IPhone and iPad keyboards are so good that for a long time Apple did not allow third-party keyboards in the App Store. In 2014, the company gave up and in iOS 8 it finally became possible to install and use keyboard solutions from other developers.

The most surprising thing is that over the past 2.5 years, a large flurry of options has not appeared. Proven players have remained on the market of third-party keyboards, several new ones have been added, but there is no excitement or some kind of fierce competition between the products. Offhand, no more than a dozen worthwhile solutions can be identified, and even then the situation with alternative keyboards is deplorable at the moment. Let's try to figure it out and take a closer look at the best third-party keyboards for iPhone and iPad.

How do I install a third party keyboard in iOS?

Step 1. Install the keyboard application from the App Store. Links can be taken, for example, from this article.

Step 2. Go to Settings-\u003e General-\u003e Keyboard-\u003e Keyboards... There are keyboards that are installed on your iPhone / iPad. We press "New keyboards". In the window that opens, in the "THIRD-PARTY KEYBOARD" section, you can see a list of all currently available keyboards. Click the desired one and it is added to the list of installed keyboards.

Step 3. We poke on the installed keyboard. And turn on the item "Allow full access". In the pop-up window, select "Allow".

Now you can use the new keyboard. It is not difficult to call it. While typing, click on the layout. To prevent the keyboard from constantly switching to the standard or other third-party keyboard, remove unnecessary keyboards in the settings.

How do I remove the keyboards?

Go to Settings-\u003e General-\u003e Keyboard-\u003e Keyboards... There are keyboards that are installed on your iPhone / iPad. We press the button "Change".

Keyboard Plus (Keyboard)

At first glance, I really liked her. It is very convenient to switch to smiles - swipe to the right on the top panel. I find this is more convenient than a separate layout.

You can also swipe to the left to call the translator, which allows you to learn new words on the go or immediately translate into any language. Another swipe puts the user in search mode on Wikipedia. In the settings, you can turn off unnecessary options: Emoji, Translation or Wikipedia.

During use, I discovered two drawbacks: the Shift button works strangely (you need to remember the shades of the desired register) and the letters somehow slow down from time to time and I get typing with more errors than on a standard keyboard.

Rating: 4 out of 5. Nothing extraordinary, but nothing superfluous. Simple functional keyboard. Free of charge.

Flexy keyboard

Popular keyboard that stopped working correctly on iOS 10.2. Only those users who have an older version of the operating system will be able to appreciate it. Date of last update 7.04.2016.

I don't know why the developers abandoned their creation. Flexy was clearly at the cutting edge in terms of potential and hard work: beautiful themes, several extensions, built-in gif images that reflected various emotions.

Rating: 1 out of 5. Not updated. Wouldn't recommend.

TouchPal keyboard

A curious unpretentious keyboard that has one cool feature. You can type some symbols with swipes: for example, swiping up a letter prints a number, and swiping down prints a punctuation mark (additional characters are drawn in small print on the keys).

I was also pleased with the ability to access quick settings (dark theme, enable / disable clicks, emoji) directly from the keyboard.

Rating: 2 out of 5. Not updated, although it works. I do not recommend taking a seat.

MyScript Stack

Such an unusual keyboard was bound to appear on this list. Its peculiarity is that it supports handwriting input.

That is, instead of the usual buttons, there is an empty space in front of the user's eyes in which you can write letters. These handwritten letters turn into normal letters / numbers / signs in the text. The MyScript company is famous for such solutions: one of their MyScript Calculator is worth ...

Rating: 3 out of 5. Unusual, but not updated since 2015. And even if it was updated, the usability of such a keyboard on the phone is questionable.

Gboard - Google keyboard

Cool and handy Google keyboard that has a very funny (but critical!) Bug. The letter "E" on the Russian keyboard is actually the Latin "E" ... It is clear that sooner or later this nonsense will be corrected, but now you will not be able to fully use such a keyboard.

The main feature is a quick search for pictures in JPG and animations in GIF. Fast insertion into text. Voice input from Google is also available (long press on the spacebar). In terms of usability, this is perhaps the best third-party keyboard in iOS: in terms of convenience, it comes close to the standard Apple keyboard.

