FlickType Watch Keyboard

Thank you Kosta and Ashley for bringing us this app. Its better than ever. Its an essential part of my daily work flow and its taken its rightful place in my dock. I'm blown away by just how smooth it is! I predict it'll go straight into the AppleVis hall of fame when the golden apple awards are announced at the end of the year!

I would also like to thank the developers of this app. I enjoyed Fleksy VO and I knew I would also love FlickType Keyboard. Keep up the great work.

Glad to see this app revived. While it is not my primary app for typing (yet), it is a great option and you can also really mess with some sighted people when they see you typing really fast on a keyboard while you're out and about. Hah. Anyway, again, great to see the app back. Thanks for all of your hard work.

Hello,

I have tested it and it works like a breeze ... congratulations!

My problem though is that I need it uin portuguese. I remember the flexy app duid have support. Are you planning to offer support tto portuguese?

Are you planning to make a keyboard extension so that we can use it on other apps?

Do you need any help in terms of development to build any of these two features ... is there any way I can help?

Congratulations for getting this out, and bringing back a great typing experience. I am so glad this app is back. Thanks again.
Mike

I would really love to see a keyboard extension as well. Also I would like a way to delete by characters do not just word.

Hi Tunmi and The Piano Geek, just wanted to let you know that FlickType can now be used as a keyboard inside all apps. You can download it from the App Store and try it out for free.

We'd love to hear what you think, smile.

Warmly, Kosta and Ashley

Thank you so much for this app. Now please don't sell out and become something different like that other keyboard app. Also just purchased a subscription.

Hi, I am not sure if anyone else is having the same issue, but lately, I'd have to say about a little over a week ago, probably around the same time as my trial ran out and I purchased a subscription, I've noticed that each time I go to a field to enter text and switch to the FlickType keyboard, all that VoiceOver reads now is a "FlickType" button and VoiceOver reads out the instructions to either change to the next keyboard or dismiss the FlickType keyboard. I am unable to use the actual keyboard. It's like VoiceOver doesn't see the keyboard anymore and only sees that "FlickType" button.

Like I said, not sure if anyone else is having this glitch, but I thought I would ask. I've tried uninstalling the app and reinstalling it, I've also tried just removing the keyboard and re-adding it, but no luck. Would appreciate some help. Thanks!

As an addition to my previous comment, this issue also persists in the FlickType app's demo section. Furthermore, if I go into the Settings and make changes, the "Done" button is still dimmed and I am unable to save my changes.

I don't have my phone right in front of me, so I can't tell you exactly where it is, but I think after you add your keyboard, you have to give it permission to work globally. I can't remember where that setting is, but it should be in the FlickType instructions. I don't know if that is your problem, but that's all I can think to try. HTH

Yeah it might be that you haven't enabled full access. Go to the keyboard section in settings, tap on flicktype, and switch enable full access to on, if it isn't already.
Otherwise, can you give us any more detail?
Regarding the settings, the Done button is always dimmed, your settings are saved automatically. The Done button is only there for when you're editing your list of emoji as far as I know. So don't worry about that, your settings are being saved.

Hi Blinken233,

Please do let us know when you've tried the instructions provided regarding full access? If you are still having trouble please email us details about what other settings may have been changed and where you first experienced this issue, our email is [email protected].

Thanks!
Ashley

Thanks everyone for the helpful tip, but I had already given the keyboard full access. My apologies for not mentioning it earlier.

I've even re-downloaded the classic legacy version of the app and seem to be encountering the same issue there. I am beginning to scractch my head trying to figure out what exactly is causing this issue. I know that both apps were working beautifully before. Even a couple of weeks ago, after my free trial was over and I paid the subscription, but between then and now, something happened that stops VoiceOver from seeing the keyboard and stops me from being able to interact with it and even use it. I know the only change that occured was the recent iOS update, but I don't see how that could have mucked up things.

As for the other issue I mentioned, the one about the "Done" button in the Settings tab remaining dimmed. Well, after making some changes and closing the app, after I reopened it and checked the settings again, the changes had remained, so I am guessing that any changes that you make, it auto saves. If that is the case, I am left wondering why a "Done" button is even needed.

Thanks!

Just a shot in the dark admittedly, but do you by any chance have Zoom enabled. I know for myself I would like to have both VoiceOver and Zoom enabled, so that on the odd occasion that I want to zoom in on something, all I have to do is employ the three finger Zoom gesture. But I regularly run into problems in various apps, so no longer keep it enabled.
Regarding the Done button, see my first reply. It is a bit confusing though, yeah.

