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Comment by lstamour | Hacker News Reader

iOS 13 shipping in a couple months (but available now in public beta) adds native swipe-to-type keyboard functionality. As a Microsoft app, the third-party Swype keyboard has been available for years. (Since iOS 7’s custom keyboards if I recall correctly...)

The new iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 really brings iOS forward into the future, with downloads available in safari, native USB file management and more. You can even save video files now. I’d predict a rather blurry line between Macs and iOS within 5-10 years...

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It's really funny how many of the things I disliked are being fixed now. There are definitely advantages to the right person using iOS. I really enjoyed their MacBooks for a while, and the iPhone wasn't garbage, I'm just not the target audience because my use cases didn't match up with what they were providing. I'm really not sold on Safari bedding a good browser though. It was universally a bad experience every time I used it. I probably installed one of the Swype style keyboards for myself, just was something I disliked and mentioned and I'm surprised Apple hasn't built naively yet.

I really want to like Apple. I'd love to simplify my life. My wife refuses to get a MacBook because there's no touchscreen and I really can't justify the expense of an iPad with the cost for value.

"Native swipe-to-type keyboard functionality [...] downloads available in safari, native USB file management [...] You can even save video files now."

As someone who hasn't used iOS in years I couldn't immediately tell if you were being sincere or 'damning with faint praise,' ironically pointing out how crippled iOS has been.

I will say that like copy and paste it has taken forever for iOS to catch up in key areas, but... this is not faint praise: they’re nailing it. Every implementation done to “catch up” to Android has been very well executed and superior in many respects. If there’s a downside to the Apple delayed-until-ready approach, it’s that apps need to be redesigned every two years to keep up with the pace of change. On Android the cycle of redesign is slower, maybe 3-5 years.

Swype is dead. Swiftkey is the one Microsoft bought.

Ah... good point. I merged the two mentally, thanks for the reminder :)

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