Dear AppleVis friends,
We could not be any more excited today to share with you our biggest news yet: The brand new, system-wide FlickType keyboard is now available on the App Store! Packed with emoji, cursor control, better dictionary and so much more! A huge thank you to all our amazing testers, we couldn't have done it without you ☺️
The new container app is also much easier to navigate, has improved instructions and is totally free to use. For the system-wide custom keyboard, we are offering a free 7-day trial, and after that it's just 99 cents per month. Continuing to build out this technology is no small task, and this will support our ongoing development costs so that we can continue to provide you with the very best VoiceOver typing experience available.
All beta testers can continue to use the custom keyboard free of charge, but we hope that you will also support us by simply downloading FlickType from the App Store and choosing the "Upgrade" option. You will still receive new beta builds as usual.
A big thank you to everyone for your support over the last few months, and we can't wait to show you what else we've planned for the future of VoiceOver typing. Please help us spread the word!
Warmly, Kosta and Ashley
- Get the app
- Follow us on Twitter
- Visit our website
- Email us at hello@flicktype.com
Comments
Sounds great
I downloaded it this morning and gave it a quick lookover. I can't wait to get a chance to get home and try it out. Thanks for continuing to update this app.
Thank you
Thank you @sockhopsinger, we can't wait to hear what you think, smile!
I have to ask again: what are
I have to ask again: what are the current supported languages? Have you added other oor is there a roadmap to do so?
I ask this because I want to spend my seven days trial only when portuguese is supported. I have any doubt though that it will work and I will happily suubscribe once my language is supported.
Languages
Thank you @splyt. We currently offer English only. More languages will be added in a future update, and Portuguese would be among the first few. Stay tuned!
What about other languages?
Hello,
Is there any chance that this keyboard would support other languages? I personally am interested in Russian language support. In this case I would be happy to invest in the development. :-)
upgrading
hi if i click the upgrade button, as a beta tester do i have conpay? was unclear about that? or do i get charged the 99 cents%per month?
to clarify
so to clarify as per my last message ... i can trial the betas for free and pay the 99p per month to subscribe? well worth that in my view.
Beta testers
Hi @Will. If you are running a build from TestFlight, the "Upgrade" tab will indicate that is is "Active", and tapping the "Upgrade" button will not make a difference or charge you anything. If you want to subscribe to support us, please download the app from the App Store so that you can actually upgrade, and still be a tester. Hope that makes sense.
@Sergey: as mentioned, we currently offer English only. More languages will be added in a future update. Stay tuned!
Thank you!
update question
I already have the app, and when I went to the app store it says "open," meaning it's already here. However, the version number I have still says 1.0, and I do not see an option to upgrade. Will this come as an automatic update, or should I uninstall and reinstall the app to get the new features?
Can't wait to use flicktype system wide!
*edit* Um, never mind, after I posted this, a magical update button appeared. Of course it did, just to make me look silly! Oh well, it happens.
looks Promising
This looks very promising. I'm having a heck of a time with log-in credentials on my iPhone, so perhaps this will help me out down the road a bit.
Question on Keyboard's Full Access
Hi, was thrilled when the update for FlickType came through today and it made it a system wide keyboard. When I added it to my list of keyboards and and tried to use it, VoiceOver read out "Full Access". So I went back into Settings, opened the Keyboard section and tapped on the FlickType keyboard and turned on Full Access. When the alert message popped up saying that the developper could see all of your keystrokes, or some message along that line, I kind of froze a little. Being new to adding third party keyboards and having FlickType be the first ever third party I added, I am just curious to know if this alert message was standard for all keyboards and whether or not the developper's of FlickType do indeed see our keystrokes. I guess I am just seeking a some clarification for this. Thanks!
Standard
It is pretty standard for third party keyboards to request full access, and that agreement is also standard. It doesn't though mean that they are in fact doing so.
Full Access
Hi @Blinken223,
The alert that you came across is the standard Apple alert that is shown for all 3rd party keyboards, this is not specific to FlickType's practices. We very much respect privacy and do not collect or store what you type. Here is our very short and straightforward privacy policy that explains our specific practices: http://www.flicktype.com/privacy
Please let us know if you have any other questions!
