sent back to help us understand how people use the functionality of SwiftKey and how we can make it better. We get meta-level insights such as how many characters people have entered in total and how many keystrokes have been saved, but we don’t know anything about what you have been writing. If the app crashes, anonymous info about the crash will also be sent to us.

    Second, if you sign up for SwiftKey Cloud, various additional data can be transferred to our servers to help us provide these services. For example, if you have Backup and Sync enabled, you give explicit permission for your personal language model data to be stored on our servers and processed to ensure prediction consistency between your devices. If you elect to use SwiftKey Cloud personalization services, you give explicit permission for our servers to process your personal message data from these services, in order to improve the word predictions that SwiftKey gives you.

  • Reply 36 of 55

    Can't get Swiftkey or Swype to work in Messages, Mail, Contacts, Notes.  Works in Safari, Twitter, Facebook.

  • Reply 37 of 55
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post



    With the multitude of Android users using 3rd party keyboards for years any data breaches would've been discovered. Again I don't think Apple would've allowed these keyboards if there was a real life concern, and not a bunch of hypothetical what ifs.

    This kind of 3rd party threat to privacy and security is one of the principal reasons I've stuck with iOS, recommended iOS, and not even entertained the thought of jailbreaking iOS in eons. Swiftkey has absolutely no business requiring Full Access before letting me change preferences. Where was Apple in the review of that policy? Where will Apple be when (not if) Swiftkey's systems are hacked?


     

    Indeed. I question Apple's wisdom in allowing such freedom with third-party keyboard apps. I think they should have restricted them to not allowing key-logging.

  • Reply 38 of 55
    cpsro wrote: »
    This kind of 3rd party threat to privacy and security is one of the principal reasons I've stuck with iOS, recommended iOS, and not even entertained the thought of jailbreaking iOS in eons. Swiftkey has absolutely no business requiring Full Access before letting me change preferences. Where was Apple in the review of that policy? Where will Apple be when (not if) Swiftkey's systems are hacked?

    If you are using that argument when a service gets hacked then please do not use your phone. Consider that you recognize swift key can be hacked you are right they can along with your bank, email, government, social network, and app (again) not using something simply because it runs the risk of being hacked in 2014 is redicules. Everything that connects to the interest can be hacked.
  • Reply 39 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple v. Samsung View Post

     
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post



    This kind of 3rd party threat to privacy and security is one of the principal reasons I've stuck with iOS, recommended iOS, and not even entertained the thought of jailbreaking iOS in eons. Swiftkey has absolutely no business requiring Full Access before letting me change preferences. Where was Apple in the review of that policy? Where will Apple be when (not if) Swiftkey's systems are hacked?




    If you are using that argument when a service gets hacked then please do not use your phone. Consider that you recognize swift key can be hacked you are right they can along with your bank, email, government, social network, and app (again) not using something simply because it runs the risk of being hacked in 2014 is redicules. Everything that connects to the interest can be hacked.

     

    Foolish argument. 

     

    I trust Apple to my keyboard. It's not wise to trust any third-party keyboards.

  • Reply 40 of 55
    Indeed. I question Apple's wisdom in allowing such freedom with third-party keyboard apps. I think they should have restricted them to not allowing key-logging.

    It's a generic warning. It's what can theoretically can happen, and there hasn't been a single proven case of any nefarious keylogging. I'm sure they've been thoroughly vetted by Apple so that they felt comfortable enough to allow them in the app store.
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