Microsoft is Phasing Out SwiftKey for iOS (zdnet.com) 13
An anonymous reader shares a report: Questions about what's going on with Microsoft's support of the predictive SwifKey keyboard app for iOS have been bubbling up over the past few weeks. A Reddit thread from a month ago highlighted the lack of updates to the app for more than a year. When a reader asked recently for an update on the situation, I asked Microsoft. The official word is in. On September 28, a spokesperson emailed the following statement, attributable to Chris Wolfe, Director Product Management at SwiftKey: "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." I asked for the official reason why Microsoft had made this decision and was told officials had nothing more to say.
I'll bet the answer is "Apple" (Score:2)
I'll bet the answer is "Apple." Apple disallows apps that "duplicate functionality" and they essentially duplicated SwiftKey on the default keyboard (albeit poorly and without the complete feature set).
The article seems to agree with me - this is almost certainly Apple's decision, not Microsoft's.
If it was Apple it would be gone already (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll bet the answer is "Apple."
That makes no sense...
If Apple were disallowing this, the app would just be pulled - there would be no announced date, that's not how Apple works.
If it were Apple the app would not even have been around this long...
And if it were Apple then why are other alternative keyboards allowed to exist [mashable.com]? Why would Apple even have a framework to allow you to create them?
There is just no logic behind saying this is Apple.
What is much more likely is that Microsoft does not want to incur th
Re: (Score:1)
Favoritism works both ways (Score:1)
I think Apple gives slightly more courteous treatment to a big firm like Microsoft
If anything that would mean the app would stay, not be gone.
It's entirely up to Microsoft if they want to continue SwiftKey, and they don't. Why would they when when a similar feature is now in iOS? Why would Microsoft want to spend time and resources on this?
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
If Apple were disallowing this, the app would just be pulled - there would be no announced date, that's not how Apple works.
That's exactly how Apple works. They change the app approval guidelines on you, you submit a bug fix release, and all of a sudden your update is rejected. The existing version will hang around in the store until Apple finally declares it "too old," but you can never update it.
It sounds like that's what happened here: Microsoft submitted an update, Apple said no, so SwiftKey users were left in limbo for more than a year while Microsoft tried to figure out ways around Apple's new restrictions before giving up
None of what you said makes sense (Score:1)
That's exactly how Apple works. They change the app approval guidelines on you,
If they changed them to not allow third party keyboards, it would not be app updates blocked but apps simply pulled. Do you deny Apple pulls apps?
You're assuming no one is reading your links,
Yes I read the link, but you seem to have missed the point. As you even pointed out there's a whole other kind of keyboard you can buy, they are selling just fine. Yes I also noticed SwiftKey is on there. You seemed to have missed the who
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Apple is well known for trying to *appear* cooperative while then applying so many restrictions to said cooperation that it ends up becoming untenable.
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Yes.
I looked into installing Swiftkey on my wife's iPhone based on my longtime use of Swiftkey on Android.
Based on my research, the iOS version is nothing like the Android version. The iOS version is more of a keyboard skin than a different keyboard software.
In the end the work to migrate her phone to a new keyboard seemed to be a waste of time and I left her phone as it was.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes...The iOS version is more of a keyboard skin
If it's pretty much just a skin why would Apple ask them to remove it? After it having been around for years? And Apple not actually removing it themselves...
Glad it's still on Android (Score:3)
Swiftkey is the best keyboard I've used. The prediction is strong. The standard Google keyboard is intolerably bad.
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On my Samsung phone, the keyboard seems to change based on the context (browser vs other apps I think). In one of those keyboards, the full stop is to the right of the space bar and is exactly where I plant my thumb to type a space. So.I.start.typing.like.this.
It is next to useless as a keyboard. Perhaps I should try swiftkey since I don't have a IoS phone any more.
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At least some Samsung Galaxy phones use the SwitfKey prediction engine as the backend for the Samsung keyboard. You might just be swapping one copy of SwiftKey for another.
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I switched away from swiftkey on android after microsoft bought it, the google keyboard really isn't that bad.