It is arguable that the development of IOS versions over the years have had many drastic changes, and as revealed earlier this month IOS 8 continues to bring Apple users further improvements, mainly introduced for the purposes of the IPhone 6 – due to be released this Friday. So what is this sign that indicates Apple’s leniency towards customisation? Its Apple’s new function of enabling 3rd party keyboard apps to be installed!
With those that have consistently remained loyal to Apple, and others who have turned away to integrate with the Android community, the former may now be edging towards a degree of freedom in customizing their devices… Well linguistically that is, obviously Apple cannot be too relaxed on the matter of customizing their system’s visual appearance (Android is still the leader in this), as this would stray away from their core differences that distinguishes Apple from other mobile brands. It has been announced that IOS 8 will enable the instalment of 3rd party keyboard apps, thus allowing the likes of Swype to be used. However a brand new app that will change the way we text is PopKey; dedicated to texting/sending in app GIF’s (animated pictures) as opposed to the traditional approach of texting words. This will be the most anticipated 3rd party keyboard app, PopKey ma seem odd, but in the modern world of technology what may at first seem uncanny may become the new norm or trend. Like many other apps which were not so appealing at first sight (flappybird, Snapchat, Draw something), had in fact grown on many users and was able to spread like wildfire and I believe PopKey will fit neatly in to this category.
So how exactly does PopKey work? The app can be downloaded from the App Store, once downloaded it will be available as an additional keyboard inside “Settings”; you can then access it through tapping the “Globe” key when presented with a keyboard screen. There will be a wide range of GIFs available under descriptive categories similar to Emoji e.g. sad, clapping, crying; these GIF’s will capture what you want to say or how you feel via animated pictures – just to add some spark and humour to your normal day-to-day texts. It’s not only easily accessible (once downloaded), but you can also store your downloaded GIFs as well, thus not placing a restriction on only using in-app GIFs!
It has been speculated that PopKey will be available for Apple users in time for the release of IOS 8, although it has been reported that the app might be available at a slightly later date… If this is true, I’m sure it will be worth the wait! If you do become a PopKey fan, then please let us know and share with us your wise words on the app – good or bad.