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I see that ios 8.1 beta has been released to developers...any sign of a fix for the direct touch bug?

just to clarify, you mean 8.1?

To answer yoru question according to the fleksy team direct touch broke wiht voice over and fleksy so they are working on a fix currently.

I don't think the keyboard is accessible with Voiceover at all. I am disappointed that the Fleksy keyboard is finally integrated into iOS but that it's virtually unusable for me.

Hello Vash,

According to this comment from one of Fleksy's founders, the accessibility issues with Fleksy are the result of a VoiceOver direct touch bug in iOS 8.

It's just sad because I was looking so forward to using it now that the keyboard is finally integrated into iOS!

That's interesting about the direct touch bug. I didn't know this information so thanks for sharing. I've been trying out direct touch typing itself and it's pretty darn cool. :)

What's New in Version 4.0.3
*Note: Please update to the latest version of iOS 8 to fix key known issues with custom keyboards and improve your Fleksy experience. Go to Settings >
General > Software Update.

What's New?

- Even more magical autocorrect
- Added Polish and Ukrainian
- Faster and reliable language downloads
- Nice and crisp buttons
- Fixed suggestions not appearing on iPhone 6 and 6+
- Huge stability improvements

I don't think they have fixed any accessibility updates even in this update. No character is spoken.

It won't be fixed until Apple releases an iOS update. It is a keyboard compatibility bug on Apple's end.

Interesting, fleksy just announced a competition, but guess what its to design a new logo for them, so we have no chance of participating in it.
Prizes on offer include teashirts, and an Iphone 6 or 6 plus or an android device.
Of course I know we can't participate in this, but its still rather annoying to know that there is a competition that we there original users who helped them get started and helped them gain recognition can't participate in, how priorities begin to change.

But it would have been so easy for them to include us, they could say or come up with a memorable text slogan, I am not sure what the word is I am looking for but fairly sure there is one.
Also regarding the hole money thing, fleksy is now paid on ios8 as I understand it, so how can they justify making it free for so long?
I think what fleksy should say is if you can prove you were an original purchaser buy providing an iTunes receipt we will give you a free promo code to let you get it for ios 8 for free, effectively the users who paid for it right back at the beginning are being asked to pay twice for this app, and they have never addressed this issue properly.

To my understanding, only if you buy some of the updated logos and photo options or funky looking keyboards will you have to pay. It is not going to cost us to download it. Complaining about designing a logo is pointless. Like an above user, I'm not defending the company and its inaccessibility at this time. I'd rather have an accessible keyboard app than design a stupid logo anyway. Who really cares what it looks like as long as it works!

Lets be fair inaccessibility is apples fault, so not there problem.
So just to be clear what features are payed upgrades? someone told me that you can use it as a system keyboard for free. If its only themes and other fancy rubbish that is payed I don't feel two bad at all, and won't be buying them lol, but it still would have been nice to be included in the logo competition some how.

Frankly, I hope the company rethinks things and again offers Fleksy VO; IMO that app had functionality that was just about right and I'd hate to see such a usual subgenre of Fleksy restricted only to those who got it originally, especially as the company said it would keep Fleksy VO around forever.

1) Fleksy on iOS 8 costs $0.99 as of today.

2) Any user who purchased Fleksy as an early supporter, AND any user who got it when it was free, continues to get all updates for free, including the version for iOS 8. Very proud to be be continuing support for our user base, whether you paid $15 or $0 for an app that was quite different in 2012. We hope you enjoy the updates.

3) Our app has always had a visual design, even when it was solely for a blind audience. Design continues to be very important for us, as does the VoiceOver market. As an example of that, Fleksy still ships by default with high contrast theme for all our users - whether visually impaired or not. Lots of partially blind users appreciate this design decision. Lots of sighted users like it too.

4) Visually impaired users are welcome to contribute to our corporate identity rebranding. Over the years I have personally been amazed at how many abilities the blind have. Those with partial sight may comment on how a logo or name can be seen when you have a particular vision impairment. Others may have an idea about how sound could also be part of our identity. Our designs and logos were important to us even when most of our users couldn't see them - and the vision loss of many of our users influenced those early designs to make them accessible to everyone. I don't see what's changed in that and why it's controversial that we continue to care about this matter.

5) We won't be putting a Fleksy VO in the store. We got a huge amount of criticism when we did that, and it demotivated all of our team that worked hard to make that dedicated app for the blind. Even when rationally or technically splitting the app between its intended audiences makes sense, there's many other reasons that will stop us from ever doing this again.

6) We will however continue to support the VoiceOver community as best as we can. We are not allowed to comment on iOS 8.1 here, but what we can say for now is that we hope there will be some improvements on Fleksy's accessibility when it becomes available on Monday.

Thanks,

Ioannis
@fleksy

Thanks for a really detailed reply Ioannis I appreciate you taking the time to write in detail.
I am pleased to know fleksy is still free for existing customers, someone mentioned to me earlier it was payed on ios8, and I thought that meant I would have to pay again for the app,
as for the rebranding, that's good you welcome ideas from all people, the original announcement sounded like all you were looking for was a logo and that was the only idea you were seeking.
If fleksy accessibility is improved from Monday and it can be used as a system wide keyboard then hopefully there will be no need for a fleksyVO at all. Its good to know your still committed to supporting us.
I especially appreciate you taking the time to reply personally to us here.

