SwiftKey Keyboard

Let’s face it: Third-party keyboards have left Apple’s iOS keyboard in the dust. Here are our favorite picks.

Microsoft’s free iPhone keyboard supports gesture typing, one-handed mode, and customizable backgrounds.

This week's list includes QuizUp's redesign, an app that leverages public libraries to let you borrow music and ebooks, and new features in StubHub's app.

This week's list includes SwiftKey's latest update, an eye-tracking app to help improve your concentration and an app to help Windows Phone users customize their home screen.

Popular health tracking service and iOS app MyFitnessPal has been acquired by clothing maker Under Armour for nearly a half-billion dollars, while iOS 8 custom keyboard SwiftKey has added predictive emoji entry, and WhatsApp Messenger has been updated with a new quick camera button.

A trio of popular apps -- Amazon Instant Video, Lyft and Seamless -- all gained native-resolution support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on Thursday, joining a number of others also updated this week. In addition, JetBlue airlines added Touch ID logins for TrueBlue members, while SwiftKey is providing users with a free, festive holiday keyboard theme.

One long standing criticism of iOS has been its lack of support for third party keyboards, but with the introduction of iOS 8, developers are now allowed to build custom keyboards that can be used on both iPhone and iPad.

Atheletes who rely on the popular RunKeeper app to track their workouts can now use a new "Stopwatch Mode" for easily entering indoor exercises. In addition, third-party keyboard SwiftKey was updated on Monday with support for four new languages, as well as a handful of improvements and bug fixes.

Google has added to its extensive collection of iOS apps with a new News & Weather offering, while third-party keyboard maker SwiftKey addressed performance issues in a new release and PDF Expert 5 added support for the iPhone 6 series and iOS 8.

By far the most exciting thing about iOS 8 — imho — is the side-door it opens into Apple’s walled garden to allow keyboard app makers to come on in for the first time. But what permissions are you granting third party keyboard app makers when you hand over the keys to your Qwerty? Read on for the lowdown…

In preparation of Wednesday's iOS 8 release, AppleInsider dug in and compiled a set of tips and tricks to help iPhone and iPad owners take full advantage of all the new features and functions baked in to Apple's latest mobile OS.

With iOS 8 now available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, users can for the first time ever install third-party keyboards that can be utilized system-wide for new ways of inputting text and other characters.