Fleksy released its iOS SDK to all developers on Thursday. App developers will now be able to use the SDK to integrate a Fleksy keyboard option into any iOS app. On the day of the launch, several more applications will appear on the App store with the updated SDK included.
The Fleksy keyboard app is extremely popular among Android and iOS users. The app automatically corrects your typing mistakes and learns to anticipate the typos you make most frequently. Fleksy likes to say that when you use the app you "can type without looking" because the app so accurately predicts your moves.
"When we started this three years ago," Fleksy COO and co-founder Ioannis Verdelis told Tech Times. "I was personally very frustrated with the options for alternative keyboards that were out there. They involved lots of user interaction and you had to press the right button. It made you want to go back to your laptop."
"With Fleksy, you can type roughly. It understands the way you type,' Verdelis added.
Fleksy now boasts hundreds of thousands of downloads on both iOS and Android. On Android, users can make Fleksy their default keyboard, but with iOS, it's something of a different story.
Demand for an alternative keyboard on iOS is extremely high among users and developers. Fleksy wants to meet that demand, but it has to circumnavigate the tricky waters surrounding Apple's native iOS keyboard. Apple forbids third-party apps from functioning as the default for its messaging, calling, browsing and keyboard apps. Although others, like Google, have found ways around Apple's restrictions, there is a very fine line between successfully integrated your app into the iOS ecosystem and infuriating Apple.
"When the company first started, it was conventional wisdom that an alternative keyboard app on iOS was impossible," Verdelis told Tech Times.
Luckily, Fleksy found a way to keep Apple happy, while increasing the reach of its very popular keyboard one app at a time.
Initially, Fleksy introduced a limited, private SDK to four app developers to prove that there was a solid demand for the Fleksy keyboard on iOS. Shortly afterwards, Fleksy received hundreds of requests from developers to use its keyboard as a secondary keyboard option on iOS. Due to the high demand for the app, Fleksy decided to create a free SDK for all developers that was simple and didn't require any tech support.
Now that the SDK is out of private beta, Fleksy hopes that many app developers will add the SDK to their iOS apps. So far, at least a dozen developers are ready to release the Fleksy SDK update for their apps
"Today's launch is a significant milestone for us. Within just a few days, thousands of developers can bring the magic of Fleksy into their apps, for free. We can't wait to see the response of the developer community and see Fleksy become a standard feature of every app," Fleksy CEO Kosta Eleftheriou said in a statement.
Some of the apps that will include the Fleksy SDK are You Doodle, Cotton Notes, Write for iOS, Tap Forms Organizer, SnapStatus, Remoter VNC: Remote and more. The app's initial partners Wordbox, Google Voice Connect, Launch Center Pro and Blindsquare, will also have Fleksy listed as a keyboard alternative.
Verdelis told Tech Times that he hopes that more big name developers like the makers of Evernote, Momento and others will soon follow suit.
"Most app developers believed that it was impossible," Verdelis said. "But now, with the SDK we have proven them wrong."