I hope the Fleksy team remember that while this is a community of blind and low vision people, we are individuals and do not speak with one voice. I understand that the VO experience must have been a morale issue. I hope you know that some of use really appreciated the effort. I am looking forward to the day when I can use the system wide keyboard, and hope it's soon.

Thank you.

All

iOS 8.1 was released today.

As you will see in Apple's change log, the update fixes a number of issues affecting 3rd party keyboards and how they interact with VoiceOver. We are very grateful for the bug fixes, and we believe Apple engineers worked really hard to ship those in the 8.1 update for Fleksy VoiceOver users.

Our engineers will now work to ensure a smooth Fleksy experience for VoiceOver users with the next few updates.

Meanwhile, for anyone already using Fleksy in the community, we recommend updating to iOS 8.1 - this will fix many of the issues VoiceOver users had with 8.0 and 8.0.2 versions of iOS.

Thanks,
Ioannis
@fleksy

Hello, thank you for keeping us up to date. I have updated my iphone to the latest iOS and the direct touch bug is indeed fixed, however, none of the buttons are labeled which makes it impossible to enter numbers, special characters and capital letters. Cab you offer us any insight regarding if and when this will be fixed?

as much as I really enjoy the fact of @fleksy being a third-party keyboard, I think its caused a lot of other un forseeable problems. I still wished we had full access to the fleksy vo app for those of us that really liked it like myself, I really appreciated the hard work that went into making that app sense the fleksy team knew that their other app would be inaccessible. as of right now even with the 8.1 update, fleksy is still unusable. heres where a fleksy vo solution would help unless they know some ideas for making it work much as it did before in fleksy vO.

Reading through these comments I cannot do anything but shake my head in despair at some of the stuff I'm seeing. People clamoring for Fleksy-vo? At the time it was villified for being a 'blindy' app, now everyone suddenly wants it back? Does it no longer send the wrong message? Is it no longer a problem that we cannot access the main app, like so many kept yelling at the time? I don't blame the devs for not trying to step into that one again if I look at the reception the app initially received. As for paying for an app, do the people who whinge about that even know what it costs to make and maintain an app? These people need to eat you know :) Having a great idea is one thing, realizing and implementing it is a neverending cycle of cranking out new features. But that's not exactly something you do on the side. Yeah maybe you already paid a couple bucks for it a few years back. And now paying 99 cents of all things is a problem? 99 freakin' cents? I mean really? I'm not saying Fleksy's doing everything right either, but the fact they even support VO users still is a herculean effort looking at the shifty customer base the blind community Trademark can be at times. I wonder what ann app developer would have to do to make every blind and partially sighted person happy. I think the app would have to be fully accessible, free, exciting and it may never have any regressions because the cavalry will be called if it has them, even if it isn't their fault. People deleting the Fleksy app, not paying, etc., fine. Delete the app. But don't whine on here that you have, it accomplishes nothing and isn't exactly fun for the devs to read about, making it slightly petty. The only feedback I want to give the devs at this point, since the bug that made so many blind people mad this time wasn't even in their control to begin with, is to fix the button labels on the bottom row and see if you can do some testing to ensure VO works smoothly with word suggestions and Fleksy-related gestures.

I just wanted to let you all know that it is possible to use Fleksy at least to type basic things. It does require that you first tap the keyboard area first to initial ice the keyboard and then you can start typing. I will say that it seems to take a much lighter tap than was required before but it does work. In fact I typed this with Fleksy. Hopefully the other bugs can get worked out soon.

After my IOS 8.1 update, I have found Fleksy to work with VO. No, it is not as slick as the old Fleksy VO app--which I never complained about--but it is working. I appreciate the work of the developers to improve the accessibility of the app.

I agree that I would like the buttons on the smaller keyboard labeled. I would like it to be a little easier to switch back to the IOS keyboard--I have to try a couple times to get that right each time. Perhaps a gesture that would flip the Fleksy Keyboard back to IOS could be developed?

This app is useable, and it is getting better. I think it will continue to improve, and I will be happy to recommend it to others as the final kinks get worked out.

Hi. I can't get the new update to suggest alternative words when I swipe down. Basically I hear a click sound which probebly means I've exited the typing mode on the keyboard.

Just to confirm, we will fix the labelling of some buttons on the keyboard with the next updates. However for a blind user, it is better to use the Minimal mode in settings to hide them and give extra typing space. That, combined with the large layout is the best combination.

You can bring back the spacebar and other buttons by swiping up with two fingers.

fleksy settings are located in the actual ios settings itself.

