Microsoft will kill SwiftKey for iOS next week

TouchType released the SwiftKey virtual keyboard app for Android in July 2010, and the iOS release followed in September 2014, as soon as Apple finally provided support for third-party keyboard apps. Microsoft acquired SwiftKey for US$250 million in February 2016 and introduced a Windows 10 version alongside the Windows 10 October 2018 update.

Sadly, the iOS version hasn't received much attention from Microsoft in over a year. The last update arrived on August 11, 2021, and pushed the version number of the app to 2.9.2. Back then, SwiftKey for iOS received Emoji search for most languages in the toolbar. The app still holds an excellent reputation, with a score of 4.6 out of 5 after more than 97,000 user ratings.

According to an emailed statement from Chris Wolfe, Director of Product Management at SwiftKey, "As of October 5, support for SwiftKey iOS will end and it will be delisted from the Apple App Store. Microsoft will continue support for SwiftKey Android as well as the underlying technology that powers the Windows touch keyboard. For those customers who have SwiftKey installed on iOS, it will continue to work until it is manually uninstalled or a user gets a new device."

While there is no official reason for this move, it might have something to do with Apple's policies. We will keep an eye on this story and we will get back to it as soon as more details surface, so stay tuned.