RE: Full Access
Thank you FlickType for the response and information. I didn't think that you guys would have done that either, but like I said, yours is the first third party keyboard I've enabled, so I don't have much experience with third party keyboards, I wasn't sure.
Cool, but a couple questions?
This is my first 3rd party keyboard aswell. I'm on the free 7 day trial. I noticed when I tried to enter a word manually I keep getting stuck in the control center. and it's hard to get out. It's possible I go too far up and past the top row of the keyboard. Also, when adding a word to the dictionary it won't let me do something with a space like a city/town. for example Los Angeles. I'm using a SE using latest version of IOS. This is really cool you can use the keyboard in apps now.
Asian Languages
Hope this will support Asian languages such as Arabic soon. This can be amazing!
Control Center
Hi @Cool Cat,
Sorry to hear you're having trouble, but if you're activating the control center on an SE, it could be that you're really low on the screen and pulling the control center up. I'd try to move up a little bit on the screen away from the very bottom portion in order to stay away from the control center. As for adding words to the dictionary, currently, you can only add letters, which means that you can not add a space between the two words. We will be improving our dictionary management a lot, but for now, I suggest you add each word individually so you can still access them almost the exact same way.
Does this make sense?
Please let us know if you run into any other issues and thanks for downloading!
Arabic
Hi @Maldalain,
Thanks for the suggestion! We certainly plan to support several other languages as soon as possible, but we only have one developer at the moment so it will take us some time.
We'll keep you posted!
So I'm on the beta program
So I'm on the beta program aswell and I have no ide how to support you guys. When opening the App Store it says I already have the app.
Loud clicking sound every time I lift my finger after selecting
Hello
I like the improvement of FlickType very much apart from this: Every time I lift my finger after selecting the letter I want, a loud clicking sound plays. It also happens when I navigate on the keyboard. Is there a way to turn it off please?
RE: Loud clicking sound
Go into the settings tab at the bottom and change the click volume. You can also change the click sound to another one.
Love this
Thank you so much for such an amazing app. I really enjoy testing the early builds of the keyboard, and will continue to do so. I am telling everyone I know about this keyboard. Keep up the excellent work.
why is it a subscription only keyboard
hi just curious, why is it necessary to pay to use this as a custom keyboard when sighted people do not pay for 3rd-party keyboards?
Other languages
Hello. Any plans to make it compatible with Brazilian Portuguese?
strange sound issue
This is not a deal breaker by any means, but I thought I should point it out. When I use flicktype, and then when I am finished with it, my phone's sounds don't work quite right. For example, when I move from page to page of screens, that sound doesn't work. Also, when the control center or notification center is activated, the pop-up sounder letting me know it's there doesn't work. The only way to get these sounds back is to restart voice over. Anyone else noticed this tiny glitch? Like I said, not a deal breaker by far, but it does kind of make things challenging when you don't hear the little sounders letting you know your apps are populating.
Response to #17
O.k thanks for the feedback. I will heed your advice.
Beta plus support
Hi Raul,
Thank you, very much, for the support! If you already have the App Store version on your device then all you have to do is upgrade to the subscription in the upgrade tab. After this, you can go back to the beta version at any time by going to the TestFlight app or update like usual when you receive the notification that there is a new beta available. Your subscription will continue unless canceled from your App Store settings.
Thanks, again!
Subscription
Hi Will,
It sounds like you may not have had a chance to listen to the AppleVis interview we did, if you get the chance it will be informative on how 3rd party keyboard businesses work and our past experience. Typically 3rd party keyboards are mainstream apps, they raise money from venture capitalist and then later introduce ads and charge for themes, extensions, etc.. Since these keyboards have such a large target market this form of business can be sustainable. We are looking to build a very useful product for a small market and we know from past experience if we raise money from venture capitalists we will be expected to expand our target market to be much broader, with this we will not be able to provide a good experience for the audience we're hoping to help. So instead we are funding the project on our own, and hope to have the people that find the app beneficial contribute a small portion, about the cost of a cup of coffee, each month to help us keep the project going. For those that cannot or do not want to pay for the 3rd party keyboard, we will always have the FlickType Classic version and the demo feature on the new app be free of charge.
