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This is what SwiftKey looks like on iOS

This is what SwiftKey looks like on iOS

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When Apple announced that iOS 8 would add support for third-party keyboards earlier this summer, all eyes quickly turned to Swype and SwiftKey, two massively popular Android keyboards. Both companies quickly confirmed that they'd be coming to Apple's mobile platform, and now — one week out from the public launch of iOS 8 — SwiftKey is offering a preview of what iPhone owners can expect. It's more or less the same experience that you get on Android. Users can trace their finger around the keyboard to type out a word (without ever lifting it off the screen), and SwiftKey remains proud of its word prediction technology.

SwiftKey iOS 8

SwiftKey Cloud, which helps the keyboard get smarter through analysis of your social media and Gmail accounts, is also built in on iOS 8. But users will likely need to grant the app permission before it can access the internet. Back at WWDC, Apple software chief Craig Federighi said third-party keyboards must get a user's approval to connect to the network and send out data about your keystrokes. SwiftKey isn't revealing exactly when it will be released for iOS 8, and we still don't know how much it'll cost. Yesterday, Apple provided developers with the finished version of iOS 8 to test their apps against, so you can expect a flood of updates enabling keyboards, Notification Center widgets, and more before long.