Hi Dave, thanks for the tip, but Zoom, at least for me, has never been turned on. Although I did just double check to make sure, and as I thought, it is still turned off. Being completely blind, Zoom isn't really necessary. I did delete both the classic and third party keyboard apps off my phone and tried re-installing them both, and as before, anytime the keyboard appears, I am unable to interact with it. I hear VoiceOver read out the usual text when you had the keyboard appear, like in the classic app, you would hear VoiceOver read out ""Ready to Type. Swipe up with two fingers for menu". And as before, when I try to tap the keyboard, nothing happens. Even the gestures don't work. If I try to do the two finger swipe up for the menu, nothing happens. It's the same with the third party keyboard. Even if I have everything setup properly, giving the keyboard full access, when I try to type or use the gestures, all VoiceOver reads is "FlickType".

Another odd thing, each time I open the classic app, I keep getting the pop up with the instructions. Even if I double tap on the "Ok" button, if I close the app and reopen it, the pop up appears again.

I am seriously confused and have no clue as to what might be going on. Got to love computers, they never quite work the way you want them.

That is very odd. I wonder is it happening in any other apps where direct touch is used. For example other third party keyboards, or during gameplay in the game Zany Touch for example.

I didn't see this mentioned, but I may have missed it. In the notes with each update, the app asks that the device be restarted after an update. Have you done a full reboot?

Might I suggest sending a screen recording?

Who knows, maybe the developers might see something voiceover isn't seeing.

It's probably nothing, but it can't hurt to try.

Do a screen recording, with the microphone on, that way voiceover also gets recorded.

Thanks Kool_Turk, not a bad idea. Never really played with that feature, so will have to figure out how to do it first. I had restarted my phone before, and tried it again just now and the issue still persists. Currently, I don't have the keyboard added to the list of my keyboards, but that shouldn't matter as the issue persists in the demo tab of the system wide version of the app and even in the stand alone version of the app. When the issue gets resolved and works on the stand alone and system wide apps, then I'll go ahead and add it to my list of keyboards.

Anyone out there knows of a tutorial or guide on how to use the screen recording feature, especially as a VoiceOver user? Thanks!

Hello Ashley,

I've just sent you an email to the address you listed. Hopefully we can figure out what is happening and find a solution.

Thanks!

Hi Kool_Turk, I've played around with the Screen Recording and it does seem easy enough to use. I do have a couple of questions regarding it though. For starters, when I start a screen recording, considering that I am blind and have the screen brightness all the way down, do I need to bring it up in order for sighted people to see the video or can I leave my brightness turned off? I just don't know if while the screen recording is feature is recording, if it's recording at the brightness level you have your phone set too. Another question, while recording, VoiceOver came out of the earpiece of my phone, not through the speaker. I've seen some other topics on AppleVis from other users who seem to he having the same issue. I was just wondering if there is a fix for this or a way to re-route the VoiceOver voice to the speaker instead of the earpiece. I guess I could always use a bluetooth speaker, that might work perhaps?

Thanks!

I'm not sure of the brightness when recording.

You could do a few test recordings and send them to a sighted person and see if they notice any difference.

Now you've got me curious, I might do the same at this end.

Voiceover will come from the ear piece when recording, unfortunately that appears to be an iOS thing because I see it in other apps.

When I was playing around with it I was using my earbuds that came with the phone so I was able to hear voiceover just fine.

Sorry for highjacking the thread, but it was easier to answer @Blinken223s question in the same thread.

Interesting thing about the direct touch, Mine is set to touch typing and I haven't had any issues.

Ok, I got someone sighted to test the screen recording, and he says brightness doesn't make a difference when doing the actual recording.

The person watching your recording may have to adjust the brightness at their end, which shouldn't be a big deal if they know what they're doing.

Hi everyone, just as a small addition to Ashley's comment. Like Kool_Turk mentioned, my keyboard is still set to Touch Typing. I am not sure how, but when I opened the FlickType app and went to the demo section, while I had the keyboard visible, I managed to turn the rotor and landed on an item called "Direct Touch" and swiped up with one finger to turn it on. This wasn't in the "Typing Style" rotor item but was a separate item of its own. I have tried to make this rotor item reappear but with no luck. Don't know how I originally managed to turn it off and how, out of luck, made that rotor item reappear in order to turn it back on, but somehow I did and my issue with the FlickType keyboard was fixed.
I will look online to see if I can figure out what exactly that rotor setting was so I can better understand it.

But nonetheless, a big thanks to everyone here and to Ashley for helping me fix my issue.

@Kool_Turk, definitely something I will have a sighted colleague confirm as I too am curious to know about the brightness level while screen recording.

Alright, so I think I might be going a little crazy. I've just done a bit of searching online to see if I can find any mention of this "Direct Touch" rotor item and I can't find anything that talks about it. I did find an article from Apple.com describing the rotor and the various items that are on it, but no mention of this elusive "Direct Touch". Now I do recall, clear as day, while turning the rotor, hearing VoiceOver call out a rotor item called "Direct Touch", and when I flicked up, I heard VoiceOver say "On", and after this, the FlickType keyboard started working perfectly again, all while leaving my typing style to "Touch Typing".