Please let us know if you have any other questions!
That is one rockin' new keyboard!
Hey. Thanks for doing this. It has made my phone typing experience much faster and more fun. Out of curiosity, do you have a list of apps that don't get along with the keyboard? I just found one today and I don't want to bother you by telling you something you already know if you in fact already know about this. Thanks bunches. FlickType kicks some serious butt!
It learns on its own!
It took me a bit to figure this out, but as you manually type out new words, they just go into the dictionary. Write a new word like the name of a city that it doesn't know or something, and then after you've flicked right, go check the dictionary. Surprise, there's a new word. Pretty darn great.
App conflicting with FlickType
Hi @Carin,
Thanks for the messages, really nice to hear! As for the issue with a specific app, we have not heard of any yet, but if you've run into an issue we would appreciate hearing about it.
Thanks, again!
Russian language support
Hello! I am also interested in the support of russian language. I really hope it would be available soon. What does the upgrade feature give?
Couple of Questions
OK, so I've been putting the new beta through its paces, and am really liking Flicktype even more, now that it can be used system wide. I've been using it as my primary keyboard all morning for a variety of tasks, and it's worked great.
I do have 2 questions I haven't figured out though.
1. If I'm in an edit field like a search form, is there a gesture to trigger the OK, Search, enter, or other button to take action? Say I'm searching for an app in the App Store's search field. The only way I've figured out how to actually do the search, is to flick up and hold, to bring up the standard keyboard, and use its Search button in the lower right.
2. I'm also trying to figure out editing text I've already written. I get that 3 finger swipes left and right move by line, and 2 finger swipes move by word. Is there a way to move by letter? I'm guessing you just move to put the cursor right after the word you want, flick left with 1 finger to remove the whole word, and put a different one in its place.
This is pretty cool though, and I'm impressed with how well it's working. I didn't know it added items to the dictionary based on what you type. that's pretty cool too.
I think I'll be doing a video of this soonish.
Search in apps
That is the only problem I have with using flicktype. This is especially an issue in YouTube as well as several other apps.
Search, etc.
I've run into similar problems with using autocomplete in sending mail and messages. If you type the first few letters of a name and go back to view it, you are no longer in edit mode and aren't presented with a list of possible autocomplete actions.
Currently the only way I know of for dealing with this is to bring up the standard keyboard. Right now I am guessing that these issues are because Flicktype is always "full screen" and that these issues will not be a problem when the partial screen keyboard version is available. This is on the developer's time line, so hopefully we'll see this soon!
Keep up the good work.
--Pete
Search
Hi there!
This is in response to the last few comments (Pete, Gallagher, and Jesse) regarding search, and just as Pete has inferred this is due to the fact that the keyboard is always full screen. We are working hard on implementing one of two solutions in the immediate future 1) either a search or action key depending on the app, or 2) getting the half screen working properly in all apps. For now, the workaround is either to dismiss the keyboard so you can interact with the app or to use the iOS keyboard. If you just dismiss instead of using the iOS keyboard the keyboard that will be presented next time you are in the specific app will be FlickType, typically Apple shows you whichever keyboard you used last in that app.
@Jesse, for now, the only time you may navigate letter by letter is when you're editing the word that you had just touch typed. Say you just touch typed the word and then flick right, you can go back to the previous word and still edit letter by letter until you start typing the new word. Does this make sense?
Please let us know if you have any other questions!
Facebook Messenger
When dismising the keyboard on Facebook Messenger app it would crash the app. It seems a keyboard should be always visible on screen
Facebook Messenger
@Raul, thank you for the report. What version are you currently running? You can see the build number at the bottom of the settings screen. Also, does this happen every single time you dismiss the keyboard? We've been unable to reproduce the problem, so if you had any exact steps that trigger it, we'd love to hear.
