What is swype on android

A select few devices had the app preloaded by default, but everyone else was left to watch from the outside with envy or, as was perhaps more common among the Android enthusiast community, to scour the various forums and find an unofficially released APK to sideload onto their unlocked Nexus S phones. Swype went on to delight Android enthusiasts by launching a Honeycomb-specific tablet version of its keyboard in in a pre-release beta, of course — an experience "just as sweet as its smartphone counterpart," as one strikingly dapper scribe put it.

Lest you think we exaggerate Swype's significance as we eulogize, let us all remember: Google itself didn't add gesture-based typing into its own Android keyboard until late , with its Android 4. At that point, Google's keyboard was still bundled into the operating system and intended mostly for Nexus devices.

SwiftKey, meanwhile — now owned by Microsoft but then still an independent operation — followed suit that same year. It introduced the feature initially as part of a separate beta program called SwiftKey Flow but eventually integrated it into its main SwiftKey product. And Apple still doesn't have gesture-based typing in its magical and revolutionary native iOS keyboard.

In fact, the iPhone faithful weren't able to experience any sort of swipe-oriented typing until , when their mobile tech guardians finally opened the gates to third-party keyboards and throngs of iDevice owners celebrated their newfound ability to, at long last, swipe.

Swype was the one that started it all — and for many moons, it was the keyboard you sought if you wanted to save time with that wild new swipe-to-type method. So let's all pour one out for our fallen comrade. You may have lost that spark long ago, dear friend, but we'll always remember your glory days and be grateful for what you gave us.

Sign up for JR's new weekly newsletter to get this column along with bonus tips, personal recommendations, and other exclusive extras delivered to your inbox. Light support will come from the forums. Double letters also present a challenge, but jogging twice over the letter of choice usually fills in both letters. Stickler that I am with spelling and punctuation, distrusting Swype slows me down as I compulsively check each word before moving on to make sure the swipe worked.

Interestingly, using Swype has made me aware of some idiosyncrasies in the English language, such as how often we use contractions that double as complete words, and the abundance of words containing double letters. How do you review an alternate software keyboard for Android efficiently? By taking it for a test drive of course. While it is certainly slower than t typing the article on the physical keyboard attached to my desktop PC, it works better than I thought it would.

Swype is a commercial app — available as a day trial to test it out — for the Android operating system that improves your typing speed in the long run. That is, unless you happen to hack dozens of messages into your phone per day and have grown to become the Flash of phone keyboards in the process.

The app introduces four different methods to enter text in to any app running on your phone or tablet. You may need some getting used to time before you can use the Swype technology efficiently though as it feels kinda strange at first to move through all letters on the keyboard. You will notice that you are getting faster with every minute though, and several optimization features aid you here as well. Swype adds spaces automatically, and uses an auto-correct feature to automatically correct misspelled words for you so that you do not have to start over that often.

You do need to to memorize some of the commands that it makes available to make full use of the functionality it makes available. You can for instance capitalize words by swiping to the Shift key once you have finished the word, add punctuation by swiping to it, or double letters by scribbling on the letter or looping on it. Swype introduces several interesting text manipulation shortcuts. Swipe from the menu key on the keyboard to a to mark all text on the screen.

Do the same to x to cut the text, to c to copy it, and to v to paste text from the clipboard. The app includes a learning component that tries to improve word predictions and other features based on past use of the Swype application. In theory, this should improve your typing the longer you use the application. If English is not your default language, you need to download and install support for one of the 60 languages and 20 dialects that Swype supports right now.

It is easy to do. Just open the options, select languages here, then download languages and select the language that you want to add to the application. Once you have added at least one additional language, you can switch between them easily, for instance by moving from the Swype button to the space key. Is Swype worth the price? That depends a lot on how much you type on your phone, or plan to type if Swype speeds things up for you.

If it makes a difference, it is definitely worth the 99 cents it is currently available for in the Play store. We use our smartphones so much, which means that finding the right keyboard app for you can really make a difference. All those little conveniences really add up. The following apps all have certain advantages that make them the best swipe keyboards for Android, as well as regular ones, available right now.

The main bulk of what you should know is that it offers predictions for key-by-key, swipe input, and a variety of different sized keyboards to fit all needs. SwiftKey for Android features a toolbar that allows users to quickly call up stickers and GIFs for a timely and witty visual response. You can even use your own pictures to create custom stickers. You can also choose to enable a separate number row across the top of the keyboard, or integrate the numbers into the top row of letters.

SwiftKey is also a good option if you need to install a number of different languages too. Its appeal, however, lies in the accuracy of predictions, which will continue to improve as you use it.

You can, of course, use Minuum in its non-minimized mode too. Here you get the full keypad and numbers, but the main appeal of the keyboard is that small row of minimized keys. You can also access different emojis from both the expanded and minimized keyboard modes. Switching between modes is as easy as dragging the keyboard up or down. It does offer support for a range of languages and the ability to change the keyboard theme too. The Google keyboard offers a simple and clean interface, but also many smart features.

In addition to a modern look, the text-to-speech function allows you to write messages with your voice, and it recognizes many different languages. This keyboard is found by default on Nexus and Pixel smartphones. Gboard in action. Looking to add some style and flair to your everyday keyboard?

Cheetah has all of the traditional features such as improved predictive texting, autocorrect, and the integration of an online dictionary to provide accurate suggestions.

You can also have a lot of fun with it thanks to voice inputs, GIFs, memes and emoji all at your fingertips. Cheetah keyboard stands out for its visual customization options, with 3D reactions. It supports DIY themes that you can put together from hundreds of different fonts, sounds, and backgrounds to make a keyboard that really looks unique.

Fleksy allows you to write messages quickly, without sacrificing your desire to personalize your phone. Forget the old and boring black and white keyboards! Say hello to color!

There are many free and paid themes. Fleksy, also allows you to send emoji, stickers and GIFs directly from the keyboard. You can select predicted words as you type or customize the size of the spacebar to suit your needs. Finally, you can swipe to access different features, like autocorrect.

This is Fleksy. This keyboard app for Android has more than 3, emojis, emoticons, free GIFs, symbols and stickers to send to your friends and family. The selection is so vast, you will never have to type another word with actual letters again! Close Menu. Switch to Swype by tapping it if it appears in the menu. Capitalization Swype automatically capitalizes words that appear at the beginning of a sentence, but you can also use a special gesture to capitalize letters.

Punctuation and Single-Letter Words To add punctuation, swipe from the punctuation mark to the space bar. 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.

All user data stored in the cloud is anonymous to ensure privacy. Pros The keyboard app is the slickest among other third-party keyboards in Android with more than 2. 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. 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. We hope you enjoyed using Swype, we sure enjoyed working with the Swype community. Shortly afterwards, XDA Developers reached out to Nuance, and the company confirmed it was ending development of Swype. It's still on the Play Store, so if you want a dead keyboard app for some reason, grab it while you can.

Source: Reddit. Via: XDA Developers. Corbin is a tech journalist and developer who worked at Android Police from until Check out his other work at corbin. Share Share Tweet Email.