Swype add-on keyboard discontinued, pulled from iOS App Store

Posted:
in iPhone
One of the first third-party keyboards for iOS, Swype, has reached its end of life, and will see no more updates or development effort by its parent company.




Nuance's Swype keyboard, has been discontinued, according to a company representative. On Feb. 1, Nuance posted the news, saying that it will allow the company to focus its attentions elsewhere.
Nuance will no longer be offering the Swype keyboard on iOS App Store. We're sorry to leave the direct-to-consumer keyboard business, but this change is necessary to allow us to concentrate on developing our AI solutions for sale directly to businesses.

We hope you enjoyed using Swype, we sure enjoyed working with the Swype community.
Nuance also develops the Dragon voice-recognition software for an assortment of markets, including the medical industry for transcription, and inclusion in vehicles.

The Android version of the keyboard has been axed as well.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    I remember well the incessant blathering about alternate keyboards by trolls and those never, EVER satisfied with what Apple does. The castigating was intense because Apple wouldn’t allow Swype on iOS. And now it’s gone.

    Can’t wait for the sadness and fawning praise for a now defunct product that was once the “reason” people weren’t going to buy iPhones. Apple,  always doomed.
    GeorgeBMacmike1randominternetpersonpscooter63racerhomie3anton zuykovStrangeDaysjony0watto_cobraJWSC
  • Reply 2 of 35
    thedbathedba Posts: 762member
    So the way I understand this is that these 3rd party keyboards aren't as popular as Android evangelists claimed they were before iOS also got them. I remember the endless ranting on how many couldn't live without them on the Android side and them deriding iOS for being so closed.
    GeorgeBMacchialkruppwatto_cobradysamoriaJWSC
  • Reply 3 of 35
    flydogflydog Posts: 1,123member
    These 3rd party keyboards were all buggy, less responsive, and didn't add much.  
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 35
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    I remember using this on my Android phones quite a bit, and tried using it on my iPhone a couple of times and I just didn't like it anymore. It got to the point where I could just type on the keyboard just as fast with the same accuracy. With Apple's addition of suggestions above the keyboard, I think it made something like swype even less useful. 
    edited February 2018 jony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 35
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    There are lots of third party keyboards available.  Swype was not the only one.  And not even the only swipe style keyboard.   For example, I use SwiftKey on a regular basis.   It is also a swipe style keyboard.

    Just because Nuance decided that this was not a business for them does not mean all non Apple keyboards have failed.
    netmagechianapoleon_phoneapartMplsPmuthuk_vanalingambb-15jony0sphericdysamoria
  • Reply 6 of 35
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    I was anxious to try the Microsoft keyboard with the keyboard on an arc that allowed one-handed operation. I downloaded it and before I used it, I learned that every keystroke was going back to MS. WTF is that?! I deleted it without trying it. Happy with Apple's solution on the occasions I need it.

    watto_cobradysamoria
  • Reply 7 of 35
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    flydog said:
    These 3rd party keyboards were all buggy, less responsive, and didn't add much.  

    No.  They are not all buggy, less responsive, or don't add much.   SwiftKey is great and was always better, for me, than Swype anyway and much preferred by me to the inbuilt Apple keyboard.
    netmagenapoleon_phoneapartmichelb76
  • Reply 8 of 35
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Oh this pisses me off, but i should not be surprise by Nuance position on this, they have killed more product over the years, they bought up so many companies who did anything with voice and handwriting recognitions and they own most of the IP in this space and license it to everyone but they tend to kill off products.

    I have been using this keyboard since it was first intro on Motorola android phones. I love this keyboard, it allows me to type out responses on my phone so fast even faster than people who thumb type and even if i kind of misspell a word it does a really good at guessing the right word. Yes it had some issues, but most of the issues seem to be on the iOS side then on Swype side, the reason I know this, Swype had few updates and when iOS updates the problems usually went away.

