SwiftKey app for Android goes free; moves to in-app purchase model before iOS launch

One of the best and most popular third-party keyboard apps SwiftKey has moved from a paid to an in-app purchase model for Android. SwiftKey v5.0 removes the one-time charge to buy the app and revenue will now be generated via paid themes within the app. The SwiftKey Store will have over 30 themes at launch. The default theme has been changed to Nickel from Cobalt, but if you have already bought the app, you could choose to get a refund from Google or use SwiftKey's offer of a free Premier Pack of 10 premium themes worth $4.99 for free! All users, including newcomers, can download an additional three free themes.  Previously available for $3.99, SwiftKey quickly became a popular keyboard replacement thanks to its powerful next word prediction algorithm. That will remain in the app that has become free. The move to an in-app purchase model comes as Apple opened up its iOS mobile OS for third-party keyboard makers. SwiftKey is one of the first apps to announce support for iOS 8 and as such it opens itself up to a huge new audience, which previously had no access to the app. By offering themes for a price and not the app itself, at least more iOS users are likely to check out SwiftKey, and could possibly make a purchase or two in the Store. SwiftKey could also release themes around big events or festivals, such as the football World Cup, with specialised themes, like stickers for messaging apps. In addition, there's a special Emoji keyboard with over 800 emojis for devices running Android 4.1 or above. SwiftKey would also predict and suggest the emoji as you type relevant words. For example, typing “burg” will pull up the burger emoji appears. SwiftKey has responded to a favourite user demand with a dedicated number row (optional) above the alphabets for quicker typing. "We’ve added better capitalization awareness in predictions and updated our technology’s overall learning ability, which is good for everyone. For the smart multilingual folks out there, we also have good news as we’ve improved our multilingual capabilities, meaning you can now magically type in up to three languages at once with even better accuracy," the company said in a blog post.  With v5.0, SwiftKey will support 66 languages and the app gets better flow trails for easily identifying the alphabets your gesture trail has passed over.