Rating: 3 out of 5. Correct the stupid bug with the letter "E", the score will be higher.

Go Keyboard

Another curious keyboard that comes close to the ideal app in terms of monetization. The developers came up with (and rightly so!) To create an entire store from the keyboard. Internally, they sell themes and stickers.

Go Keyboard itself is comfortable. Supports dialing not only with tapes, but also with swipes.

The main disadvantage of Go Keyboard is that the keyboard is often buggy when opened with themes. This completely kills the desire to use them. On the standard theme (in the photo above it is she), there are much fewer glitches and you can get used to it. For a couple of days spent with her, although she infuriated me, but not so much.

Rating: 4 out of 5. You can use this! But it's better not to indulge in topics.

Conclusion

The situation with alternative keyboards for iPhone and iPad is sad. Now more or less you can use only two (!!!). And potentially Google could do a good job by fixing the jamb. And it's all?

Why are developers abandoning their creations? I have no answer to this question. Even paid solutions are not updated or updated rarely. The market niche is empty.

I've been using various third-party keyboards for over a week. On the Keyboard + it even survived 3 days, but I still think that the standard keyboard is the most comfortable. Although I was convinced that it is not perfect. The same Emoji is really more convenient, so that they are not on a separate layout, but called up with a swipe.

In iOS 8 appeared. I remember when I first installed a similar one, I was horrified by its design and speed of work. Several years have passed and the situation has changed in the other direction. Of course, there are still such “typing assistants” that you don't want to use, and their presence in the App Store is puzzling (for example, Bitmoji Keyboard). But some keyboards stand out from the rest. I have selected three of the best options that can surprise users with their simplicity and functionality. So what are these keyboards and what makes them unique?

In order to most accurately convey my impressions of the keyboards, I will build a story according to a certain scheme. First, I will give facts that show the obvious disadvantages of the programs. Then I'll talk about the features that distinguish each specific keyboard from the standard one created by Apple developers. The entire review will be surrounded by my user experience and personal impressions, which will allow you to get the most complete picture of what is happening.

I can only say that this topic is very specific. It just so happens that Apple fans are used to using everything out of the box. Many simply do not understand why they need to change their favorite keyboard to some kind of analogue. This is confirmed by the ratings, because even the copies of my review have an average rating in the App Store of 3.5-4 points. Agree, not so much, given that the assessment is based on the responses of 150-200 people. Perhaps the reason for this situation was the initial bug of keyboards from third-party developers. Nevertheless, I would like you to change your mind after reading this text. Let's get started!

The SwiftKey keyboard hit the App Store on September 17th, 2014 and is receiving regular monthly updates, the most recent of which was released on March 31st, 2016 (at the time of writing). You can't find out the number of downloads in the Apple app store, so let's look for the information you need on Google Play. Thus, I learned that SwiftKey is very popular, because a bad program is unlikely to receive 50-100 million downloads.

Minuses:

In fact, the biggest disadvantage of the keyboard is the absence of the Ukrainian language if you live in Ukraine (nevertheless, the total number of available layouts is 36). I also did not like the display of the SwiftKey logo on the space. The point is not even that it exists, but that it all looks ugly and distracts the user from writing the text. The negative aspects include the designs of paid keyboards, but these are more of a developer's problem than an average user. The standard SwiftKey keyboard looks more than bearable and offers a pleasing design, not unlike the original Apple keyboard.

Pros:

If you start discussing the "pros" of the tool from the SwiftKey company, you will find a huge number of them. Yes, the opinion is subjective, but many will definitely agree with me. I liked the application control menu, where everyone can configure the functions they need: auto-correction, double-space dots, automatic capitalization, keyboard press sounds, swipe, emoji shortcut button. Also, for the sake of indirectly promoting SwiftKey, functionality has been introduced to display your productivity. A person is able to see how many words in meters he typed and how many of them the keyboard corrected or predicted. A few words should be said about the latter. It is impossible to disable prediction in the keyboard, which is not a disadvantage, because SwiftKey is famous for this particular functionality. Her vocabulary is quite large: for example, she even knows such a modern word as “upload”. Also, when holding a word for a long time from the selection bar, you can turn off its prediction. This helps improve the SwiftKey logic, which is already high quality and well thought out (thanks to the developers for that). From the convenience of the keyboard, you can highlight the switching of languages \u200b\u200bby swipe by space and a large dictionary.

