5 iOS 8 Keyboards That Are Better Than What Apple Gives You

With the arrival of iOS 8, the iPhone finally—finally!—gets admission to custom keyboards, liberating your thumbs from the absolutism of Apple's apathetic offering. Here's a adviser to some of the best keyboards advancing your way today or in the abreast future.

How to add a new keyboard

To add a new keyboard, you charge to aboriginal download and install the alone keyboard app. Then, cross to your keyboard preferences central your iPhone's Settings app and add the keyboard to your account of accessible ascribe methods. It'll be added to a account appropriate next to English (US) and Emoji.

Then, if you go to blazon an email, cachet update, argument message, tweet, etc., you can admission the another ascribe method—your keyboard of choice—by borer the little angel button to the larboard of the spacebar.

SwiftKey and Swype

SwiftKey and Swype will be ablution iOS versions of their actual accepted Android keyboards (free, $1) . The two apps allotment amount features, and whether you like one or the added is mostly a amount of taste. They're both based about a annexation ascribe method; put your feel down on your phone's screen, annoyance it about from letter to letter, and the apps amount out what chat you're aggravating to spell, even if you accelerate sloppily.

The predictive tech is supplemented by accuracy that apprentice your appearance from your inputs on the keyboard over time, as able-bodied as from what you abode on your Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. The keyboards get so acute that the apps are advantageous not just for swiping, but aswell for accounting out words if that's added your style.

Fleksy

Fleksy ($1) is a savior for awkward typists—or just humans in a hurry. It boasts an accomplished autocorrect arrangement that can construe even the a lot of agilely broken inputs into absolute words. Gestures advice accomplish the app faster, too; if you don't like the aboriginal autocorrect advancement Fleksy provides, you can annal through them with an up and down bash anywhere on the keyboard.

If you don't like the options you've been accustomed at all, annexation from appropriate to larboard on the keyboard works like a behemothic annul button. Fleksy aswell has affluence of customization options so you can change the attending and feel of the app, although, we should note, some of them will amount you extra. Out today.

TextExpander

With the barrage of iOS 8, TextExpander will be acquaint a keyboard appliance that makes accounting out continued annoying things you abode all the time easier. TextExpander already exists as a accepted desktop account that turns adjustment phrases into a best block of characters. For example, if I wish to forward our appointment abode to someone, I artlessly blazon "gizhq" and it ancestor out to a abounding address, including architecture admission instructions.

TextExpander already exists as an iPhone app, but because of the Apple's sandbox, you couldn't use it to aggrandize snippets in added apps unless they'd implemented the SDK. Thanks to iOS 8's Extensions feature, your snippets can assuredly be acclimated anywhere on your phone. The keyboard just went reside with the latest TextExpander amend ($5).

PopKey

Before PopKey, the alone way to argument a acknowledgment GIF to a acquaintance was to go coursing one down in your Photos app. Or worse, if you didn't accept a GIF to bout the moment exactly, you would accept to go to the internet, acquisition the GIF, download the GIF, and again add the GIF to your message. So abundant adored acknowledgment time lost! With PopKey, you can seek a library of bags of GIFs for "LOL" "OMG" or "GTFO" or whatever else. Unfortunately, PopKey isn't reside just yet, but you can sign up for updates here.

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