A first look at Brightkey for iOS 8

Brightkey 1

I’m of the philosophy that if you are going to add a third-party keyboard to your iPhone, there is no reason to waste time with boring designs. The brighter, the better. My fascination with third-party keyboards starts with how different they look than Apple’s standard one.

Brightkey for iOS 8 is just about as different as they come. It features eight different skins, including five candy-colored keyboards. I just want to eat my iPhone it’s so cute. Plus, this keyboard has one standout feature that you’ll love.

The main feature of Brightkey is in the variety of colors. Similar to Flesky, you have multiple color options. There are three “metallic” looks, including space gray, silver, and gold. Plus there are four bright colors and one basic white.

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After you’ve enabled the keyboard, reopen the Brightkey app to pick your favorite design and view the tutorial to see what other features the app includes. The layout of the keyboard is pretty much identical to Apple’s stock keyboard, so there won’t be any effort getting used to it.

Like any good keyboard app, this one features predictive typing. Start typing a word to see three options. The first will be the word you typed. The second and third will be suggestions.

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This app also includes quick phrases. Swipe upward from the keyboard’s spacebar to reveal seven premade phrases, including “On my way,” “Can’t talk right now,” and “Bye for now.” Tap a phrase and it will automatically enter into the document. Unfortunately, you can’t create your own quick phrases. That would be a fantastic feature. Hopefully, personalized quick phrases will be available in the future.

My favorite feature of Brightkey (other than the candy colored keyboard) is the cursor. If you drag your finger across the spacebar to the left or right, you’ll move the cursor along the sentence. Instead of forcing the cursor to move to a different word by touching and holding your finger on the screen until it relocates, you can simply swipe across the space bar until you reach the exact spot you wish to move it to.

My first impression is that it is little more than a keyboard skin except for the cursor feature, which makes it stand out among the others. If you hate the way Apple makes you touch and hold to move the cursor, you will love this feature.

Brightkey is available on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch for free. Download it in the App Store today.

Check out these other iOS 8 keyboard apps