Conclusions:

In general, this is all I would like to tell you about the SwiftKey Keyboard. Of the three keyboards in this review, it stands out for its pleasant appearance and user-friendly interface. I can recommend it to anyone looking to improve their text experience on iOS. And yes, if you don't need to use Ukrainian.

SwiftKey Keyboard

Developer:
Version: 1.4.8
iPhone + iPad (53.7 MB) - Free [Download from App Store]
UiP rating: 4,5/5

Fleksy + GIF Keyboard was first released for download on iOS on April 9, 2014, and has skyrocketed to the top spot in downloads. Jonas Rozhkov has been talking about his impressions of her for a relatively long time. Over the past two years, the keyboard has noticeably improved, was improved and now has a serial number 8.2. The number of its downloads on Google Play is measured in millions, from one to five - the popularity is noticeable to the naked eye.

Minuses:

To be honest, during testing the keyboard, I did not find any noticeable shortcomings. The only thing that caused complaints was the transition animation between additional characters that appear after a long hold on the function button.

Pros:

Fleksy is a unique case. She won my recognition as soon as I figured out her settings. The keyboard may seem weak at first, but after a few hours of use you get used to it and start typing at an amazing speed. The whole reason is the lack of facets of the symbols, that is, you do not need to follow where the finger lies. In other words, the user will click on the desired letter if he enters the sector specified by the developer.

Among the "pluses" I will refer to the prediction module, which works flawlessly. The highlight is that it can even suggest GIFs. And the latter in the application is huge, huge number, they are all updated and available for search. It is worth mentioning the settings and customization options for the keyboard, thanks to which it can be completely "fitted" to your use case. Toggle the spacebar on and off, resize the layout (small, medium, large) and place the number row at the top of the keyboard! Owners of large devices from Apple will like the one-handed control mode, when the user selects the priority of the key arrangement. Fleksy has a large database of languages, including Russian and Ukrainian, and their dictionaries can be updated independently during the typing process. Moving between symbols is implemented at the highest level and replaces Swype Selection from Cydia: hold down the spacebar and move your finger across the area that replaces the keys.

Conclusions:

I think Fleksy is the best keyboard in this review, adapted for use by Ukrainians, thanks to the support of two of the most popular languages \u200b\u200bin our country.

Fleksy + GIF Keyboard

Developer: Fleksy, Inc.
Version: 8.2
iPhone + iPad (28.6 MB) - Free [Download from App Store]
UiP rating: 4,8/5

Slash Keyboard

The last of the reviewed keyboards appeared only in September 2015, but has already gained an army of fans. Due to its main feature, it is popular among teenagers who want to share information, but I find it also a convenient tool for business people. However, Slash is completely unsuitable for use in our country, as it does not have native language support.

Minuses:

I would not like to draw attention to the obvious disadvantages of the application (9 languages; some imperfection of the interface due to the small age of the software), but to talk about its uniqueness.

Pros:

Following the official release of the final version of iOS 8.0, several third-party keyboards appeared in the App Store at once, which, as you know, can now be installed on iPhones and iPads with this firmware.

As previously reported, in the new, the final version of which was released to all users this Wednesday, Apple has added a number of changes and improvements. Perhaps one of the expected improvements is support for third-party keyboards, which owners of devices with iOS 8 can now replace the standard keyboard.

Just a few hours after the release of the final version of iOS 8, several third-party keyboards from various developers appeared in the "apple" app store at once, which can become a good alternative to the keyboard already familiar to us in iOS. Below is a quick overview of the best (in our opinion) third-party keyboards available for download on the App Store. Installation instructions for third-party keyboards can be found at.

