FlickType half-screen and yearly subscription

By FlickType, 25 September, 2018

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi FlickType Friends!

In response to many of your requests, we now have the half-screen option as well as yearly subscription option available on the App Store, with version 3.1. We've added a half-screen as well as a minimal option, these can be located under "size" in the settings option. We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback, there are still some quirks to work out but we'd love to hear how these new options work for you.

To get the yearly subscription option, you'll need to download the update from the App Store and visit the "Upgrade" screen. If you happen to already have a monthly subscription, choosing the yearly option will seamlessly switch you after your current monthly period ends ☺️

FlickType App Store link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flicktype-keyboard/id1359485719?ls=1&mt=8

Recent Updates to FlickType:
- Half screen mode now works with VoiceOver. Also introducing an additional "Minimal" keyboard height option.
- Added a yearly subscription option. The Upgrade screen has also been redesigned and now supports Dynamic Type, which we aim to support in the rest of the container app in the future.
- During a long press, the height of the top QWERTY row will now be the same as the bottom two rows. Exploring the area above the keyboard will read back your text. Tell us what you think!
- Some low-vision users asked us for a splash of color. The default black background can now be a simple vertical gradient with a color of your choice.
- If you are accidentally invoking the shift function when typing fast with multiple fingers, you can now disable it using the new "Multi-finger tap gestures" setting.
- Changes to the Welcome screen content.

We greatly appreciate the support and any feedback you may have!

Warmly,
Ashley and Kosta

Options

Comments

By sockhopsinger on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

What is the minimalist mode you are mentioning? Thanks. Also, went to the Upgrade screen the other day after upgrading to the latest release. I saw a "restore" option but no option for a yearly subscription. Thanks.

By FlickType on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hi @Sockhopsinger,

Great question, the minimal mode is the same height as the iOS keyboard, whereas the half-screen literally takes up half the screen. After your question now I'm thinking standard would be a better name, what do you think?

We actually had an issue with the upgrade flow a couple days ago and had to resubmit immediately. If you get the chance, I'd super appreciate hearing whether the upgrade tab now holds both subscription options for you. Turns out providing subscription options is technically quite difficult, so apologies on the inconvenience.

Warmly,
Ashley

By kool_turk on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

I noticed the same thing as post 1.

You have the option to restore purchases, but no other option.

The option is where you manage your subscriptions in the app store, but that's assuming you already signed up.

By FlickType on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hi @Kool_Turk,

Thanks for the feedback, would you mind expanding on your experience? You're on the App Store version and you don't have both options listed on the upgrade screen? And you've never had a subscription? And your experience occurred since yesterday?

Sorry for all the questions, anything you can share is super helpful.

Thank you!
Ashley

By sockhopsinger on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hi. Thanks for the response. I am writing to confirm that the upgrade option now works as expected. I "think" I just subscribed for a year, although I will have to check it once my internet connection becomes more stable on my phone.

I do like the name "standard" as opposed to "minimalist" keyboard option. Maybe even "standard iOS-sized" would be the best description. Keep up the great work.

By FlickType on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hi @Sockhopsinger,

So happy to hear it works, thanks for updating us and a big thank you for the support! I think your suggestion for the size naming convention makes much more sense, thanks for bringing up the topic, smile.

Warmly,
Ashley

By Patrick Smyth on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

I prefer the full keyboard, but in some places the half keyboard behaves better. Might a future version have a gesture to switch between the keyboards?

By FlickType on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hi @Patrick,

Funny, I literally just told someone this is the plan about 30 seconds ago. Great question and we do feel like this will be the ideal experience. We don't have an ETA yet, but we'll be sure to update everyone when it's ready.

Warmly,
Ashley

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Thanks for the great update, I definitely agree that Standard would be more descriptive and less confusing as the third option for keyboard size. Can I make a request for a feature to be introduced fairly soon? I know you are aware the dictionary is less than optimal at the moment and you have said integrating a better dictionary would be difficult, Firstly do you have a good idea of how long we may be waiting for this and in the meantime, would you be able to assign a gesture to enter new words into the dictionary. This would be a short term kind of work around until you get round to the better dictionary.

By Rob on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hello, I would like to purchase a subscription but would very much like to remain on the beta cycle. is this possible?if so how does one obtain a subscription while also running the beta. also I haven't noticed a beta update in a while. wondering if it is due to getting a new phone or if an update hasn't been provided in a while. thanks keep up the great work!

Hi Andy,

Appreciate the input and totally agree, we will be updating the language we use for the size option to make it more clear.

A new dictionary is one of the largest initiatives we have on our roadmap, because of the way our autocorrect works this will take quite a lot of fully dedicated time. Due to the size of this initiative, coupled with the nature of unpredictable issues popping up we do not have a good estimate on timing, but in the meantime we have made dictionary management as easy as possible by allowing users to simply touch type or manually type the word they want to add and after flicking right the word is automatically added to the dictionary. Curious whether you were aware of this word management feature?

Warmly,
Ashley

Hi Rob,

First off, super appreciate the support, thank you! And yes, it is possible to do both. You would simply download the app from the App Store, and then subscribe in the upgrade tab for whichever subscription you prefer. Once we have a new beta available you will receive the updates as usual and you can simply update to the beta while the subscription will continue.

The last beta that went out was September 12, which is longer than our typical release schedule due to the subscription work we were focused on which cannot be tested through TestFlight. If you did not receive that build please send us an email and we'll make sure you're all set up properly on your new device.

Thanks, again!
Ashley

By kool_turk on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hi, let's see if I can try to answer some of those questions, although since the update I don't think it's needed.

I can see the options have re-appeared in the upgrade tab.

