Swype for iOS 8 became available mid-yesterday on the Apple’s OZ App Store, bringing its famous finger-slide keyboard that delivers speed, accuracy and simplicity for just $1.29.
Nuance, the maker of the popular Dragon Dictation range of software for PCs, Macs, smartphones and tablets, has finally brought the Swype keyboard to iOS 8.
Through Android, Swype has been deployed on over a billion devices around the world, and has even spawned many clones, but Swype is widely recognised as being the best sliding keyboard out there.
Swype’s continuous touch technology lets users effortlessly glide their finger from one letter to the next – with words and phrases appearing as they go.
 Click to enlarge |
Jason Stirling, Senior VP, AP, of Nuance Communications said: “The keyboard is perhaps the most used feature on a phone, so it has to be intuitive, fast, and of course, it has to deliver incredibly high accuracy.
“These have long been the guiding principles behind Swype – the original continuous touch innovation that changed the way people input text on a mobile keyboard, and gave rise to the era of keyboard choice. With iOS 8, anyone can now experience the power of Swype on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.”
Swype works on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch models running iOS 8 only, with features including:
– Quick and Easy Punctuation: Users can enjoy built-in Swype gestures to enter punctuation and symbols for an intuitive and accurate typing experience.
– Next Word Prediction: With advanced next word prediction, Swype users will enjoy a natural, proactive text input experience.
– Adaptive, Learning Vocabulary: Swype learns the words and phrases users use the most so they automatically appear as people input text. So the more it is used, the smarter Swype gets.
– Themes: Five themes will be available at launch to give users the option to personalise their Swype experience.
– Broad Language Coverage: Swype for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch will include language support for English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more on the way.
Nuance says Swype for iOS 8 is available at a “special price” of $1.29, without mentioning the fact that the app costs 99c in the US.
The notion of a “special price” suggests Nuance might raise the price in the future, but it’s probably just a bit of clever marketing to encourage iOS 8 owners to get Swype now.
I purchased it yesterday after upgrading my iPhone 5s to iOS 8, and I’m loving it!
When you install Swype, you’re taken through a short tutorial which shows how to activate the keyboard in General, Settings, Keyboard then Keyboards. Here you can add the Swype keyboard.
Here you can also tap the “edit” button to re-arrange the Swype keyboard to the top of the list, ensuring the Swype keyboard is the one all apps default to.
You’ll also notice that anytime you need to enter a password, Apple’s own default keyboard temporarily pops up to re-assure users that their passwords aren’t being spied on by third party keyboards, with third-party keyboards on iOS 8 unable to sync content to the cloud as is the case with Android’s third party keyboard.
Happy Swyping!
