
Swiftkey Keyboard Android is now free - Lenad
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.touchtype.swiftkey
======
drdaeman
Another keyboard that requires network connectivity, profile/contact data,
call state, access to photos/recordings (eh?) and even wants to send SMS[1].
Do users really don't care and blindly ignore all security warnings?

Just wondering why keyboard makers don't provide "restricted" builds of their
software, that intentionally lack some features, but still serve their purpose
by providing an efficient method to type at a reasonable price.

___

[1] EDIT: Not sure, this could be localization error in a Play Store.
Reportedly it says "read your text messages" in English, but for me what I see
roughly translates to "send SMS and MMS".

~~~
rayiner
> Do users really don't care and blindly ignore all security warnings?

Whenever I install an app on my Nexus 5, I click through the "this app wants
XYZ permissions" dialog without reading it. Not only do I not read it, I get a
little angry each time because I can't do anything with the information and
it's just in my way.

~~~
Jacqued
Yeah this popup really lacks a way to accept/refuse some permissions based on
what seems logical for the app.

I would typically uncheck a lot of permissions on some apps, but since I can't
do that I'll just click through if I really want it or cancel if I don't.

~~~
jonalmeida
BlackBerry 10 has a similar implementation but allows you to choose if you
want to enable that feature. When using the app, if it needs a permission you
didn't grant, I believe it will prompt you again giving you the option to
ignore it (at least that's how I last remember it..)

------
inthewoods
I guess this is part of the continued move away from paid apps - but as a
user, I found this confusing.

Swiftkey states that their goal is to get as many people using the app as
possible, so they're making it free - but nowhere do they define for their
users how they are planning on making money.

That leaves me thinking the one of the following: you'll be selling my data,
you'll be doing in-app purchasing, you've found some other magical revenue
source, or you'll be going out of business. I don't want to spread FUD here -
my point is that as a paying customer this is not a good way to communicate. I
have no idea what the strategy is - but if you want me to remain a customer, I
personally would like to understand what is going on.

~~~
Karunamon
_you 'll be selling my data_

Not mentioned anywhere, not even in the EULA. FUD.

 _you 'll be doing in-app purchasing_

Err.. did you miss the announcement of the IAP theme store? Because that's
exactly what they're doing.

 _my point is that as a paying customer this is not a good way to communicate.
I have no idea what the strategy is_

Sounds like give away the base app and sell value adds. A perfectly legitimate
business model.

~~~
inthewoods
"Not mentioned anywhere, not even in the EULA. FUD."

Given that they have no last update date for their Privacy, Terms, et al on
their website, I have no idea if these are current.

"Sounds like give away the base app and sell value adds. A perfectly
legitimate business model."

As a user of the application, I don't know what they are doing - they did not
communicate it. That's my point.

"Err.. did you miss the announcement of the IAP theme store? Because that's
exactly what they're doing."

No, I saw that part of the announcement - that doesn't clear it up for me. It
indicates that they'll be charging for add-on themes -- nothing else. It
doesn't assure me that they'll NOT be selling my data (as an example).

~~~
Karunamon
I'd imagine the cross section of their user base which devotes this level of
thought to their business model is quite small.

~~~
inthewoods
Probably right!

~~~
swiftkey
Hi, thanks for the feedback. Protecting your data and maintaining your trust
is core to our mission at SwiftKey, and the procedures we have in place are
under constant review. You can read an explanation from the founders about why
SwiftKey Keyboard is now free here: [http://swiftkey.com/en/blog/why-we-set-
swiftkey-free/](http://swiftkey.com/en/blog/why-we-set-swiftkey-free/) If you
want to find out more about how we keep your data safe, please read our Data
Security statement here: [http://swiftkey.com/en/data-
security/](http://swiftkey.com/en/data-security/)

------
thomasahle
I have tried many different Android keyboards: Old and new stock ones, swype,
ultimate, tons of non-qwerty ones; but I always end up coming back to Swift.
It's just the only one that is Precise and Aggressive enough to support really
fast typing.

Good luck to them now, on iPhone!

~~~
toxican
As someone who jumped from Android to iPhone (it was curiosity, not a "I'm fed
up with this! ARGH!" thing), I've been seriously missing the ability to use
different keyboards. I cannot wait to be able to use them again.

~~~
Nexxxeh
For work I often have to use both. I loathe the iPhone keyboard. Is there a
reason they don't change case of the letter display when you change the case
of the letters? It seems ridiculous on a touchscreen display. (Done using the
swipe of SwiftKey on a Moto E).

------
dmix
They are essentially a keylogger when the 'cloud' service is turned on. It
uploads everything you type but tries to detect password fields and avoid
them. They insist their security and cryptography is quality, but we've heard
that a lot recently.

