9 custom iOS 8 keyboards you can download now!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Software

iOS 8 was released today, and it's a great update to Apple's mobile devices (see our iOS 8 review.) In addition, many developers have started to release custom keyboards, a new capability found in the updated OS. Users can now leave the stock keyboard behind for something more customized. Here are some of the best third-party iOS 8 keyboards that you can add to your devices right now!

Minuum - Dubbed “the little keyboard for big fingers,” Minuum is a resizable keyboard that can be made smaller by swiping down on it in order to see more of your content. Autocorrect compensates for the size of the smaller keys.

Swype - Swype is a gesture-based keyboard that has seen massive popularity on Android. You type by swiping your from letter to letter in order to form your words, and Swype uses its predictive technology to figure out what you’re typing.

SwiftKey: Like Swype, SwiftKey is another gesture-based keyboard that allows you to swipe across the keyboard to type without lifting your finger from the display. Your preferences can be synced across devices.

Fleksy: Fleksy claims to be the “fastest keyboard in the world.” With an advanced prediction and autocorrect algorithm, and learns your typing style over time. Swipe gestures allow you to do things like delete full words, add punctuation, spaces, and more.

Color Keyboards: This one seems to be much simpler than most options here. It maintains the look, feel, and shape of the stock iOS keyboard, but allows you to select different colors for it.

KuaiBoard: This one isn’t so much of a keyboard as it is a placeholder for large chunks of often used text. Nice way to fill out forms, or for messages and emails that you send regularly.

TouchPal: This is another custom keyboard that allows you to use swipe gestures to drag your finger across the keyboard to type. The difference is that TouchPal tries to emulate the look of the standard iOS keyboard, but adds a few quick access keys for things like punctuation.

TextExpander: This is one of my favorite apps on the Mac, but it’s been crippled on iOS, until now. TextExpander allows you to type short abbreviations which are automatically expanded. For example, you might type “omw” and it would be replaced with “On my way!”

Keymoji: Interestingly, Keymoji is an emoji-based keyboard that aims to let you replace all of your text with emoji characters. As you type phrases, it will suggest an emoji pattern that you can substitute.