Hi,

If you look at my previous comments, you'll find that I have, until now, been very supportive towards the Fleksy team regarding the bugs that have made their keyboard unusable for VoiceOver users on iOS 8; it was simply pointless to complain or expect more from it when this was impossible due to Voiceover's direct touch bug. My views have, nevertheless, changed drastically since then as I will explain below:

The first beta release of iOS 8.1 occurred (if I'm not mistaken) on September 30. I have personally been running the betas since then and can tell you that the direct touch bug disappeared on day 1. This means that the Fleksy developers had a 20 day testing period to improve the keyboard and the experience for VoiceOver users before the firmware's public launch on October 20. I have to say that I was very disappointed when a Fleksy update didn't show up on the App Store yesterday finally making the keyboard fully accessible.

In the past few weeks we have seen two or three Fleksy updates pushed out, however, all fixes have been exclusively for sighted users; the Fleksy developers haven't even bothered to properly label the buttons for Voiceover. I am guessing that Fleksy has decided to prioritize and take care of the needs of their sighted users first, after all, they now represent the vast majority of their user base. Also, most visually impaired users interested on running Fleksy have already purchased the app in the past (or got it for free), therefore, Fleksy's main source of income now comes from new, sighted users purchasing the keyboard for $0.99.

A lack of Voiceover support is perfectly understandable on a keyboard initially designed for sighted users, but Fleksy started as an app for the blind, and it is very sad to see the people who supported it from the beginning being treated as an afterthought. I have to say that paying $0.99 or even $15 for the iOS 8 version of Fleksy wouldn't have bothered me at all if this meant that I could use it as a proper third party keyboard with Voiceover. App development costs money and developer talent should be adequately compensated after all, besides, anyone who can afford an iPhone or iPad can afford a $15 app as well. I don't believe that Fleksy did us a favor by giving us the iOS 8 version as a free update, rather, this turned blind users into a nuisance that needs to be dealt with eventually instead of a strong source of income and support.

Regards!

I don't think we are a nuisance to be dealt with eventually, I mean look at how ioaness keeps coming on applevis to help and answer questions personally, you don't see many developers doing that.
OK maybe issues take a while to sort out, but I am sure they will be sooner or later. I mean he came on hear only a few hours ago and recommended the best way for blind people to use the app, that's pretty quick going once people started saying they had issues.

I've managed to get most of Fleksy's features to work to some extent with VoiceOver since updating to 8.1, but selecting specific letters and symbols still doesn't work as far as I'm aware. Is there a way around this issue that I haven't figured out yet, or is this something that still needs to be resolved?

Hi again,

I truly appreciate Ioannis's participation in the community and the fact that our opinions are being heard, however, I find it unbelievable that problems as small as button labeling haven't been taken care of 5 weeks after the keyboard's initial release.

Regarding the confusion with the location of the settings for the minimal layout, these can be found inside the Fleksy app itself, under the appearance tab. Nevertheless, these options are, once again, very poorly labeled for Voiceover, so it is easier to activate the minimal layout by simply performing a two-finger swipe down gesture over the keyboard.

Regards.

Hi Peter, the settings tabs are located at the top of the screen in Fleksy as opposed to the bottom in most apps. Also you will need to use your finger to explore the tabs and settings as it seems that there is a bug with swiping from left to right and this makes for inconsistent navigation.

Hi all, about half an hour ago fleksy tweeted that they are looking for beta testers for fleksy on ios8,
so this would be a great way to get issues known,
the link to sign up is
http://fleksy.com/ios8/#getfleksy
I think the test is limited to 1000 so I would hurry if I were you.

I was on the original Fleksy beta team before the app was first released. Let me tell you, the engineers were very happy to receive my input. They were quick to fix things and sent out many different versions. I left the beta team about three months after the release of the original app.
I applaud Syntellia's realization that the problems with accessibility are not minor and their decision to bring in beta testers from those of us with which they started. Because of these many problems that Fleksy currently has, I have re-joined the team and I stress that it is important for those who can to join me. This is our way to fix the problems that exist and prevent new ones from being introduced by nipping the problems in the bud.
Through beta testing, we can elevate fleksy to the lifesaver and golden apple it once was. My personal goal is that fleksy will be back in the hall of fame by February, elected by the majority by which it originally made it in.

I signed up fairly early for the beta testing, however, I haven't received an email invite. Has anyone else received an invitation?

I haven't had one yet either.

They will probably wait until they have the correct number of betas and then send out one mass e-mail.

I've just realised that the word suggestions, swiping down to change the word, is working for me now. There hasn't been another update yet, but I could have sworn it wasn't working a few days ago. Very nice anyway!
Another big improvement in the last update is that you can now edit the text field, navigate by character and word etc., which wasn't possible in the initial release.
For those having trouble accessing settings. It's not ideal but is mostly possible. First when you open the Fleksy app, the Apple keyboard may be on screen. If so, you need to switch it to the Fleksy keyboard using the next keyboard button. Then the settings will appear.
Personally I would recommend selecting the Large keyboard option. As others have mentioned, you might also want to hide the spacebar row while you're typing.
Hopefully they'll get the buttons labelled, allow manual entry, make it easier to switch back to the Apple keyboard, and improve the settings in future updates, but it has already come a long way.

Do you think it would make a difference if we deleted then reinstalled the app?