Though the on-screen keyboard looks exactly the same as previous builds, there’s a lot going on under the hood. It’s not powered by SwifKey’s honed neural net, which learns the words and phrases users use and offers greatly improved predictions when typing. “SwiftKey gives you more accurate autocorrections and predictions by learning your writing style – including the words, phrases and emoji that matter to you,” explains Windows Insider head Dona Sarkar. The experience is currently available in US and UK English, as well as French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. It also supports shape writing, which Sarkar encourages users to use and give feedback.
A Long Journey
Fans expected Microsoft to bring SwiftKey to Windows at some point, but it’s been a long journey. It first acquired the keyboard in 2016 and has been sitting on it ever since. Other than a few feature updates, there haven’t been any major changes. With this new integration, we can expect some additions integrations between Android, iOS, and Windows 10. One is a shared clipboard, which will let users copy text on their phone and paste it on their PC. It’s likely Microsoft will also integrate calendar features, stickers, gifs, and more in the Windows 10 keyboard, but that will probably come after a full release. In the meantime, you can read the full changelog for Insider build 17692 on the Windows blog.
