Nuance Communications Inc. has ventured out from third-party keyboard app business. Technology website, The Verge published on 21st February 2018, that the tech giant has discontinued its Swype Keyboard app for Android and iOS.
This has been a hassle for loyal Swype users who lost all customizations on their Swype keyboard. If you are still looking for a keyboard app or a keypad app for your Android or iOS to replace Swype, we have reviewed different android and iOS keyboards, and have picked top 3 alternatives to Swype –
1. SwiftKey
SwiftKey is a well-equipped and cool keyboard app with SwiftKey Cloud, created by SwiftKey.
Key Features of SwiftKey
The SwiftKey keypad app stores learned a language that you can use across multiple devices. It can learn how you use language on various social platforms by linking it to your social media and email apps and build your language database.
All user data stored in the cloud is anonymous to ensure privacy.
If you’re still not convinced though, you don’t need to use Swift Cloud and the Android keypad app can still learn your language, and it will store that data on your phone only.
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Pros
- The keyboard app is the slickest among other third-party keyboards in Android with more than 2.5 million downloads.
- The interface and flow works like no other Android keyboard app.
- Though swipe keyboard app may take some time for your fingers to adjust, its precision helps when you are in a hurry or texting with just one hand.
- SwiftKey for Android also has a feature of ‘keypress sounds’ which allows you to customize keypress sounds to different profiles. Mechanical keyboard lovers can use this feature to get the feel of traditional computer typing on their mobile device.
- It is also easy to switch from uppercase to lowercase, which is quite troublesome in regular iOS keyboard app.
Cons
- The keyboard app doesn’t automatically scroll to the latest message in the SMS section.
- SwiftKey is not as good for iPad and iPhone 4s compared to other devices.
Its predictive feature makes SwiftKey Android keyboard one of the best alternatives to Swype Keyboard, and as Apple has allowed third-party keyboards in iOS, you can use it on your iPhone and iPad as well.
2. Gboard
Gboard is a virtual keyboard app created by Google Inc. It features Google search including web results and predictive answers. The keypad app enables easy searching and sharing of GIF and emoji.
Key Features of Gboard
A ‘predictive type engine’ that is easy to use and support for a variety of themes makes this keypad app fun to use. Gboard learns your language and suggests words depending on the context.
Google has also recently updated support recognition for hand-drawn emoticons and ability to predict whole phrases instead of just words.
Pros
- Built-in Google Search makes searching a lot faster.
- The space bar also works as a Trackpad.
- The keyboard app can quickly delete multiple words.
- Multilingual typing supports a huge range of languages.
- You can add a permanent number row in the keypad app.
- It has a separate one hand mode, which is rare in other android keyboards.
Cons
- Gboard lacks database functionality that is used in SwiftKey. For instance, if you’re chatting about MLB with someone it can’t predict the surname of the player like SwiftKey.
- You need to add words manually to the dictionary as it cannot store the words itself.
- The keyboard app crawls through a lot of personal data from your phone.
The smart user interphase and its smooth operation along with a cool emoji prediction features makes Gboard one of the best alternatives to Swype keyboard. Gboard is available for both Android and iOS.
3. GO Keyboard
GO Keyboard is a third party android keyboard app created by Gomo Dev Team. It offers multiple languages and keyboard layouts and can crawl through all your contacts. It learns your language style and predicts words while you are typing.
Key Features of GO Keyboard
The keypad app also changes the layout based on your typing language which can be handy. A standard dictionary for multiple languages, an emoji keyboard, and additional plugins provide a decent user experience.
Pros
This keypad app also supports fantasy text.
- It has customizable skin and background.
- It is comprised of a multi-point touch keyboard.
- The Go keyboard has auto-memory which predictively corrects what you type.
Cons
- The biggest letdown about this keyboard is security and privacy as it is reported to be allegedly crawling through a lot of user data and sending it to remote servers.
- Keys are spaced too closely, making it difficult to type in a hurry.
Barring its privacy issues and minor anomalies, the keyboard app provides good user experience.
A personalized keypad app saves a lot of time on the phone and improves productivity overall. While there are a lot of keypad apps on the market today, SwiftKey, Gboard and Go Keyboard are most widely used due to the comprehensive features they offer.
Google has been updating Gboard very regularly and after you have used it for a few weeks giving it time to learn your writing style, the predictive text works like a charm. Most times, you only need to type first few letters of the word you want to use and predictive text does the rest for you.
About Guest Author
Brendon Wong is a blogger who writes for tech, SEO, and internet marketing blogs.
What? @Fleksy not there?
That keyboard is far behind on 2020 than what swype was when it died. It’s not even a shadow of swype let alone alternative
So is no one else going to offer punctuation + space with a single swipe from the punctuation key to the keyboard?
This is crucial to the fast use of typing things out on the keyboard and Swype is the only one who’s done this… How hard could this possibly be to implement?
What I really miss about Swype… the capitalization swipe that gave three choices.
I constantly utilized that, and am lost without it.
I miss the ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-a, ctrl-x, available on the Swype keyboard, or the easy capitalization changes. Very sad.
I agree! And I cannot find one that lets you simply swipe down for question and exclamation marks!!! That’s a must and I can’t leave Swype
What about Swype making it possible to type (or Swype) in two different languages. It automatically detects which one, without the user having to change anything. This is such a loss. “Bu büyük bir kayıp”. Typed using Swype..
That’s one thing I hate in swiftkey, there’s no way to restrict it. I seen it literally switch language for each word in a sentence, Hungarian – English, alternating… It can’t be turned off and results in 50% of the words being wrongly predicted
I also still cherish that good old Swype. It’s much more forgiving when you want to change or delete misinterpreted words right after they’re interested, or even later on. And I hate those small and unclear return, delete, and other special keys in SwiftKey. And many more flaws in these alternatives. Swype wasn’t everything and it’s getting a bit buggy, but it knew how users interact with a touch type keyboard.
I loved Swype. The instant ? and ! were useful but what I miss most is the comma. How can anyone writing in English be expected not to want to it all the time?!
Great Information
Swype was king with a stylus (Samsung Notes). I am so sad it’s no longer a thing.
I happily paid for it, and I still use it (Jan 2021) but it is getting so buggy, especially on FB platforms (for some reason).
Swype is dead!! I still miss it so much. Gboard barely gets by, but wastes my time without the shortcuts and constantly changing languages when I don’t need it. no predictions or good dictionary like swype. Can’t they purchase the version from the original author and create a PAID version, since I would gladly pay for something that works like Swype did before it got ‘old’.
I’m still using Swype in August, 2021. In fact, I’m using it to type this post. It’s still superior to current allegedly actively updated keyboards.
Im still using Swype as well. No problems I’ve found. I didn’t even know is was supposed to be dead 😆
I was using Swype until last week (October 2021) when suddenly the microphone button (talk to text) wouldn’t work anymore. I use it all the time. I too miss the punctuation swype to space bar and emoji’s always there. Nothing seems to work as well as Swype, and I’m so frustrated.
Yes, I miss the talk to text feature. Looks like they have turned off the Dragon speech to sound facility even though I paid for it. Are there any more people who have lost this? It may be worth while approaching the present owners to say you are breaking the contract.
Swype (was) is two orders of magnitude better than gboard. There is no substitute.