Standard keyboard

The standard iOS 8 keyboard introduces the QuickType feature, which provides the ability to quickly type messages. At the same time, there is an additional row above the keyboard with several words or phrases you often use that can be inserted into the message, thereby significantly reducing the typing time.

As noted by Apple, QuickType is trainable and will accurately predict the text you enter over time. Currently QuickType supports English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Thai.

******************************************

Minuum

This keyboard has long become one of the most popular keyboards for owners of mobile devices on the Android operating system, and now it is finally available on iOS. Unlike other third-party keyboards, Minuum recognizes that fingers come in different sizes, so the developers have reduced the height of the QWERTY keyboard to save space.

To avoid mistakes when typing on such an unusual keyboard, it is suggested to use built-in dictionaries and predictive recognition methods. In addition, Minuum supports various gestures. At the moment Minuum only supports English, but in the near future the developers promise to add support for some more languages.

******************************************

Fleksy

Fleksy is, perhaps, the most popular keyboard among owners of mobile devices based on the Android operating system. Fleksy brings a host of new data entry features and amazing typing speed, making it the fastest keyboard in the world. Fleksy uses predictive text input, so you can enter text without even looking at the keyboard. All that is required of you is at least a similar arrangement of letters, and also so that the number of letters in the word you typed and the required word match.

To save space, you can resize the keyboard, easily add punctuation marks, spaces and delete words with a simple swipe of your finger, personalize your text input with vibrant themes with over 800 emoticons and emojis, and much more. Fleksy supports 40 languages, including English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Hebrew, Dutch and more!

******************************************

SwiftKey

SwiftKey is another keyboard previously only available on Android. This keyboard can substitute for your writing style and guess the word you are typing using the built-in dictionary, thereby significantly reducing the typing time. SwiftKey also has the ability to enter text using gestures - you can place your finger over the display and move it over the desired characters, forming words.

According to the developers, SwiftKey keyboard makes typing faster and easier, as well as more efficient autocorrect and predictive next word input. SwiftKey currently supports English, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese and French, but with over 60 languages \u200b\u200bavailable on Android, it is likely to expand to iOS soon.

******************************************

Swype

The Swype keyboard was developed by a well-known company Nuance. As in the case of SwiftKey, the Swype keyboard allows you to type text, as well as enter symbols and punctuation marks not only by pressing keys, but also using gestures when the user swipes from the first letter of a word to all subsequent ones. The Swype keyboard has a built-in dictionary with the ability to add new words to it, so it can predict which word you are typing.

Of course, while Nuance has not endowed SwiftKey for iOS with all the capabilities available to users of Android devices, but in the near future the company promises to expand more functionality. The number of languages \u200b\u200bsupported will likely be increased as well, as SwiftKey currently only accepts text input in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.

******************************************

Color Keyboards

If you are wearing the color scheme of the standard iOS keyboard, you can color it with Color Keyboards. This application allows you to change the keyboard color of iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch to any of the available over 20 different colors. Color Keyboards is very easy to install, but if you don't know how to do it, there is a step-by-step installation guide inside the application.

During the preparation of the material, we noticed that new keyboards appear almost daily. For example ai.type. Keyboard appeared much later than TouchPal or SwiftKey, and at first the application was paid. But soon the developers changed their anger to mercy. So it is possible that a month after our review, the situation on the keyboard market will change dramatically.

So, ai.type Keyboard is our first third-party keyboard for iOS 8. At the time of testing, it offered the widest range of features, so we will consider it as a kind of starting point for the rest.

Seven skins are offered - standard iOS, Android and WP interfaces, proprietary ai.type Keyboard skin, sketch skin and others. It is possible to use your own image as a background.

As you can see, there are additional characters, and there are many, and there is a separate line for numbers. Based on my experience of using third-party keyboards, one would notice that the presence of this line alone predetermined the choice of the application. But that would be too subjective.

There are many languages, Russian is present. Switching is done by clicking on the "Globe". Keyboard settings can be called by "tap" on the button with a special icon.

