Android doesn’t get all the fun: SwiftKey brings predictive keyboard ‘on steroids’ to iOS

SwiftKey has saved people hundreds of billions of keystrokes.

Today the wildly popular Android app released an iOS app called SwiftKey Note that brings its typing prediction technology to iPhones and iPads.

“Today’s launch is a big moment for us – bringing the magic of SwiftKey technology to millions of potential new users,” CEO Jon Reynolds said in a blog post. “Over the years, we’ve had thousands of emails, tweets and inquiries from people with Apple devices keen to use our technology.”

SwiftKey is the best-selling Android keyboard and one of the top ranked Google Play apps by revenue. VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar described it like “autocorrect on semantic steroids.” 

It works by predicting not only what word you’re trying to spell on your phone’s keyboard, but also what word you are going to type next. The keyboard taps into your Gmail, blog, and Twitter accounts to get a sense of your writing style and uses this data to make better predictions.

The goal is to help you type faster, so your thoughts aren’t constrained by how quickly you can tap your phone or tablet’s screen.

For years SwiftKey was limited to Android because other smartphone platforms (namely, iOS) did not allow people to choose alternative keyboards. However app developers can get around this obstacle by offering alternative keyboards, such as SwiftKey, in their own apps.

SwiftKey is coming to iOS through a close integration with Evernote’s popular note-taking service. If you connect your Evernote account, you can take notes using SwiftKey. In the meantime, iOS users will have to wait for other apps to follow suit.

SwiftKey Note also app does not include SwiftKey’s flow tool, that lets you slide your finger to make words. 

SwiftKey has raised over $21 million to date and is based in London.