Discontinuing FlickType Keyboard for iPhone

I remember when I first found this application, it made me so happy to find a method to actually type quickly, efficiently, and accurately on my iPhone for the first time ever.
In fact I have become so good with this keyboard that I can often type faster then my sighted friends.

It is a very dark day today for accessibility to hear this terrible news.

My iPhone will once again become almost useless to me, because I will once again no longer to be able to type on my device easily.

If we have flicktype on our devices, can we still use it? If not, I don't know what I'll do. I'll be a bit lost without it. I could dictate, but there's no privacy in that. And I never got the hang of Braille Screen input.

We need to ban together and contact apple. I remember a few years ago Blind fold games faced a issue we came together as a community and the decission got reversed. Lets do that again and help this dev keep the app around. To the dev of this app please don't give up!

Great,
Let's do this. What's the best email address to contact them? I use Flicktype every single day, and without it, I'm up the proverbial creek, so anything we can do to band together and possibly keep Flicktype alive, I'm all for it.

Hi,
You can email Apple accessibility at accessibility@apple.com.

If you want to try to take things a step further, and contact Tim Cook directly, send an email to tcook@apple.com

Hello. There was a time in my life when flick type was a must-have app for me. But ever since I discovered braille screen input, it overtook flick type for me. It's always disappointing to see apps people depend on have to shut down. Best of luck to you all and thank you for your work.

This is a time we need to ban together if we use it or not. We should do this to make apps that aren't accessible accessible. as well. That is the only way things will be fixed. Accessibility is going backwards today. Apple is known for the accessibility and they need to show us that accessibility is still a core value.

If I understand the situation, it's not about Apple not allowing an specific update, it's all about the developer getting emotionally exhausted because of the recurrent problems that come with each update.
So, even if Apple back pedals on that, I think the developer is not interested on keeping flicktype up to date anymore.
And, to be honest, I understand it. It's a time consuming task, there aren't enough users, and it is not profitable.
So, if you really want to save flicktype, instead of flooding Apple, as a developer myself I am sure that Apple will not change its politics, apis and reviewing process, try to collect some money for the developer, so the work really worth the effort.
If the community cannot support a project like that with real money, the only alternative is a developer working for free, and it seems that soon or later it's too much demanding.

Sad to read this Kosta, but I'm even sadder to say that - having read your tweets - it seems like an understandable decision.
All the best with whatever comes next. I hope you'll be carrying forward accessibility with whatever that turns out to be.

I just read this a bit ago. Don't get me wrong: I'm saddened to see this and hope that something can be worked out. I used FlickType only briefly, but didn't have enough dough to purchase it outright. It was good though while it lasted on my iPhone. I'd say I've gotten a bit faster when typing on my phone, from when I got it in 2018. Dictation is hit-or-miss, but even that doesn't bother me much. I've tried out BSI and couldn't quite figure it out, but I suppose I should revisit it. Having said all this, I truly hope a viable solution can be found. Best of luck to everybody involved.

As somebody who uses FlickType daily, this is incredibly sad news.

However, having read your comments, I certainly feel your pain and understand why you might feel tired of the barriers preventing you from taking the app where you would wish.

Thank you for all of your hard work on FlickType in the past, and good luck with your future projects... just be sure to keep us VoiceOver users in mind ☺️

If you need a new keyboard I recommend airtype. I believe I've reviewed this before somewhere, but I personally love it. You do use your computer but it can be useful in so many ways.

For those who know print but not braille, the handwriting mode is still available under the rotor. You rotor into it similar to the way you activate braille screen input. Swiping up or down with three fingers switches between upercase lowercase, and numbers. A tab is added in VO practice to learn the gestures for this mode.

There is also bSI and direct touch and the swipe method which gets me typing quickly enough. and flexy was flick type before.

I would guess that in iOS 15 or iOS 16 Apple will come round with a new accessible keyboard, basically imitating flicktype one to one so they can play the part of the hero once again and pride themselves on accessibility advancements.

But, in all honesty, Cossta bend the rules again and again, it's strange to see that apple only now disapproved of the new update.
for me personally, flicktype was never an option because in all the years, there were no new language aditions, so for users that don't speak English or Spanish, the keyboard is not useable as a daily tool.

Greetings Moritz.

Does anyone know if the FlickType Classic app will come across to a new phone with iCloud backup? Or does it not work if the app is no longer in the app store?

Cheers