Popular Android keyboard replacement SwiftKey has finally arrived on Apple devices in its first iOS app, but not in a way that you might expect. SwiftKey Note brings the beloved keyboard to Apple devices with many of its features intact, acting as both a companion app to note taking favorite Evernote and as a standalone note taking app.
Missing from SwiftKey Note is SwiftKey’s Flow feature. Operating like another popular Android keyboard replacement, Swype, Flow allows users to slide their finger across the keyboard, picking out letters to form words. SwiftKey CMO Joe Braidwood commented on the lack of Flow and the app’s relatively keyed-down elements:
“We want to stay pretty consistent with the experience of iOS. … We didn’t want to freak anyone out with something that functions more like SwiftKey on Android, which is something we built very much for that platform. We wanted to build around what Apple has built for users, so that they’re completely up to speed and familiar with what they see.”
There’s no doubt that SwiftKey Note will feel very familiar to iOS users, who will appreciate Note’s minimalist interface. The app’s design matches the iOS theme and the keyboard is nearly an exact copy of Apple’s standard keyboard. There is one huge difference, though – a bar at the top of the keyboard that offers predictions based upon what you’re typing.
The genius of SwiftKey is its contextual software, which learns from what you’ve typed, input into your personal dictionary, and imported from supported apps like Facebook, Twitter, and others which are not included in Note at launch, but which Braidwood says may be added in the future. SwiftKey Note will operate in exactly the same way, using its analytic software to learn from your Evernote entries, importing them to Note and analyzing them for your writing style.
SwiftKey Note is available today on the Appstore, and is totally free.
Image Credits: Wikipedia, MacLife, Pulse2
Last Updated on July 4, 2014.