    I would not really care about this since i have Swype stored on my computer but with iOS 11 you can no longer load aps from your computer it has to down load with the store when you update your phone, so at some point I will not be able to get this on my phone.
  • Reply 9 of 35
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    chadbag said:
    There are lots of third party keyboards available.  Swype was not the only one.  And not even the only swipe style keyboard.   For example, I use SwiftKey on a regular basis.   It is also a swipe style keyboard.

    Just because Nuance decided that this was not a business for them does not mean all non Apple keyboards have failed.
    It's interesting how some people take the decision of one company to stop supporting an alternative keyboard as proof that anyone who ever advocated for such keyboards was simply an Android troll and ultimately wrong. Predictive text works well for me and I've never felt the need to use one of these, so I can't comment on their usefulness, but the lack of logical reasoning and conclusions is fascinating.
    muthuk_vanalingamavon b7
  • Reply 10 of 35
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    MplsP said:
    chadbag said:
    There are lots of third party keyboards available.  Swype was not the only one.  And not even the only swipe style keyboard.   For example, I use SwiftKey on a regular basis.   It is also a swipe style keyboard.

    Just because Nuance decided that this was not a business for them does not mean all non Apple keyboards have failed.
    It's interesting how some people take the decision of one company to stop supporting an alternative keyboard as proof that anyone who ever advocated for such keyboards was simply an Android troll and ultimately wrong. Predictive text works well for me and I've never felt the need to use one of these, so I can't comment on their usefulness, but the lack of logical reasoning and conclusions is fascinating.
    Not Android trolls per say but a teeny weeny minority of techie wannabes who think they are the majority.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobraJWSC
  • Reply 11 of 35
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    chadbag said:
    flydog said:
    These 3rd party keyboards were all buggy, less responsive, and didn't add much.  

    No.  They are not all buggy, less responsive, or don't add much.   SwiftKey is great and was always better, for me, than Swype anyway and much preferred by me to the inbuilt Apple keyboard.
    I have to check this out, i suspect they are licensing Nuances IP, and my the reason they killed off their product. I tend not to look around when I have something that works well for me.

  • Reply 12 of 35
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    lkrupp said:
    I remember well the incessant blathering about alternate keyboards by trolls and those never, EVER satisfied with what Apple does. The castigating was intense because Apple wouldn’t allow Swype on iOS. And now it’s gone.

    Can’t wait for the sadness and fawning praise for a now defunct product that was once the “reason” people weren’t going to buy iPhones. Apple,  always doomed.
    I'm glad Apple finally created a "secure" method for these people to add 3rd-party keyboards if mostly just to show that they're mostly unused and have security risks that Apple can't stop if your special keyboard needs network access and you willingly choose to allow eery keystroke you make to be sent to some random developer's servers.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 35
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    I think the problem is, that other Keyboards like Google's for example also do the same thing and so much more. One of the problems on iOS 3rd party Keyboards is Apple doesn't allow the Mic in them. So if You want to use that, you have to use Apple's.

    The other issue is Apple not trusting 3rd party Keyboards with your password Data, so every time you have to enter your password, you get the Keyboard jolt as it switches from 3rd party to Apple's every time you need to enter a password.

    There are a ton of keyboards out there to pick from. Right now I'm using Grammarly.
    dysamoria
  • Reply 14 of 35
    "All the necessary information, including your passwords and credit cards had been successfully collected, thank you very much. Support for the app has been pulled, as we see no further interest in supporting this app. Thank you for your cooperation. We are going to focus out attention (cough) elsewhere". -Nuance

    And THAT is why, ladies and gentlemen, you should NOT be using third-party keyboards.
    edited February 2018 StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 35
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Soli said:
    lkrupp said:
    I remember well the incessant blathering about alternate keyboards by trolls and those never, EVER satisfied with what Apple does. The castigating was intense because Apple wouldn’t allow Swype on iOS. And now it’s gone.