A very useful feature is the keyboard height adjustment separately for portrait and landscape modes. But text input by sliding is not here, and this is the only omission of ai.type Keyboard. Not that we were fans and campaigned for this particular method, but if there is demand, it must be satisfied.

In general, the keyboard is quite good and clearly claims to be a favorite among similar applications in the App Store.

SwiftKey - keyboard for iOS 8 with sliding support

Something nice keyboard, but without support for the Russian language, at least for now.

Another drawback is only two covers, dark and light. There are no additional characters.

But there is SwiftKey Flow, i.e. swipe input method. As far as our knowledge of English allowed, we were able to make sure that the definition of a word, even with a few of our mistakes, is almost always correct. Of course, in the event that the word refers to more or less common and is in the dictionary. Otherwise, you can add the word to the dictionary yourself so that next time you won't have problems with its spelling.

In addition, the keyboard offers the use of "cloud" services SwiftKey Cloud for storing settings and your dictionary. Convenient when using multiple devices, including on different "axes".

GO Keyboard - Russian keyboard for iOS 8

After the possibilities of ai.type Keyboard, I want to see something new, let's see if GOKeyboard can offer it.

Let's start with the covers. There are only three of them, and it seemed to us that the interface of the best was copied from the "native" iOS keyboard. But you can use your own images as a background.

Period, comma and some additional characters are present. But switching languages \u200b\u200bis possible only through "tap" on the space. Those who are accustomed to using the faster Globus may not like this option. And swype is not implemented here either.

There are frankly few settings - language selection, predictive input, automatic capital letters, sound when pressed. And the covers, of course. In general, it is still difficult to name a reason that would distinguish GOKeyboard from the rest.

TouchPal is one of the best keyboards for iOS 8

The TouchPal keyboard, unlike the previous app, is much better provided. There are swype, and additional symbols, and various other things.

For example, this is the largest number of covers we've seen. True, if you look closely, then only one cover is used, and everything else is just color options.

As a souvenir, we make a cover with an image from the camera and adjust the transparency of the buttons.

There is an add. symbols, there are a large number of "smiles". Switching between languages \u200b\u200b- sliding along the space bar or long "tap" on the "Globe. In principle, it is convenient.

There are not many languages \u200b\u200byet, but Russian is among those already available. The set of settings is usually minimal.

Swype - alternative keyboard for iOS 8

Here comes the legendary Swype app. Why legendary? Because thanks to its developer, Swype Inc., another Swype trademark appeared in the world, which has become a household name, like a diaper or a copier. Swype is a concatenation of the words swipe and type, which as a result became the designation of the text input method.

In any case, now "swipe" is used by many applications, so its ancestor will have to try to prove in practice its uniqueness.

By tradition, let's start with the covers. You cannot add your own background, and there are not so many pre-installed ones.

There is a period and a comma, there are additional characters. The latter are displayed only on one keyboard - the one with a dark design. But technically, the symbols are also present on the rest of the covers, you just need to "tap" the desired button.

Actually, about swype. The method works no worse and no better than on other keyboards. "Hello, where are you" can be typed in seconds in 2-3, even without particularly aiming, but for more complex and rare words a dictionary is used.

The only difference we noticed is the non-trivial use of swype. For example, to select an additional character, you can press the "? 123" button and, without releasing your finger, slide to the desired character. Comma - from the semicolon button to the space, all "on the go." With a little practice and memorizing the placement of the characters, you can achieve amazing typing speed results.

Language selection - long "tap" on the space. The transition to the keyboard settings is possible only from the keyboard itself - "tap" on the corporate icon and select the "gear".

The set of settings is standard. In general, the keyboard is not bad, but, as in the case of GOKeyboard, it does not stand out in any way from the competitors. If it once offered the only way to enter swype, now this advantage is gone.

TapTap Keyboards - The Easiest Keyboard for iOS 8

That's where the big names are over, let's move on to the less well-known keyboards. One of them is TapTap Keyboards for iOS 8. We liked it for the presence of the Russian language and the most flexible cover settings.

