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Swiftkey reduces lag by 50 percent, delivers more performance improvements

The team also claims that Swiftkey is now the fastest loading Android keyboard app.
By
January 18, 2019
The Swiftkey keyboard app in incognito mode.

Swiftkey is a stalwart in the Android keyboard space, delivering AI-powered predictions and plenty of other features. But the team behind the app hasn’t been taking it easy, revealing a host of performance improvements that took place in the last year.

The company revealed that it managed to reduce lag by 50 percent, thanks to better frame rendering. Best of all, this improvement also applies to older phones, so you won’t need to upgrade your device for a faster typing experience.

The Swiftkey team also claimed that it improved loading times by an average of 20 percent. In fact, the team says it’s now the fastest loading Android keyboard app.

Performance improvements detailed by the Swiftkey team.

To claim this crown, the company said it tested Swiftkey against Gboard, Baidu’s keyboard app, and TouchPal keyboard. The tests were conducted on the Alcatel 1T, ZTE Tempo X, Nokia 1, HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro, HUAWEI Y7 Prime, and Moto G4. The firm said it repeated the test 100 times and averaged results across phones to reach the conclusion. We don’t see other noteworthy keyboard apps included in the test though, such as Fleksy. But beating the likes of Gboard is still a noteworthy achievement.

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Worried about storage space? Well, the team says the app’s install size is the smallest out of five keyboard apps tested. The company didn’t reveal the keyboard apps it pitted against Swiftkey in this instance though.

Nevertheless, we’re glad to see Swiftkey delivering meaningful performance improvements, as this hopefully means other keyboard developers will push hard to make their apps even better.

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