Saturday, January 16, 2016

Microsoft to bring Windows Phone’s Word Flow keyboard to iOS

The Word Flow keyboard is one of the defining features of Windows on the phone: It was introduced in Windows Phone 8.1, and it works pretty well. But it's no longer exclusive to Windows phones: WinBeta reported Friday that Microsoft is working toward bringing Word Flow to iOS and other mobile platforms.

According to WinBeta, Microsoft sent out an email to Windows Insiders, inviting them to sign up to test Word Flow for iOS. 

"Before publicly releasing this keyboard to the App Store, we'd love to give Insiders like you a preview. With your feedback, we'll build a roadmap of improvements to the keyboard over time," the email reads in part. To join the test, Windows Insiders just need to send an email with the subject line "I want in!" to a certain email address.

According to the email, Word Flow for iOS is just the first step toward "extending this keyboard to other platforms." To use Word Flow for iOS, you'll need to own an iPhone 5s or newer, Microsoft says. At the moment, we don't know operating system requirements, but Apple added the ability to install third-party keyboards to iOS 8, so you'll likely need to be reasonably up to date.

Why this matters: Word Flow for iOS is another step in Microsoft's plan to bring some of its key apps and technologies to platforms other than Windows. Previously, Microsoft has brought features like Cortana to iOS and Android, and released Office Mobile for Google and Apple's mobile operating systems. 


Source: Microsoft to bring Windows Phone's Word Flow keyboard to iOS

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