Perhaps this "Direct Touch" rotor item is a myth, like Atlantis, but I am thankful that that rotor item appeared when I needed it and fixed my problem. Maybe it's like that old 80s show "The Littlest Hobo", going from iPhone to iPhone helping those in need, never settling down. Who knows... I am just greatful it showed up when it did!

Subject line pretty much says it all. I'm at my parents' place for the weekend and had my father type in my AppleID password, and then this app downloaded. I haven't done much with it but I did manage to type a few things. This seems like a great app and I am looking forward to using it as a system-wide keyboard eventually. I haven't had much time as of late to play around with my new toy, but the more I use it the more I like it. Thanks Apple, and thanks Ashley and Kosta. I will definitely play around some more with your app as time advances. I also just joined your list at Groups.io.

Problem though is especially for small developers how are they supposed to make money to pay themselves or fund ongoing development? now yes I agree on the surface a lifetime license sounds attractive but longterm this makes a lot of apps unsustainable, maybe instead they should offer a yearly subscription as well as a monthly one they don't have a diverse app portfolio or even a big enough ongoing user base purchasing new licenses to make a lifetime license viable. I even wonder how envision ai is viable longterm though I have been less than impressed with the apps results particularly with object recognition. though admittedly I did just buy the lifetime license for seeing eye gps xt because although I don't see it being viable for them to sell lifetime licenses I will certainly buy them from developers who offer them.

Is there any list of languages that this keyboard supports? It would be great and usable for me if it supported Russian.

I can't find a list ,but I think the app is currently limited to English. When I checked out the app on the iTunes Store, it only showed as supporting English.

I am having some issues with the keyboard and iOS 13.1 on my iPhone 7. I read that others are too. Is this being worked on?

Please don't make me have to learn the slide keyboard.

I would for now learn the path typing. It's wonderful and if you are good, which I'm not yet, you can go extremely fast.

QuickPath is a great tool, but Flicktype is much faster to use in my opinion. Grateful for any useful tool that helps.

For me, iOS 13.2 fixed my FlickType problems, but now with 13.2.2, it's broken. I can't switch to the keyboard. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling, standing on my head, and various crossed finger combinations. The only way I can get it back, temporarily, is to have sighted assistance turn it on with VO off.

Doesn't double tap and hold to drag up work? This should be able to switch you between keyboards. At least this is still the case running IOS 12.

Wondering if that behaviour has broken keyboards in iOS 13.2.2

Please let me know if that works for you or not. As I was going to updates to 13.2.2

If that fails, then I have no idea.

When the flicktype keyboard is active, doesn't swipe Up and hold with one finger switch you back to the IOS stock keyboard?

The app seems to be broken again in iOS13.2.2. I cannot even open the app. It just crashes every time I try. It shows up in the app swither but it will not open. I have not heard anything from the developers in a while and I am on the betas. This worries me a bit.

Thank you for your suggestions.

On the rare occasion I can get the keyboard active, I can do everything as I should, including switching to the standard keyboard. The problem is once out of FlickType, I can't get back. And that is with a 1standard switch keyboard button, the long or 3D press.

I have noticed the lack of updates and communications from the developers, and am a little concerned too. I am frustrated by the slide to type, but perhaps I can get my head around it with practice.

I'm sure they will fix it. :) I can't use flicktype either in 13.2.2. I personally switched to braille screen input. Hoping they update the app. I would encourage you all to send them a friendly tweet and let them know the issues you are having. It seems their last post on here is from October 2018.

Good luck getting a response. Their last tweet was 31 weeks ago. I think the app is sadly dead.

Hey, I agree that it seems this app is dead as they haven’t updated it for 11 months. If so however that would be incredibly sad for a few reasons.Firstly it has great potential so sad to lose it, secondly the long standing justification for paying a high price on an ongoing basis for apps is so small app developers can afford to keep these apps going. I think we can all agree the flick type app is not inexpensive and therefore should allow the dev a reasonable income to justify working on and keeping this app up to date maybe even develop it with new features. So if devs can’t afford to keep low priced single purchase price apps updated and they also have no interest when we are paying a significant amount of money, how do we ensure these incredibly useful borderline essential apps stay alive? I’m guessing there is no way to protect these apps from coming and going but maybe we can come up with some ideas?

Was very happy to see FlickType 4.4 appear in my App Updates last week, how has this new version worked for everyone so far?

All seemed to be good for me on 4.4,sadly, version 4.5 from yesterday broke typing in Spanish for me. Flicktype thinks I am typing in English regardless the language I select in settings. Anyone else experienced this? I hope this gets fixed soon.