SwiftKey updated with new 'Toolbar' for quick access to GIFs, emoji and clipboard text

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in iPhone
Microsoft on Thursday released an update to its SwiftKey predictive keyboard app for iOS and Android, adding a number of enhancements including the Toolbar, an expandable menu that sits atop the keyboard for easy access to frequently used features.




The Toolbar, available in SwiftKey version 7.0, can be found under a new "+" sign on the left hand side of the text prediction bar, and provides users quick access to GIFs, emoji characters and text copied to the iOS clipboard.

Tapping on emoji, for example, provides a sampling of characters based on what is being typed in the prediction bar. Users can also search for or browse a selection of embeddable GIFs, while clipboard integration allows for insertion of copied text or the copying of custom clips.

Android users get a few more Toolbar options that will be released soon including location sharing which will allow users in the U.S. and India to insert their current location into an app. Calendar sharing is also coming to Google's operating system, granting quick access to upcoming appointments and saved dates. Whether those functions are being planned for iOS remains unknown.

In addition to Toolbar, SwiftKey gets a new option to place stickers into a variety of apps. Microsoft is working to roll out sticker packs in the near future.

SwiftKey was purchased by Microsoft in 2016 for a reported $250 million as part of a thrust into AI. Dubbed as the world's first neural network keyboard, SwiftKey applies a specialized database to continuously monitored user input to return personalized next-word predictions, a method said to be more accurate than rival keyboards that rely on pattern recognition.

Apple initially opened iOS up to third-party keyboards with iOS 8 in 2014. Since then, a number of developers have attempted to produce a better, faster and more reliable keyboard than stock iOS, though many have failed. Among the most popular is Google's GBoard, which integrates GIFs, emojis, so-called Glide Typing and Google search.

SwiftKey for iOS is a free 115.4MB download from the iOS App Store.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    250 million … for a keyboard?

    And people bang on about the Beats buyout…
  • Reply 2 of 10
    AvieshekAvieshek Posts: 100member
    Rayz2016 said:
    250 million … for a keyboard?

    And people bang on about the Beats buyout…
    Read the article?
  • Reply 3 of 10
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Avieshek said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    250 million … for a keyboard?

    And people bang on about the Beats buyout…
    Read the article?
    Yeah…

    250 million for a keyboard??
    peterhart
  • Reply 4 of 10
    frantisekfrantisek Posts: 756member
    Swiftkey is only other keyboard I use and reason is it is only keyboard that has prediction in our language. But do not use it much as i change keyboards quite often and every alternative keybord use keyboard key for number of things but not to direct switch to other keyboard (holding to popup keyboard list) that drive me crazy and force to stop using them. I hate Apple that it allowed this nasty behavior. And all i tested were slow, clunky, missing characters or being slow.
    Calikid55
  • Reply 5 of 10
    roakeroake Posts: 809member
    frantisek said:
    But do not use it much as i change keyboards quite often and every alternative keybord use keyboard key for number of things but not to direct switch to other keyboard (holding to popup keyboard list) that drive me crazy and force to stop using them.
    Which language is this so that I can translate it?  I’m sure your point is interesting.
    edited March 2018
  • Reply 6 of 10
    roakeroake Posts: 809member
    I’ve not found third-party keyboards to be that useful.  They all seem quirky.  I also worry about getting used to a particular keyboard and then later seeing support for it dropped (such as if a competitor buys it for their own phone line or the company goes belly-up).
  • Reply 7 of 10
    This is truly the only keyboard I use, unless I blog them I use Grammerly because I suck at spell check 
  • Reply 8 of 10
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    SwiftKey was suggested by a few people from here as replacement for Swype and came with good recommendations.

    I have used it for week, and it is really bad compared to Swype from a predictive tracing the keys to type out words. I use Swype of years even before it was on iOS. It works great and your swiping accuracy does not have to be perfect and 90% of the time Swype get the word you are spelling correctly. It even does really well even when I am not 100% sure how to spell a word.

    SwiftKey on the other hand is very poor, you have to be very accurate on crossing all the right letters for it to know what word you want. It is very in forgiving. The other issue is the fact it first assumes you are typing out each word before it knows you want to swipe over the keys, this causes problems because it sometimes misses the first few letters so it does not know what you are trying to spell.

    Swype on the other hand starts out assuming you are swiping verse typing, seem to know what are the possible words you could be spelling by your swipe over, even if you do not cross over the exact letter. SwiftKey, does require you to cross over the exact letter to know the correct word. Because of this Swype allows faster "swipe typing" than SwiftKey without having the issue of dealing with misspell or unable to recognize the word requiring you to retry or finger type the correct word.

    So right now Swype is just a far better product and far more forgiving than any other swipe based keyboard, but the problem is Swype it is a dead product. I read other websites reviews of SwiftKey and I am not sure how they could say it is equal of better than Swype, there are huge difference in the two.
    edited March 2018
  • Reply 9 of 10
    This is truly the only keyboard I use except for when I blog then I use Grammerly because I suck at spell check 
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