Microsoft’s excellent Windows Phone keyboard is now available for iOS

Microsoft is bringing its excellent Windows Phone keyboard to the iPhone today. The new iOS version will let you tap or swipe to type out words and intelligently predict words for sentences, just like the Windows Phone variant. Microsoft had promised a beta period, but it appears the app is freely available in the US App Store today.

Microsoft's iPhone version of Word Flow includes some extra additions that aren't available on Windows Phone. You can customize the keyboard background with your own image, and there's also a one-handed mode. The one-handed mode lets you swipe or tap out words by moving the keyboard to the side in an arc shape, and it's particularly useful if you own the larger iPhone 6S Plus.

Surprisingly, this isn't Microsoft's first keyboard for iOS. The software maker released a special hub keyboard for the iPhone recently, designed to let users quickly access files and contacts directly from the keyboard. Microsoft has been experimenting with a variety of Android and iOS keyboards, and the company also acquired Swiftkey in February. We're expecting to see some additional keyboards for iOS and Android as a result, but the latest Word Flow is available right now in the US App Store.

iPhone SE vs. iPhone 6S

• SourceWord Flow (App Store)