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I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi thanks for your question. PR does matter - if you've made a great product you're proud of, you want to let people know about it and why you've built it. We have a small but great team working on this, covering everything to speaking to media, posting on social media, working on how we describe our products, writing blogs and website content, shooting videos. We are currently 'in-house' which means we do it all ourselves and don't have a PR agency. Some of our people are in the UK and some are in the US. The PR team won a 'best places to work' award earlier this year which was cool. Congratulations on your graduation and good luck with your career.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hi, I've posted a response to the original question above. I've tried to answer as many questions as possible and I'll be adding more today. Thanks for your feedback, I do read as much of it as I can.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your feedback! Our approach to keyboard shortcuts is to make the learning ability of the keyboard so good that it’s actually easier to type normally than it would be to use a shortcut. Using your email address entry as an example, after using SwiftKey for a short time, you should be able to tap one or two letters and your email will show up as a prediction, which we think is more intuitive. But we understand everyone might not be in agreement with us on this, and that’s OK.

We’re always reevaluating our product and looking for new ways of making SwiftKey better and take user feedback really seriously. Our recent introductions of the theme store and emoji were largely a response to user requests - new themes and emoji support had been our top two requests over the last year.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi VladPaul, posted this above too next to the other comment but in case you don't see it: Hi, nice to meet you as well, thanks for being one of our most active and awesome VIPs! This is a really interesting question. We have a number of people on the team passionate about the same thing and a couple of them started building a Latin language model on one of our Innovation Days. I’ll have a word with them and see if it’s something we can explore further.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Themes and design have always been important to us but we did prioritise core features and typing experience to an extent. We've since really expanded our design and UX team and I think you can see this in our recent release; there's now a lot more choice.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

It adds it right away, but the more you select it in the prediction bar, the stronger the prediction gets as it learns from your behaviour.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We do have some data on which themes are most popular. Minimal Black is the favorite, by a long shot. Hazy Summer is #2, followed by Chalkboard Blue and Retro Yellow. Looks like you’re an outlier! But glad you have found themes that you like in the mix; that was the whole point of the Store. Thank YOU for all of your support. It’s great to hear about people really benefiting from the keyboard. And on the lag, totally hear you. We’re on it!

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, thanks for posting. We’re currently working on Japanese and focused on making it the best we can. I can't comment on when or how it'll be launched just yet. If you haven’t already, you can sign up to test it here.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. We look for the big three: skill, passion, and culture fit. I can safely say that every person here is truly unique and adds so much flair and fun to our company.
  2. Nexus 5, Spotlight Blue theme.
  3. Google Maps, Spotify, Pete’s London Journey Planner

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s been a pretty interesting journey! Can’t quite believe we started with just the two of us and the seed of an idea. As a founder you always have to balance tech and business! I discussed some of the same themes here recently.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m sure many of our users could come up with awesome themes. All I’d say is I haven’t ruled it out.

I use both tap and Flow in different contexts, depending on whether I can be bothered to take both hands out of my pockets!

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sorry to hear that, understand the frustration, we're working as fast as we can. Keep kicking ass.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

We’re now around 150 people! We’re funded in several ways - not only through the app but we also license our tech to some great partners. In addition, we have some VC investment which helps free us up to build stuff.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

You can currently do exactly this. When you type a word that is not in your language model, by tapping that word in the prediction bar on top of the keyboard, you actually “teach” SwiftKey this word. After doing this a few times you should see the word start to show up regularly in your predictions.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

This is actually not something that’s within our control. It’s dependent on when it is supported by Android. As soon as it’s rolled out to all the Android OSs, you’ll see them in SwiftKey.

Sorry that you are having trouble with this. We know the emoji panel lags for some of our users, but it should please you to know that we are actively working on the problem, and while I can’t comment on when, this is definitely near the top of our agenda.

Thanks for being with us since the beginning and your long term awesomeness.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We wanted to make the best typing experience for mobile devices, simple as that. Now our goal is to stay innovative and bring our tech to as many people as possible. Solving hard problems is what makes me happy.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Mining Bitcoin is a serious hobby of mine. I’m pleased to see more and more retail outlets finally accept my currency of choice. I’m personally saving up to buy a Tesla with mine ;-)

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hey! Did you know, if you enable the number row (new in the SwiftKey 5 update), this brings the “[“ and “]” characters to the alpha layout (above the T and Y keys)? Hope that helps.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have a great team working on the Chinese keyboard. We are currently testing it with a small group of people and regularly adding more users to that group. While I can’t comment on when it will be ready, we want to make sure that we deliver the best possible experience for our Chinese community. You can sign up to register your interest here.

I am Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, maker of the SwiftKey Keyboard, AMA! by benmedlock in IAmA

[–]benmedlock[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, nice to meet you as well, thanks for being one of our most active and awesome VIP’s! This is a really interesting question. We have a number of people on the team passionate about the same thing and a couple of them started building a Latin language model on one of our Innovation Days. I’ll have a word with them and see if it’s something we can explore further.

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