SwiftKey Keyboard updated with new Emoji, stability improvements to reduce crashes

swiftkey

SwiftKey Keyboard, my favorite third-party keyboard for iOS 8, was updated today, bringing it to version 1.3.3. The new release includes skin tone options for Emoji, several new Emoji offerings in categories like Flags and Family, and various improvements.

While improvements are nice, they typically aren’t anything to get excited about. SwiftKey, however, says that 1.3.3 features “a number of stability improvements to reduce crashes.” Given how crash-prone third-party keyboards are in the first place, this is huge.

Here’s the full change log:

New EMOJI, including skin tone
* Choose the skin tone of your emoji 
* More new emoji, including flags and family
* Live long & prosper – SwiftKey now includes the Vulcan Salute emoji

Fewer switches back to the Apple Keyboard
* A number of stability improvements to reduce crashes

General Improvements
* Choose to have either the emoji or globe key to the left of the spacebar

Fixes
* Looking through the store now works on an iPhone 4S
* Themes now order correctly and show the price if In-App Purchase setting in System Settings is disabled

Note that SwiftKey now includes the Vulcan Salute emoji, which Star Trek fans have been talking about since it was found hidden in iOS 8.3, and you can now choose to have either the emoji or globe key to the left of the spacebar. I like the globe key to the left.

For those wondering what makes SwiftKey so great, I like it because it’s totally free and offers a number of powerful features including smart predictive text and autocorrect. Also, you can chose to type conventionally, or swipe-to-type using ‘SwiftKey Flow.’

If you want to check it out, you can find SwiftKey in the App Store for free.