    Can’t wait for the sadness and fawning praise for a now defunct product that was once the “reason” people weren’t going to buy iPhones. Apple,  always doomed.
    I'm glad Apple finally created a "secure" method for these people to add 3rd-party keyboards if mostly just to show that they're mostly unused and have security risks that Apple can't stop if your special keyboard needs network access and you willingly choose to allow eery keystroke you make to be sent to some random developer's servers.
    I'm glad Apple thought about security down to the keyboard level, but it can be frustrating at times of Apple knows you are about to enter UID or password they force you to use the default Apple keyboard.  I use 1 password on my phone and it will not let me search in the appl with the Swype keyboard, it seams to know it's a secure app. This is pain at time since I automatically just start to Swype.
  • Reply 16 of 35
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    "All the necessary information, including your passwords and credit cards had been successfully collected, thank you very much. Support for the app has been pulled, as we see no further interest in supporting this app. Thank you for your cooperation. We are going to focus out attention (cough) elsewhere". -Nuance

    And THAT is why, ladies and gentlemen, you should NOT be using third-party keyboards.
    Hate to tell you Apple does not allow 3rd party apps to enter that kind of information. It forces you to use their keyboard. Now I wonder if that is true on other platforms.
    gatorguywatto_cobradysamoria
  • Reply 17 of 35
    Google's G-board keyboard "Sherlocked" Swype. Sad!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 35
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    maestro64 said:
    Soli said:
    lkrupp said:
    I remember well the incessant blathering about alternate keyboards by trolls and those never, EVER satisfied with what Apple does. The castigating was intense because Apple wouldn’t allow Swype on iOS. And now it’s gone.

    Can’t wait for the sadness and fawning praise for a now defunct product that was once the “reason” people weren’t going to buy iPhones. Apple,  always doomed.
    I'm glad Apple finally created a "secure" method for these people to add 3rd-party keyboards if mostly just to show that they're mostly unused and have security risks that Apple can't stop if your special keyboard needs network access and you willingly choose to allow eery keystroke you make to be sent to some random developer's servers.
    I'm glad Apple thought about security down to the keyboard level, but it can be frustrating at times of Apple knows you are about to enter UID or password they force you to use the default Apple keyboard.  I use 1 password on my phone and it will not let me search in the appl with the Swype keyboard, it seams to know it's a secure app. This is pain at time since I automatically just start to Swype.
    They have APIs that allow apps to securely access your password manager, but no Apple apps use it and so few 3rd-party apps use it.


    Q: Do you do this so 1P is always available in mobile Safari?


    macxpress
  • Reply 19 of 35
    thedbathedba Posts: 762member
    chadbag said:
    There are lots of third party keyboards available.  Swype was not the only one.  And not even the only swipe style keyboard.   For example, I use SwiftKey on a regular basis.   It is also a swipe style keyboard.

    Just because Nuance decided that this was not a business for them does not mean all non Apple keyboards have failed.
    I don't think anyone here is saying that it was the only one. However it was one of the more popular ones. Since Nuance decided to suspend both iOS and Android development, then maybe these 3rd party keyboards aren't all they're hyped up to be. That's the only argument being made. 
    Solitokyojimubb-15watto_cobradysamoria
  • Reply 20 of 35
    maestro64 said:
    "All the necessary information, including your passwords and credit cards had been successfully collected, thank you very much. Support for the app has been pulled, as we see no further interest in supporting this app. Thank you for your cooperation. We are going to focus out attention (cough) elsewhere". -Nuance

    And THAT is why, ladies and gentlemen, you should NOT be using third-party keyboards.
    Hate to tell you Apple does not allow 3rd party apps to enter that kind of information. It forces you to use their keyboard. Now I wonder if that is true on other platforms.
    Hate to ask, but how would Apple know if I am entering a password/credit card data or some message that does not contain any of that?
    Apple did allow third party keyboards, so I am not sure where did you get that stuff from, that they do not let 3rd party apps "enter" that info, especially considering the fact that a keyboard is there to ENTER information.
    edited February 2018 watto_cobra
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