FlickType Keyboard: Everything new since launching the system-wide keyboard

It’s hard to believe we’ve completed this extensive list of features and fixes in just a month! Lots more new and exciting features in the pipeline, first up will likely be the highly requested text replacement shortcuts. Thank you to everyone for your feedback and recommendations, with the help of all of you we can build a truly great product.

If you haven't had a chance to try out the new system-wide keyboard, you can download it here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flicktype/id1359485719?mt=8

Happy FlickTyping!

- FlickType will now indicate the initial cursor position by announcing the current word.
- Keys will now be shown in the keyboard area by default. You can revert back to the previous high-contrast appearance from the settings.
- Added setting to enable blinking cursor.
- Visual tweaks to keyboard area when keys are hidden.
- Visual announcements will now take up more than one line if needed, rather than squeeze the announcement text all in one line by making the font extremely small.
- When reading back the typed text, it will now also be shown as a multiline visual announcement.
- When done reading back your text, the current cursor position will be announced.
- "System" announcements such as switching to numbers or invoking shift will now appear yellow and have a slightly higher pitch.
- Added a workaround setting for the WhatsApp crash, off by default. Enable "Reduced Height" in the settings only if you have been experiencing crashes with WhatsApp, and please let us know if the workaround helped.
- Removed confusing "Inactive" badge on Upgrade tab item.
- Added hint on how to change the preset emoji setting.
- FlickType will now indicate the initial cursor position by announcing the current word.
- Keys will now be shown in the keyboard area by default. You can revert back to the previous high-contrast appearance from the settings.
- Added setting to enable blinking cursor.
- Visual tweaks to keyboard area when keys are hidden.
- Visual announcements will now take up more than one line if needed, rather than squeeze the announcement text all in one line by making the font extremely small.
- When reading back the typed text, it will now also be shown as a multiline visual announcement.
- When done reading back your text, the current cursor position will be announced.
- "System" announcements such as switching to numbers or invoking shift will now appear yellow and have a slightly higher pitch.
- Added a workaround setting for the WhatsApp crash, off by default. Enable "Reduced Height" in the settings only if you have been experiencing crashes with WhatsApp, and please let us know if the workaround helped.
- Removed confusing "Inactive" badge on Upgrade tab item.
- Added hint on how to change the preset emoji setting.
- Unwanted spaces around quotes will now be stripped.
- A space will now be inserted before the first typed emoji. No spaces will be inserted between consecutive emojis.
- Touch typing: last-moment key changes right before touching up are now ignored, to avoid accidentally entering characters adjacent to the intended one.
- Touch typing: character phonetic feedback will only be announced while exploring, but not once the character has been entered.
- Setting for "Visual Announcements" will now persist between sessions, and is also available in the Settings screen.
- Fixed settings screen appearing visually broken when accessibility values for "Large Text" are used. Thanks Harry!
- FlickType hints when the keyboard pops up will now be announced less frequently after the first three times.
- Return key actions: Using the return key or the new line gesture on text fields with a return key label of "Search", "Done", "Go" or similar will trigger that action and dismiss the keyboard. Note that this will not yet work in the Mail app to switch between fields, since the return key label in that app is the default "Return" label. But searching in the Mail app should work as expected, same with searching in the App Store, Safari, Messages, Spotlight and others.
- Changed dismiss and next keyboard hints to mention the corresponding keys rather than the gestures.
- Changed default emoji shortcuts. If you have already customized your emojis, this will not affect you.
- Bugfixes
- Added "User ID" field at the bottom of Settings screen to help resolve reports of subscription-releated issues.
- Adjusted container app to work better when the "Smart Invert Colors" accessibility setting is enabled.
- Changed error messages of the custom keyboard when full access is not enabled or the subscription is inactive.
- Added startup alert to inform users that VoiceOver is required.
- Bugfixes
- Fixed gesture issue where short flicks would sometimes be erroneously interpreted as long presses. Please let us know if you are still experiencing any gesture issues at all.
- Slightly increased the word spelling delay. We are trying to find a happy medium where you can leave the spelling setting turned on, and the spelling announcement doesn't get in the way of your regular typing flow.
- Fixed a rare text loss issue when adding text at the beginning of a non-empty textfield. Thanks David!