Thanks again,
Kosta
Re Messenger
Hi Raul. This is a known bug with messenger and VoiceOver. It can occur whilst using any keyboard and isn't specific to using FlickType. The problem occurs when there is text in the field ready to send but something occurs before you hit the send button, like a phone call comes in or you leave the app for some reason. Upon return, the app will crash when you enter that particular conversation with the unsent text. It doesn't occur with VoiceOver off so the only workaround I've found, bar reinstalling the app, is to turn VoiceOver off and get a sighted peer to open the desired conversation and once back inside the text field either delete or send the text. Its a very frustrating one but if I understand the problem correctly then it's a messenger issue and isn't triggered by FlickType. Hope that helps
Messenger, final
Thanks @Macky for clarifying that.
I have never encounted that
I have never encounted that messenger bug you're all talking about, I wonder if that's because I mainly use BSI?
entering websites?
Flicktype is great for typing documents, emails, messaging, ETC, but it's not exactly ideal for entering web site addresses.
Does anyone have any tips for entering URLs? or do I stick to the default keyboard?
Next Keyboard Gesture
Websites and Next Keyboard on iPhone X
Hi @Kool_Turk,
For email address and passwords, we currently recommend touch typing them, or using the iOS keyboard.
Hi @Barbara,
Thanks for reporting the issue and sorry you're having trouble. We are working on improving the gesture recognizer but for now, please utilize the next keyboard button, and you may also enable the dismiss keyboard button in the settings.
Thank you!
Support for Thai Language
Hello,
I'll be interested when Thai is supported.
Bug plus feature request.
Hi!
Love the keyboard, but both have a bug to report plus a feature to ask for.
Bug first: if you dismiss the keyboard after typing something then expand the field again, say if you forgot to add something in an email, navigation gestures no longer work, making it impossible to review what you've written or to figure out where you are in relation to the other text.
As for the feature request, could we get a clear all text gesture? Perhaps a swipe left and hold?
Amazing app overall, however! Keep it up!
Thanks.
I too would love the clear
I too would love the clear all feature
Dismiss and Delete All
Hi @Rasha, thanks for the feedback! Regarding the bug, there is a limitation with iOS keyboards that prevents FlickType from knowing the entire contents of a text field if there are multiple sentences at the time you start editing. We will be implementing a workaround for this in an upcoming update. Until then, we recommend you dismiss or switch to the iOS keyboard and then move the cursor using standard voiceover gestures. As a side note, if you start editing an empty text field and type multiple sentences with FlickType, you will be able to navigate the entire contents as long as you don’t exit FlickType or the current app.
Re: Delete All Functionality + @Ahsan,
Thank you, both, for the suggestion, we will be bringing back our quick delete functionality, which will essentially be the clear all functionality that you're requesting. If you have any other requests please send them our way!
Thanks!
Problems dismissing the keyboard
Hello
I am having trouble dismissing the keyboard and getting to the menu. I am possibly interested in subscribing but would like to get the hang of the menu gestures first.
voiceover focus issue after dismissing the keyboard
I'm not sure if I can explain the problem I'm having, but I'll certainly give it a try.
After using the FlickType keyboard, it doesn't matter if it's as a demo or the system wide keyboard, voiceover loses focus on everything.
Touch and hold the screen for a split second somewhat fixes the problem, but it doesn't really fix the issue unless you restart the phone.
In the past when an app use to do this, a workaround would be to bring up Siri, then dismiss it, but even that doesn't appear to work for this issue.
Clearing the memory by holding the power button until you get the power off screen, then holding the home button till the home screen comes up also doesn't resolve this.
Voiceover also doesn't speek when you try this method, but I know it still clears the memory by the apps in the app switcher no longer saying active.
I do hope this can be resolved, and I hope I was able to explain the issue properly.
I get this every time I dismiss the keyboard, whether it's by flicking up and holding to get to the next keyboard, or flicking down and holding to dismiss the keyboard outright.
If it helps, I'm using an iPhone 6S running iOS 11.4.
One last thing, I have screen curtain turned on, would that make a difference?
Update:
It appears all you need to do to fix it is to toggle voiceover off and back on.