I currently don't have a subscription, simply because I found myself using BSI for texting, I'd probably use FlickType for typing lengthy messages, such as this one if I wasn't typing this from my PC.

I'm running the app store release, and like I said above, the buttons have re-appeared in the upgrade tab.

I'm assuming that if I were to go through the upgrade tab, depending on which plan I choose it will charge me accordingly.

I already used up my trial so I would probably be charged straight away, which is fine.

I'm surprised the price ends up being the same, no matter what plan you go with.

Most apps I've seen give you more of a discount, depending on what plan you choose to go with.

Obviously, the higher the plan, the better the discount, I see this a lot with vpns.

It's more of an incentive to get the higher plan, even if it's only something like 2 bucks cheaper, just a thought.

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Thanks, I wasn’t aware words were automatically added to the dictionary. Thats great news, thanks. I did have one other suggestion if you’d like to hear it and find out how others feel about whether it would be helpful. After typing my message, I have to feel around the screen to find the send button, sometimes I land straight on it and sometimes not, often I will end up adding a few letters to the end of my message which is inconvenient to remove them. I realise we don’t want to get swamped with gestures but I would like to suggest a gesture to send the message, I think this would be incredibly helpful and I think would remove my final friction point to using flicktype as my main keyboard rather than something to play with, To explain what I do at the moment is dictate my message then correct with regular iOS keyboard but I am finding this just as easy with flicktype as with iOS, maybe easier due to 2 and 3 finger swipes.

Anyway, not sure if others agree this would be super helpful but fingers crossed..

Thanks again.

Hi kool_turk,

Thanks for confirming the upgrade page is now populated correctly. As for pricing, thanks for sharing your feedback. We are still working out the details on the two options, but since it was very important for some of our users to have the yearly option we wanted to get it to them as soon as possible. We'll keep everyone posted as we work out details of what the longterm structure will look like.

Cheers!
Ashley

By FlickType on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

In reply to by Andy Lane

Hi Andy,

You're welcome! So glad to hear you find this feature helpful, we put a lot of thought into what would be the easiest way to add words considering our current dictionary limitations. As for the send gesture, that would be super sweet! We hoped Apple would open up the functionality to us with iOS 12, but as of now we still can't hook up a gesture option for send or any action key.

Curious, when you use FlickType and searching around for send is it in half-screen mode? Do you have the same or similar issue with the iOS keyboard when you send, or do you use standard touch typing so double tapping before confirming a character or action? We are constantly searching for ways to make the experience better so we'd love to hear what works for you with the default keyboard.

Thanks!
Ashley

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hey Ashley, at present I will usually dictate the message then feel above the iOS keyboard for the send button. I correct any (usually at least some) errors with the standard typing behaviour so touching the keyboard by accident doesn’t activate any key press. With Flicktype when I look for the button, if I touch the keyboard I will of course enter a character which I then have to delete before looking for the button again. I don’t think there is any way around this that you could implement however. I wasn’t aware iOS didn’t offer a send command to 3rd party keyboards. I wonder if there is a work around here though. If I use a Bluetooth keyboard and I hit enter the message is sent. I wonder if there is a way to send a pseudo Enter key press to mimic the action of a proper send button? Oh and I always use flicktype in minimal/standard mode now you have made it available. I usually like my iOS device to function as normally as possible and having to minimise the keyboard before sending the message is slower and also means I can’t access the text of previous messages while the keyboard is in full screen mode.

By sockhopsinger on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

If you are in minimalist mode, type your message then place your finger towards the top half of the screen. Keep swiping right until you reach the send button. It's not perfect but it will work.

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Thanks for the suggestion, That is kind of what I end up doing and it works but i’m sure you have been in the situation where you are texting sighted people and the messages are coming thick and fast you don’t get the chance to work that way while keeping up with the conversation which is why I was hoping a send gesture would help massively speed things up. Another way this issue could be addressed is for apple to force voiceover to ignore everything until the arriving message has been read, obviously this is not going to happen quickly or maybe at all but it would sure help to keep pace with people who can see. :)

By Shawn T on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Love the size of the minimal standard type keyboard, but when using it in other apps, words are no longer spelled after a pause. Is this intended behavior, or a bug of some kind?

By FlickType on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hi Shawn,

No, this is not intended behavior and I'm not able to reproduce this issue. Is the spelling feature still enabled in the settings? Have you restarted your device recently? What FlickType build and iOS version are you using?

Thanks!
Ashley

By Ekaj on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 16:58

Hi. I don't have this app yet on my iPhone, but it sounds like something that could be helpful for me. I have a bit of an issue with hand coordination, and these constant log-in time-outs really drive me batty. I know I'm probably not the only one with this problem. They even come up sometimes with Touch ID enabled. So I've been avoiding downloading any 3rd-party apps mainly for that reason. I do have LookTel's VO Tutorial, and really like it. My mom was kind enough to help me download that one. Having said all that, is there an easy way to integrate your app as a keyboarding option? I know I read elsewhere on here that Apple was going to integrate your app into the system itself for a nominal fee. Tia for any help you can provide, and I'm looking forward to trying out the app soon.

Hi Ekaj,

Thanks for your message. We're thrilled that you'd like to try out FlickType, we'd recommend you trying it out in the demo tab to see how it works for you. FlickType is much more accommodating than most or maybe all other typing options, but we'd want to make sure it works well for you before you enable it as a 3rd party keyboard. If you were to decide to enable FlickType as a 3rd party system keyboard, it is $1 a month or $12 a year, and it can be done in 3 simple steps: 1. sign up for the subscription in the upgrade tab, 2. add it your list of keyboard, and 3, enable full access. These instructions are located in the welcome tab of the app.

Please let us know if you have any other question.

Warmly,
Ashley