14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has often been criticized for launching many apps on iOS and Android before bringing them on its very own Windows Phone platform, so it should come as no surprise that the company is now looking to release its highly praised Word Flow keyboard on Apple's iPhone.
The Redmond-based software giant has started sending out invites to a select group of insiders participating to the Windows 10 testing effort in order to invite them to join a new program that would involve running the Word Flow keyboard on the iPhone.
The keyboard requires an iPhone 5s or newer, according to Microsoft's email, and most likely needs iOS 9, but full details should be revealed once the app launches in the app store.
“Word Flow keyboard has long been one of the highly praised features on Windows Phone and was used to break the Guinness World Record for fastest texting. We are now working on extending this keyboard to other platforms, starting with iOS,” Microsoft explains in the email sent to select insiders.
“Before publicly releasing this keyboard to the App Store, we’d love to give Insiders like you a preview. With your feedback, we’ll build a roadmap of improvements to the keyboard over time.”
Word Flow versus SwiftKey
Even though you can easily get used to the default iOS keyboard too, there's no doubt that SwiftKey is one of the most popular alternatives on iPhones, pretty much because it provides extremely accurate suggestions that can help you write correctly and faster even with one hand.
Word Flow, which has managed to set a world record for fastest typing, is indeed a very advanced piece of software, but the suggestion system is not yet as advanced as SwiftKey's. At least, not yet, but with work from insiders, Microsoft can improve in this area too.
It remains to be seen, however, how Microsoft will once again cope with criticism coming from hardcore Windows Phone users who see yet another flagship application landing on rival platforms.
