If you’re using a third-party keyboard on your smartphone, it’s more than likely SwiftKey. The app is head and shoulders above all others when it comes to accuracy and prediction, and the company continues to make improvements to stay on top.
Last month, SwiftyKey announced its biggest Android update of year. Version 6.0 brought a slew of new updates, but it was only available to beta users. Now after a few weeks of testing, SwiftKey 6.0 is ready for the masses and is available now in Google Play.
Updated on 11-13-2015 by Robert Nazarian: Added in news of SwiftKey 6.0 emerging out of beta and new theme packs.
The top new addition has to be Double-Word prediction, which is basically what it sounds like. SwiftKey already predicts what your next word will be. Now with Double-Word prediction, SwiftKey will predict your next two words, which could literally double your speed. It will even work in more than 100 languages.
Just in case you’re not familiar with the app, SwiftKey makes its predictions based on what you’re typing, but it’s more accurate than most because it looks at your past history as well to get better results. So if you always type, “On my way home now,” the keyboard will suggest that sequence of words from the moment you first tap the word, “on.”
SwiftKey also made accessing emojis much easier. The emoji panel has been revamped and loads much quicker. It has a new ribbon at the top that shows you the emoji that you’ve recently used, and swiping right or left shows the emoji categories for easy selection. You can display the panel with a long press on the “123” key.
In addition to Double-Word and emoji enhancements, SwiftKey made its biggest overhaul ever to the settings menu. The old settings menu could be confusing at times, but there are now better labels for each section, which include languages, themes, typing style, and your SwiftKey account info.
Finally, SwiftKey is throwing in two additional themes for free: Carbon Light, which is a new default theme, and Minimal Dark Light. And for those that really like to customize, SwiftKey has added three new minimal theme packs at $3 each, as well as Gemstone ($3.50) and Carbon ($3) themes. The first-ever megapack includes 23 minimal designs for $6.
This news comes on the heels of the SwiftKey Neural announcement from last month. SwiftKey Neural is a separate app that is part of the SwiftKey Greenhouse, and it has the ability to predict words based on what you’re typing, rather than just looking at your past history.
This update is only available on Android, so click here to download it from Google Play.
