AppleInsider Staff
If you're an iPhone owner who has been wishing for a way to involve Google in basically everything you do on your Apple device, the search giant has good news — an all-new iOS keyboard with Google inside.
Announced on Thursday, Gboard is an all-in-one Google experience built into the iOS keyboard. The quick-access Google search box lets you quickly find and send structured data — like a restaurant location or the score of a baseball game — without leaving the app you're in.
Gboard also makes Google the umpteenth player in the GIF keyboard market, bringing its considerable search expertise to bear for those looking for the perfect Overly Attached Girlfriend reaction. Emojis join the reaction pic party, as well.
In the one actual keyboard-related development, Google has included its version of Swype — called Glide — allowing you to type without lifting a finger.
Perhaps predicting the backlash that would come with the release of a system keyboard from the world's largest collector of personal information, Gooogle is quick to point out that it will collect only "anonymous statistics" in order to "diagnose problems when the app crashes and...know which features are used most often."
Gboard version 1.0.0 is available now as a free, 33.5-megabyte download from the App Store.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
35 Comments
good spying tool in very nice and cool package ;-)
But can I stop it sending anonymous statistics?
"Perhaps predicting the backlash that would come with the release of a system keyboard from the world's largest collector of personal information, Gooogle is quick to point out that it will collect only "anonymous statistics" in order to "diagnose problems when the app crashes and...know which features are used most often."
LOL. Let me guess who wrote it. But if it's not collecting and using identifiable user statistics I'm not sure how it's "spying". Google is missing the boat.