34 4-17April 2018
Best Free Apps
Appof theFortnight
KEYBOARD
SwiftKey
bit.ly/swiftdroid446
bit.ly/swiftios446
(varies) 9.3Your smartphoneor tablet
hasaperfectly usable
on-screenkeyboardand
there’snourgentneedto
consider installing an
alternative. Butyou’re
missingout on some very
useful features –especially
wherethe latest versionof
SwiftKey is concerned.
Thenewly released
SwiftKey 7isthe first
majorupdatetothe tool
sinceMicrosoft scooped
up thecompany behind it
foracool£180min2016.
Thebiggest additioninboththe Android and iOS
versions is ahandy newpop-upToolbar that contains
anumber of useful shortcuts.
TheToolbar canbeenabledordisabledwheneveryou
need it and appearsinastrip above thekeys, providing
quickaccess to emojiorGIFs, as well as lettingyou view
theclipboard or select alternativethemesfor SwiftKey
itself.The Android versioncomes withanumber of extra
itemsonthe Toolbar, including
SwiftKey 7’sother significant new
feature, stickers –currently an
Android exclusive. Thesecan be
added to messages or personalised
and savedtoyourfavourites, so
youcan gettothemagainquickly.
Some of SwiftKey 7’sother new
features –namelylocationand
calendar sharing–aren’tcurrently
available in theUKversion of the
app. AccordingtoMicrosoft,these
are“coming soon”.
OneofSwiftKey’s ongoing
benefits is that it’s better at
predictive text and autocorrect
than many of itsrivals. It does this
by monitoringwhatyou type and
learning aboutyourhabits.
Obviously, this raisessomeprivacy concerns,but it’s
possible to optout of some of itsdata-
collection features.Also, SwiftKey is now
coveredbyMicrosoft’s privacy policy (bit.ly/
privacy446)–the same onethatcovers
Windows 10.Ourrating ★★★★★★★★★★
UPDATED
1
If you’reworriedabout
privacy, youcan minimise
the amountof data SwiftKey
collects.Duringsetup,you’ll
be asked to signin with
aGoogle,Microsoftor
Facebookaccount. This is
optional,so tap ‘Notnow’^1
to prevent SwiftKey from
storingyour data online.
Youstill needto allowthe
app permissionto transmit
anonymouslyanythingyou
type,soyou can use all
SwiftKey’s features.2
To access the newToolbar,tap the
plus(+) signin the top-leftcorner,
above the keysthemselves. TheToolbar
will appearand the +sign will turninto
an X^1 –tap this to
closethe Toolbar.
Tapthe GIF icon^2
to insertaGIF into
your message.Tap
the paletteicon^3
to selectanew
keyboardtheme,
and tap the clipboard
icon^4 to viewand
manageanytext
you’vecopied.3
Android usersget afew more
shortcutsin theirToolbar.Tap the
cogicon^1 to access SwiftKey’s
settings.Tappingthe sticker icon(^2) lets youselectand
downloadsticker packs
–fun imagesthatyou
can add to messages.
Whenyouuse asticker,
youcan save it to your
favourites by pressing
the pin icon. Tapping
the pin icon on the
Toolbar^3 lets you
access your favourites.
MINI WORKSHOP
Tr ythenewfeatures
in SwiftKey
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