I’m not sure how I feel about third-party keyboards. On one hand, I love the idea, it can create a more efficient way of typing. On the other hand, iOS handles third-party keyboards in a way that makes me not want to use it. The implementation is so buggy. Even in iOS 8.1 or the upcoming iOS 8.1.1, it’s still a hit or miss with them. The reasoning is simple, iOS is sandboxed, therefore apps can’t leave their homes. With third-party keyboards, every time a keyboard comes up, iOS will load the keyboard from memory.
Nonetheless, I love/hate the Swype keyboard. It’s neat and it works pretty well. Again, iOS implements the keyboards in such a way that it’ll occasionally forget to load, or forget to kill itself. The app typically costs $0.99 but is currently free on the App Store. The app was also recently updated with more language support, and a better iPad layout.
Switching between keyboards on iOS is such a pain, but hopefully it’ll be fixed soon. Obviously, it’s a hit or miss. But with the price of free, there’s no reason not to try it out.
Leave a Reply