Swiftkey Keyboard is widely known for one of the best keyboards available for Android platform till date. For a while now, it was available for a small price on Google Play. However, since June 11, the developer of the keyboard app has decided to make it completely free.
Swiftkey Keyboard is packed with powerful features and supports over 800 emoji icons and 30 themes. Users can now download the premier app pack for free which includes 10 new premium themes worth $4.99 for free. The app has just received an update and new users can download the app with an additional three free themes. The developer states that there are more freebies to come.
The top features of the recent major update include:
SwiftKey Store – A place for you to customize your keyboard with great new add-ons! The store is stocked with more than 30 new free and premium themes and will be regularly refreshed.
New default theme – Added a crisp new default theme in SwiftKey, ‘Nickel’ (because it’s based on the original Cobalt theme, and, well, Nickel is next in the periodic table). This is in addition to all the other new themes you’ll find in the SwiftKey Store.
Emoji – Choose from over 800 emoji as you type, just a tap away from the regular keyboard. Tap the smiley in chat and messaging apps or long press the return key in other apps and away you go. Emoji are only available on devices running Android 4.1 or above.
Emoji prediction – Let SwiftKey predict and suggest the emoji that matter most to you! SwiftKey’s learning engine remembers the context that you use emoji in and will also predict emoji as you type relevant words. For example, type “burg” and the burger emoji appears. To enable these features, go to Settings > Advanced and check the box marked ‘Emoji prediction’.
Number row — Due to popular demand, this latest update introduces access to an optional number row without requiring you to switch layouts or use long press. Enable this in Settings > Layout, along with some other nifty features.
Improved prediction engine – Added better capitalization awareness in predictions and updated the technology’s overall learning ability, which is good for everyone. For the smart multilingual folks out there, a great news, as they have improved their multilingual capabilities, meaning you can now magically type in up to three languages at once with even better accuracy!
New languages –Support for 66 languages at a contextual level, which is awesome because it means even more people worldwide can benefit from using SwiftKey. The new languages are Belarusian, Mongolian, Tatar, Uzbek and Welsh. They are also hard at work on more languages, including Japanese, which is in beta presently.
New and improved Flow trails – What’s a Flow trail, you might ask? Well, it’s the line that your finger leaves on the screen when you gesture type. Those of you who like to use SwiftKey Flow will notice the trails are clearer and more visually appealing, helping you type with better accuracy while also looking really cool.
To learn more about these features and how they work, check out our short How-To video guides here.
