Having been in the Google Play Store for the past four-plus years, the Nuance developed Swype Keyboard is no longer being developed. The news came via XDA Developers who confirmed the news with Nuance.
Nuance will no longer be updating the Swype+Dragon keyboard for Android. We’re sorry to leave the direct-to-consumer keyboard business, but this change is necessary to allow us to concentrate on developing our AI solutions for sale directly to businesses.
It means that one of the original swipe-to-type keyboard solution for both Android and iOS is essentially dead. The app is still available in the Play Store but it is likely a question of how much longer.
The news shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Over the course of the past couple of years, competition on swipe-to-type keyboards has heated up with the likes of the new Microsoft owned SwiftKey app and even Google’s own Gboard. Both of these apps allow for easy swipe typing.
The decision by Nuance to abandon Swype Keyboard appears to be recent. According to the Play Store, the last update to the app was version 3.2.4 which was released on January 18 of this year. If you are still using the app, that will server as its last update and given the rate of development of other swipe typing keyboards, it may be time to look around and find one that fits your needs best.
So long Swype…