Actually, of all the applications in our review, this is the simplest one. There are no extra characters, no semicolons, no swype - nothing. Only one problem with hitting the Shift in the Russian layout.

The only thing that can attract a user is the cover settings. At first glance, there is not much to roam here, there is not even an opportunity to choose your background.

However, you can choose the colors that both ai.type Keyboard and Swype will envy. True, we have not been able to establish the difference between "colors" and "themes", here the developer either confused something or was too clever. So you can create your own design option only for the classic (in the understanding of TapTap Keyboards) keyboard shape.

In the settings, among all "like" and "share" you can find only the key sound. There are no autocapital, no double-spaced periods, and even less predictive input.

Phraseboard - keyboard dictionary for iOS 8

The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe application can be understood from the name - the use of pre-prepared phrases in a conversation. The use of Phraseboard as the main keyboard is not possible, its role is secondary. Actually, the Phraseboard can hardly be considered a keyboard - rather, a dictionary.

The bottom line is this: Phraseboard contains an editable list of categories: Personal, Family, Friends, Work, and so on. Each category has phrases - we can also change them or create new ones.

During a conversation, if suddenly we wanted to use a template phrase, switch to Phraseboard, go to the desired category and select. In principle, this can be convenient if you often have to specify your email address, nickname in Skype, wallet number in WebMoney, and so on. “Sorry, I'm busy, please call back later” is not the only use case for this application.

True, iOS has its own tool - abbreviations, which can be used in much the same way. Even if not with such convenience, although for a couple of three phrases it is suitable. But Phraseboard, as a more specialized tool, is much more functional in this regard. Another question is whether he will find his users, and how many of them there will be.

PopKey - doodling keyboard for iOS 8

Another additional keyboard, this time with an entertaining twist. It offers GIF images on specific topics. Basically, why not? Especially if the selected picture in the topic will be able to cause laughter of your interlocutor.

You can upload your own "gifs" to use them in the future. This may not be required, since the set of pictures in PopKey is quite large, and for a great variety of topics.

However, for the full operation of the application, access to the Internet is required, although a minimum set of images in offline mode is provided.

Adaptxt - keyboard with special dictionaries for iOS 8

Adaptxt developers are positioning the keyboard as adaptive. This implies the following meaning: specialized dictionaries are available to you, which, when using swype, will help you correctly identify the desired word. There are dictionaries on the topic of business, finance, sports, IT industry, medicine, and so on.

But at the moment there is a sharp shortage of dictionaries in Russian: only a dictionary on the topic of business is available for download. The choice of developers, of course, is interesting, given the large number of businessmen who are looking in the App Store for a suitable keyboard for composing business letters to their colleagues or subordinates. However, in the near future the set of dictionaries may change, tea is not a constant.

There are two covers: traditionally dark and light. Swype, auto-correction and predictive input are used.

Also, swype is very useful with shortcuts. A list of abbreviations and corresponding "hot" keys is specified in the keyboard settings. Later, it is enough to swipe from the "123" button to the specified key to get the desired text. In our opinion, an excellent solution, here the main thing is to remember which of the buttons contains the "secret", and which one.

In general, the keyboard deserves a moment of attention, although, in our opinion, at the moment it has not been finalized yet: there are not enough additional symbols, cover editing capabilities and, of course, dictionaries.

Conclusion

All in all, there was no big surprise. The most advanced applications turned out to be well-known in the Android environment for a long time, the developers of which can put together a good team for serious work on their product. These are ai.type Keyboard, Swype, TouchPal and SwiftKey. We leave the leadership to ai.type Keyboard, as the most equipped keyboard, albeit without the swype method. For those who do not recognize only a continuous input method, we recommend Swype and TouchPal.

Compared to the native keyboard, third-party applications do not differ too much. The most significant differences are in the display of additional characters and the swype input method. Whether there is a need for them, you decide.

The a.i.Keyboard is equipped with a very useful option in the form of keyboard resizing, although this feature is most relevant only for tablets, at least for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Only the covers remain, but this advantage is questionable, because each new keyboard necessarily copies the interface of the native application, as we have already said - very good.

