SwiftKey for Android Gets Support for 11 Indian Languages, Improved Performance

SwiftKey has rolled out an update for its Android app that adds support for 11 Indian languages that was earlier only available in the beta version. The update also improves the typing speed and overall performance of the popular third-party Qwerty keyboard.

SwiftKey update includes support for 11 new Indian languages - Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Nepali and Sinhala. It is worth noting, that these new languages were released in a beta keyboard app for Android last month. The additional 11 Indian languages have resulted in a total of 81 supported languages on SwiftKey.

The update also brings performance improvements. SwiftKey for Android, would now take 15 to 20 percent lesser time to appear on the screen and 20 to 30 percent time has been cut down while the app disappears, as per the tests carried out by the firm. Also, the app will now let users switch between different fields faster by around 15 to 50 percent and type with faster response time of 10 to18 percent, said  Steve Spence, Vice President of Engineering in a blog post announcing the update.

SwiftKey for Android's freemium version was launched back in June this year. Previously, the app charged Android users $3.99 (roughly Rs. 250).

SwiftKey's competitor, Swype recently updated its third-party keyboard application for the iOS platform by adding 16 new languages and intuitive emoji support. The app maker claims that with the new update, Swype will predict emojis based on the words users enter, and supports six languages - English (UK and US), French, Italian, German and Spanish.