After several years of helping smartphone users with typing seamlessly using one hand, Nuance confirmed that it is discontinuing Swype support immediately.
For others, the future unavailability of the keyboard app is not necessarily a bother. After all, the Google Play Store features several options with the iOS app store likewise with a few of its own.
Apps such as Gboard, SwiftKey, and Fleksy are just a few of the honorable mentions based on popularity. However, most users claim that Swype is both accurate and quicker than the competition.
Surprise Announcement
Dancedar, a Reddit user, reportedly found out about the end of support for the app when an e-mail was sent to inquire about a problem. According to the original post, the app continuously crashed during every reboot of the user's Google Pixel 2 on Android 8.1.
The support team allegedly asked for additional information and possibly a screenshot or video of the problem. The user complied and provided what was needed but received a response that suggested the app was no longer supported by the developer.
Shifting Its Focus Elsewhere
"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," the developer replied. "We hope you enjoyed using Swype, we sure enjoyed working with the Swype community."
Several sources supposedly communicated with Nuance to confirm if the product is indeed no longer supported. Even though it is still available via the Google Play, post-market support is not available anymore. Users might want to download it now before it is permanently removed by the company soon.
Swype Recently Updated
Some speculate that Nuance decided to discontinue Swype due to loss of popularity. Even if most of its loyal users claim that it performs better than other apps, the download numbers might prove otherwise. A quick check with the Google Play Store shows that Google Keyboard and SwiftKey were noticeably downloaded more times.
Both of the abovementioned virtual keyboard apps numbered over a hundred million downloads each, with Google's first-party option currently over 500 million. Unfortunately, Swype's download numbers only registered around 1 million.
Its discontinuation came as a shock to users as it recently received an update in January, with improvements made to its text engine and emoji predictions. Swype made its debut on the Play Store in 2013 and was supposedly rated as one of the best gesture-based-typing keyboard available at the time.
