Contact us anytime to know more — Abhishek P., Founder & CFO CISIN
Users can add custom keyboard extensions to their list of system keyboards (system keyboards). Once added, these custom extensions may be used on all devices except those that restrict extensions through bundles (APP Delegate).
- Each keyboard on IOS should feature a switch that enables users to switch keyboards. By pressing long enough on any of them, you may choose from among available choices; on our default keyboard, we see one with an earth globe icon at its base indicating this action; this button replaces the existing one with the next available keyboard on the device, or you choose among existing options if pressed long enough.
- Your custom keyboard extension must support user interaction, such as button tapping. These actions must then be converted to strings and sent directly into the text input view for text entry - with full support for Unicode characters available for iOS.
- Your custom keyboard should be designed with user trust in mind, meaning what user's type must reach the host server.
Success? "How Can":
Your keyboard's success relies on its features and what users expect of it. A keyboard should never be an opportunity for errors: iOS development provides an outstanding default experience: clean and responsive typing experience as it responds automatically when typing text, automatically correcting errors as required with automatic correction features appropriately built in - these should all be maintained along with other services you provide as part of their success formula.
At your company, your job should be to meet or surpass these expectations and solve most UX-related issues by keeping in mind that the keyboard shouldn't get in users' way.
Custom Keyboards Do Have Some Restrictions And Requirements
- Because carrier character limits apply, custom keyboards cannot be used with text entry fields that use keyboard types like UIKeyboard TypePhonePad and UIKeyboardTypeNamePhonePad; in these situations they will automatically be switched out for System keys.
- As with a standard keyboard, highlighted popups cannot appear above the toolbar when interacting with using keys.
- Each keyboard must have an on/off switch for switching between keyboards.
- When an app developer forgoes external keyboards, they can do so using this method:
This app does not come equipped with a keyboard.
Requirements
Apple approves keyboards based on specific criteria, similar to how iOS applications are approved for approval.
- Next Keyboard Button: Each keyboard requires an easy way for its user to change between their active list of keyboards. On system keyboards, this action is completed via pressing the globe key at the bottom-left corner; Apple has implemented this in iPhone X by placing this button beneath its keyboards in an extra space below them - its mic button can also be found here.
- App Purpose: All critical extensions should be packaged into host applications that provide meaningful functionality to their intended users. While measuring this criterion may seem subjective, consider your app before creating or selecting one as your solution.
- Users Should Trust Keyboards: News about data leakages has left users extremely worried. Keyboards serve as one of the primary entryways into an app and, thus, pose as potential points of vulnerability for data. Authors of keyboards have a responsibility to ensure keystroke data remains secure - don't accidentally install keyloggers. For complete user control, you should inform them which information and purposes their information may serve.
Set the "Request Open Access" key to Yes for the custom keyboard used outside of the app.
Your Custom Keyboard will have the capabilities of.
- Location services, Address Book databases, and the like can provide useful lexicons.
- UILexicon can utilize shared containers.
- Send keystrokes and input events directly to server-side processing for processing.
- Share shortcuts and keyboard settings across iOS devices via iCloud.
- Apps offering games allow access to their center of gaming and purchases in-app.
- A keyboard designed specifically to meet MDM (Mobile Device Management) guidelines will work seamlessly with all managed apps and services.
Your mobile keyboard can be tailored specifically to meet customer requirements by developing it yourself. Design a layout you love while adding functions for an enhanced user experience.
Starting from scratch may involve months of hard work or thousands invested into developing components needed for superiority in design compared to what currently exists; developers can bypass all this tedious development work by purchasing an SDK instead, which allows them to focus on innovative design and fresh ideas instead.
SDK provides developers with a robust text correction and prediction engine, along with solid security algorithms and innovative features such as embedded extensions to form the basis of custom keyboard designs for iOS.
How can developers use all this SDK's components to design custom keyboards for iOS? Utilize XCode.
How To Use iOS SDK (& The Advantages Of XCode IDE)
With an SDK, you can make custom keyboards both for Apple devices and Android. Downloading the iOS SDK will enable you to do just this; once installed and built, the keyboard will then need to be installed using XCode's IDE instead.
XCode stands for "Integrated Development Environment." You can access it directly from Apple devices in order to build new apps with it, like our customized keyboard project.
While other ways may exist for creating apps, using XCode has proven itself most efficient by far.
Develop Quicker
It is easier and faster to use the latest version (14.0.1) of XCode, as its user-friendly interface enables speedier development.
Use Is Simple
Our application provides users with easy use by offering integrated apps to make development more straightforward, as well as providing multiple functions and setting options to facilitate use.
Customizable Environment
This app gives developers the power to add extensions that meet their exact development requirements, which makes the entire development process more straightforward and streamlines the development process.
Testing Across Devices
Testing across devices involves running your app simultaneously on multiple Apple devices without switching back and forth between devices.
With our simulator tool, you can test across devices effortlessly.
Support Of Multiple Languages
This platform gives developers access to numerous coding languages suited for wide range app purposes, including Swift, Objective-C (translated into Objective-C++), Objective-C++ (translated into C++), Java, Python, C++, and C.
Get Started
Install XCode From Apple
Apple provides its integrated development environment (IDE), known as XCode. You can find this on both their App Store and Website - though, for this latter option, you will first have to register as an Apple Developer before being granted access to download it directly.
