SwiftKey is one of the most popular third-party keyboards on Android. I’ve used SwiftKey as my primary keyboard years, and I don’t plan on switching anytime soon. It consistently remains one of the best Android keyboards and rivals Google’s Gboard. Owing to its popularity among fans, it was bought by Microsoft in February 2016. The keyboard has many noteworthy features such as swipe typing, auto space, next word prediction, easy switching between languages and more.
The latest version of the keyboard, SwiftKey 7.0 has been released in a stable form for Android users worldwide. It brings many new features, the most notable one being a Toolbar to quickly access several features. The Toolbar can be accessed by tapping on the “+” button on the left of the prediction bar. It contains themes, GIFs, stickers, the clipboard, and Collections. Users can now create their stickers directly within SwiftKey by using their photos. The newly created stickers can then be saved in the users’ Collections. The 7.0 update also brings support for location sharing. Other improvements include a better clipboard, Incognito mode, calendar integration, and more. New languages have been added as well. Here’s the changelog:
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- Use make your own stickers directly within SwiftKey
- We’ve added new languages: Ayizo, Aymara, Bariba, Bavarian, Bicolano Central, Ilocano, Kapampangan, Kirundi, Latin, Lombard, Mam, Miskito, Nahuatl, Pangasinan, Tongan, Tulu, Upper Sorbian, Yucatec Maya.
With fewer third-party keyboards on the market and Swype being discontinued on Android and iOS, there are few remaining alternatives to native keyboards. While there’s no denying the fact that Gboard is legitimately making an effort to get better, I’d still stick to SwiftKey, solely because it has about three odd years of my predictions saved on it. Many would argue that the new features not necessary and it would make the keyboard more bloated, and they’re right to an extent. The whole point of SwiftKey was to serve as a lightweight keyboard with core functionalities.
Source: XDA developers
