SwiftKey for iOS was dead, then it wasn’t, and now it has Bing Chat in it

Enlarge / SwiftKey for iOS is getting Bing Chat support. (credit: Microsoft)

Six short months ago, it seemed like Microsoft's SwiftKey keyboard for iPhones and iPads was dead. It seemed that way because Microsoft had said it was dead and went so far as to delist it from the App Store.

The next month, with little explanation, the keyboard was re-listed on the App Store, and Microsoft execs hinted (without getting specific) that there were plans for developing it further. The month after that, SwiftKey got its first boilerplate "bug fixes and performance improvements" update since August 2022.

Yesterday, SwiftKey for iOS got a major feature update—and because we're talking about a Microsoft product in 2023, the update involves Bing's AI-powered chatbot, which (along with other AI features) has quickly made its way into Windows, Edge, Skype, and other apps in the last few months.