Despite not being an avid user of third-party keyboards in iOS 8, I’m always eager to try out any new soft-keyboard that hits the App Store.
Fleksy’s recent update caught my attention by making me realize that I didn’t know everything there is about the scope and limitations of third-party keyboards under iOS 8.
For example, did you know soft-keyboards are allowed to use your typing shortcuts defined in Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts? Fleksy’s latest update has implemented just that and it works like a charm.
Fleksy Keyboard costs $0.99 in the App Store.
As can be seen below and top of post, Fleksy Keyboard has successfully changed my ‘idb’ and ‘idbc’ shortcuts to ‘iDownloadBlog’ and ‘iDownloadBlog.com’.
Pretty neat.
I previously defined my shortcuts in Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts and iCloud keeps them synchronized across my iOS 8 devices and Macs running Yosemite.
I frequently use the ‘idbc’ shortcut to limit the scope of Google Search to our website so instead of ending my search query with ‘site:iDownloadBlog.com’ I’d just type ‘idbc’ and let iOS work its auto-expand magic.
I just think it was really smart of Apple to let soft-keyboards access iOS 8 typing shortcuts. Speaking of which, I wish Apple allowed soft-keyboards to access QuickType’s predictive dictionary and custom terms.
Fleksy Keyboard 4.0.4 changelog
- Introducing:
- Brand new layout! Backspace and shift keys have been moved above the spacebar row.
- Support for more layouts including Dvorak, QWERTZ, AZERTY, Colemak.
- Typing shortcuts from iOS! Add shortcuts in System Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts.
- Fixed:
- Option to delete English (US).
- Eliminated the double punctuation bug.
- Labelled keyboard buttons for VoiceOver mode.
- Additional bug fixes and stability improvements.
Fleksy Keyboard is 99 cents in the App Store.
The app rose to #1 on the App Store in 25 countries. And with two million downloads on Android, little wonder that Fleksy successfully closed a new $2 million funding round. By the way, Swype, my favorite third-party keyboard, is temporarily free until next Thursday as Apple’s latest Free App of the Week.
Speaking of keyboards, were you cognizant that third-party keyboards in iOS 8 are permitted to tap into your custom typing shortcuts?