14 DAY TRIAL // While Apple offers a pretty capable keyboard on the iPhone, it’s not a secret that many people turn to third-party alternatives as well.
And without a doubt, one of the most popular is SwiftKey, which is arguably the best keyboard for iPhone.
Owned by Microsoft after the software giant purchased the parent company back in 2016, SwiftKey currently has millions of users on the iPhone, and it’s one of the top apps on the App Store.
However, SwiftKey hasn’t been updated in more than a year, and for many, this was a sign that bad news is coming. And as it turns out, the bad news is here, as Microsoft has recently confirmed that it’s killing off the iOS version of SwiftKey.
The application will continue to be supported on Android, but on iPhones, it would no longer receive further updates and improvements. If SwiftKey is already installed on your device, the app should continue to work properly, though it’s pretty clear that sticking with an unsupported keyboard isn’t by any means a good idea anyway.
“As of October 5, support for SwiftKey iOS will end and it will be delisted from the Apple App Store. Microsoft will continue support for SwiftKey Android as well as the underlying technology that powers the Windows touch keyboard. For those customers who have SwiftKey installed on iOS, it will continue to work until it is manually uninstalled or a user gets a new device. Please visit Support.SwiftKey.com for more information,” Microsoft says.
While there are plenty of alternatives on the App Store, finding a worthy replacement to SwiftKey isn’t going to be an easy mission, especially given the impressive language support available in Microsoft’s app.
For what it’s worth, iOS 16 is bringing haptic feedback to Apple’s keyboard, so maybe it’s time to go back to the default settings now that SwiftKey is going away.