Their lack of an obvious business model is a bit worrying.

~~~
drdaeman
They do send raw unprocessed texts? Thanks for warning.

From my understanding, unless some really tricky and CPU-savvy math's in
works, it probably would be more efficient to update language model on-device
then push the change. Not only it would somehow avoid (not really, but at
least obscure a bit) revealing the exact typed texts, but also lower the
necessary server-side processing.

~~~
dmix
The text prediction still works fine locally without the cloud feature. The
data gathering is probably to refine their algorithms. Which I'd expect would
include raw text input. Which in a surveillance sense is a bit scary, someone
seeing your unfinished thoughts or pre-self-censorship messages.

~~~
swiftkey
Hi, thanks for the feedback. SwiftKey Cloud is a secure, opt-in service that
allows you to safely backup your language data and sync it across your
devices. We take your data security seriously and you can read how we keep
your data safe here: [http://swiftkey.com/en/data-
security/](http://swiftkey.com/en/data-security/)

------
ElliotH
The new themes are quite nice, and it is a nice touch to give a free 'premium'
theme pack to users who paid in the past.

------
tmikaeld
They added in-app-purchases instead, though doesn't affect the keyboard more
then superficially (themes).

------
safeaim
So how will they make money now? By selling people's data?

~~~
ToastyMallows
Well you can purchase in-app themes now, so I guess that's what they're
banking on.

Sorry but I have to throw a [citation needed] on your comment to stop the
spread of FUD.

~~~
safeaim
Yeah, I might should have toned down my flippant tone, but I was genuinely
curious as to how they are planning to make money. Obviously in-app themes is
one choice, but I don't see that working out in the long run. Hopefully they
will do great in the iOS store as it really is a good app!

------
motoboi
I bet they are aiming the iPhone market.

Makes sense when you consider Swiftkey user base on android and how some
iPhone users can become jealous of such a nice keyboard.

As Apple opened the iPhone to this market, the strongest brand on Android may
have a easier start.

------
csdrane
I found SwiftKey's performance to deteriorate markedly after a few months of
use. After that I switched to Kii, which was fine. But now after jumping
around I am back to stock, which I actually enjoy a lot more than I did the
other two. Google's keyboard feels much more responsive to me and I don't feel
like it handles swipe recognition pretty well. It's not as great at prediction
but I found using that feature to slow me down anyway. Only feature I really
miss is deleting an entire word by swiping space-backspace

------
_cipher_
I can now give my data away for free instead of paying. Woo hoo. :)

~~~
ch0wn
No "cloud-enabled" app without snarky comments about data sharing. Sigh. I
personally like the dictionary sync across devices. Especially because I use
SwiftKey for German which always suffers from terrible dictionary coverage.
But what stops you from disabling all online features?

~~~
zz1
The question is: once online feature is disabled, can you really be sure no
information about you is shared beyond your back?

Edit

From what I gather they're not open source: I would be happier to see them go
FOSS than free.

~~~
Nyubis
If you have App Ops you can prevent any app from phoning home, or just
gathering sensitive data in the first place (although you can't stop a
keyboard from storing your keystrokes).

------
sschueller
Thank you for posting the link to the play store. The verge article I read
earlier had no link which is very frustrating when reading something like his
on a mobile device.

------
cliveowen
Isn't the same thing already available on stock Android? I don't use it
because I find it pretty inconvenient, but every time I swipe on the keys it
appears.

~~~
ivanche
Well, not exactely. When you try stock Android keyboard and then switch to
Swiftkey, you realize that Swiftkey is intelligent. Stock keyboard becomes...
hmm, ok, at best.

~~~
wldcordeiro
The only reason I continue to use the Google Keyboard over Swiftkey is the
built-in emoji menu.

------
nobodyshere
I just wish I could remove their branded button from keyboard.

~~~
ToastyMallows
I kind of like it because I hide the app from my app drawer and it's an easy
way to get to the settings. To each their own though.

~~~
nobodyshere
I'm not against it for everyone, I just want to have a choice there. This
button usually stands out from the rest and is quite useless when you are
actually typing.

------
antirez
Just installed, times better than the stock one at predicting what I'm typing,
larger keys, much better overall experience.

------
sinaa
They seem to give you the 'premium' pack, even if you were only a trial user.

------
jpdus
I cant understand whySwiftkey still cant learn from WhatsApp. They had such a
big advantage in the mobile keyboard market and are going to loose it because
of missing new communication channels...

------
sschueller
I wish they had a semi-transparent theme.

~~~
eropple
It wouldn't do anything. The keyboard resizes the activity window. There's
nothing behind it to show through it.

~~~
marsvskittens
There's an option to undock it from the bottom of the screen, in which case
transparency could be useful.

~~~
eropple
Huh, where? Maybe I have an old version? No update request though.

~~~
marsvskittens
Long click on the "123" number button. You'll get a pop up menu with an undock
option in it.

------
stratford2072
Desperation as Fleksy slowly begins to destroy them

~~~
Semaphor
Certainly not considering they only support one language at a time…