Additional keyboards are also interesting, but the scenarios for their use are limited and will not resonate with every user.

IOS * Acronyms * - Allows third-party keyboard shortcuts built into iOS (Settings\u003e General\u003e Keyboard\u003e Abbreviations).

Romanov Stanislav 27.09.2014 12962

How do I install the new keyboard on iOS 8? TOP 9 best for iPhone and iPad

Apple, having launched new smartphones on the market, updated the mobile operating system to version iOS 8. After updating to it on the iPhone and iPad, it becomes possible to add third-party keyboards, thereby somewhat increasing the functionality of the system as a whole.

But now users are wondering: how to install an additional keyboard, which ones can already be downloaded from the App Store, are they popular and which ones will be released in the near future?

Installing a new keyboard

First of all, of course, you must download and install any new keyboard from the store, you can choose from the list after the instructions. It can be downloaded just like any other application. You can enable a third-party keyboard with a few simple steps:

Step 1... Go to "Settings", open the item "General".
Step 2... Next, scroll down and select the "Keyboards" section
Step 3... In the new section, select the "Keyboards" item again

Click to enlarge

Step 4... After you have installed the keyboard and made your way to this section, click on the "New keyboards ..." button.

Step 5... Then you will see a long list with different sections. If the keyboard is installed, then it will be accessible for selection (in our case, it is SwiftKey). Click on the third party keyboard and it will be added after the main keyboards.

Step 6... Click on the added keyboard to enable "full access" (only for those keyboards you trust). This will allow you to use all its capabilities.

Click to enlarge

Some keyboards are still recommended to be configured before use. For example, when installing Fleksy, you still have to go to the settings of the keyboard itself and apply the language you need. After activating all the options, launch any application where you can enter text and test the keyboard. If necessary, click on the "ball" next to the space bar if the keyboard has not switched.

Since the keyboard installation process is as simple as any other application, uninstallation should also be straightforward. You can simply go to the App Store and remove any third-party keyboard.

TOP 9 Best Third Party Keyboards

What kind of keyboard should you choose for everyday use, fast and error-free text input? Most of you may have heard of the most popular keyboards on Android - SwiftKey, which allows you to guess the words and phrases you type, and Swype, which boasts accurate typing. Among others, Fleksy stands out, which also managed to transfer to iOS 8. However, we will offer a longer list for the latest version of Apple's mobile system.

As for the Russian language in keyboards, it is only known that only Fleksy supports it, but it is possible that other developers are trying to introduce it or have already introduced it.

1. SwiftKey - one of the most popular keyboards on Android, ported to the "apple" platform. SwiftKey brings great auto-correction, fast swipe typing and many colorful themes to visually customize your keyboard. The keyboard can in the background adapt to the style of a particular user by guessing the following words. Plus, SwiftKey is equipped with a dictionary sync function between different devices.

3. Fleksy is a third-party keyboard for iPhone that has won the title of the fastest in the world, hitting the Guinness Book of Records. It has over 600 emoji packs (especially if you love emojis). Its functionality also includes auto-correction and appearance change. There are no swipes here, but, as we said, the Russian language is implemented.

4. Ginger Keyboard is one of the promised keyboards for iOS devices. It has not yet been released, but the developers are working on some of its special innovations, for example, a grammar checker, a translator, a dictionary and a number of other useful and large-scale tools, including a personal trainer. So far, these are only promises, and we should wait for the official release of the application.

5. Minuum - a keyboard that is not quite standard in the iOS user's view, which can transform into a very compact panel. Moreover, the input of words can be done quite easily and quickly.

6. PopKey is the world's first animated GIF keyboard, whose developers promise to create something really funny. It will allow you to exchange animations, instead of annoying emoticons.

[Soon, Free]

7. TouchPal Keyboard is one of the lesser known text input solutions, TouchPal comes to iOS quite quietly and unnoticed. Much like the default keyboard on an impressive number of Android phones. It is a bit like Swype. It is distinguished not so much by swipe input, which has already become a trend, but rather a well-developed design. Gestures help increase keyboard functionality.