If there’s one thing to love about Android is the fact that they allow users to swap out the platform’s default keyboard for a third-party alternative. Some users do this because third-party keyboards allow for more customization in terms of features and colors, while others might prefer it for its accuracy or predictability.
SwiftKey is probably one of the more famous Android third-party keyboards around and back in June, the developers announced that they would be dropping the $4 price tag, thus effectively making the keyboard free for download. Given SwiftKey’s popularity, we reckon many Android users would have been more than happy to pay for it.
Unsurprisingly when it went free, the number of SwiftKey users actually skyrocketed by 54%. This is according to the developers themselves who revealed the stats to the folks at VentureBeat. According to them, user engagement rose by 54% since they made the app go free, and have also seen more than 12 million downloads of its free and premium themes (which is one of the ways the app is making money).
The app is now ranked around the 21st spot in Google Play’s top free apps chart, and 32nd in overall top free offerings which covers games as well. SwiftKey is also expected to make its way onto iOS upon the release of iOS 8 and we have to wonder if it will be met with the same enthusiasm from iOS users.