Register As An Apple Developer
Create an Apple Developer Account by visiting their Website, filling in all required information as indicated, downloading the XCode app onto a mobile device, and running it successfully.
Create A Brand-New iOS Keyboard
Now, it is time to build your customized iOS app development keyboard.
Launch XCode on your mobile device, select New XCode Project from the list of available projects, and create your customized keyboard.
How Can We Develop An App On iOS?
New Project?
Start By Selecting "App." Then, in the "Next" popup, give your project a name, select a folder where the App Will Live, and create it.
Click "File" in the toolbar of the program, choose "New," and target. A popup window will open, allowing you to create and name your keyboard extension before saving and activating it as directed by the software.
Add Your SDK
Navigating to the Project section in your IDE, click on your newly-created project and add an SDK dependency in the package tab.
From here, you will have access to various packages from which you can choose; copy/paste the GitHub link from the license purchase for ease. In the search field, paste that link for more straightforward inclusion.
Install The SDK
- After installing an SDK, it is crucial to make some necessary modifications. First, select your new keyboard in the left list, enter KeyboardViewController, and look at its SDK code - where license key configuration occurs between lines 29-30; herein lies essential license and secret license insertion; for this step, register on developers.com to gain this knowledge then place this in this section of code.
- Before continuing with SDK development, bit code must be disabled, as SDK doesn't support such regulation. Select your keyboard from the Targets section; highlight the main file of the app you are developing; search the Build settings tab for the barcode settings tab and turn it off accordingly;
- First, grant keyboard access to your device. Select your keyboard and navigate to its Information page; here, expand NSExtensionAttributes until NSOpenAccessAttributes can be seen - find and set OpenAccess at 1.
Your New Keyboard Is Ready For Use
After setting all the details up correctly, it's time to activate it on the device. Otherwise, you will only see your built-in standard keyboard, with no option available to switch it; to access its capabilities for proper functioning, you must grant access first.
Locate the "Add a New Keyboard" feature within the settings of your smartphone to create customized keyboards quickly.
Both default and third-party keyboards will appear here; tap any one to be taken back to its custom knowledge with a list in which Full Access mode may be activated by tapping again on it. Now, whenever you access an application, tap to select and change keyboard layouts or versions.
Also Read: What Technology Can I Use For Developing iOS Apps?
Cocoa Framework And iOS SDK: Essential Components For Success
Cocoa Platform
Once your iOS custom keyboard has its foundations laid, the next step should be customizing and differentiating yourself from third-party applications.
Working within the framework provided by XCode provides additional tools, with Cocoa offering functionalities and libraries that accelerate app creation processes while using Objective-C as its core language while supporting C, C++, Python, and Ruby applications via script bridges on macOS systems.
Cocoa Embedded Frameworks
Within the Cocoa Platform, you have many SDKs and sub-platforms from which to choose depending on what device your app will run on.
Each SDK comes complete with frameworks that contain code that implements specific features or functionalities in an app; examples of essential frameworks would include these:
Foundation Framework
This library features core OS services on both platforms to allow developers to develop apps compatible across both quickly.
AppKit
AppKit for macOS allows developers to build applications quickly as its UI supports both mouse and keyboard input.
UIKit
Its primary use case is for touchscreen-driven user interfaces in iOS development services apps and tvOS; both frameworks use distinct classes explicitly designed to work on these different interfaces, while many fundamental principles remain the same.
WatchKit
WatchKit allows developers to design applications compatible with Apple Watch's user interface easily.
Customize And Design An iOS Keyboard
Cocoa Frameworks provides all of the tools to explore all features and customize a virtual keyboard like any other application, while an SDK for autocorrect and predictive text.
Discover Your Keyboard Layout
A custom keyboard allows users to personalize many aspects of its design. Popular QWERTY layout keyboards may enable users to switch out for other layouts; designing one may help ensure accessibility needs, such as making it more suitable for people living with disabilities.
Use Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts occupy another exciting place on a customized keyboard, offering another feature you can customize and personalize to meet your specific needs.
They could include gesture-controlled accessing of functions without needing to find their settings or tap keys manually.
Customized Keyboards
Keyboards can be tailored in numerous ways with SDK. Developers have access to customization features for spacebars and themes, as well as adding sound effects when keys are pressed.
Support Different Keyboard Sizes
Users with certain keyboards have the option of customizing key sizes using a device's setting menu, changing the layout and critical size as necessary to fit different usage situations.
Users may arrange their keyboard horizontally in landscape mode if this mode proves more suitable to their needs, especially on larger displays like tablets or digital assistants where swipe typing combines with keyboard layout for faster text entry.
Add Multilingual Functionality
SDK includes over 82 language dictionaries for users to expand the scope of keyboard functionality, offering switch language functions.
Also Read: How iOS App Development Enhance Your Brand Value?
Tips And Best Practices For Developers
Developers have several effective techniques at their disposal when creating apps, such as virtual keyboards. This practice can save them time while keeping their workflow more streamlined - and ultimately leading them to more significant results.
Here are just a few.
Understanding iOS App Lifecycle
Learning the fundamentals of iOS can be daunting; each app may serve its specific functions while still following an identical launch and shutdown cycle.
There are five steps in iOS' lifecycle:
- Running: At this early stage, the app has yet to be published for public consumption and does not display on either of its two screens (front or back).
- As soon as a user launches an application, it enters inactive mode, entering but without taking any actions; this time allows its status to revert.
- Active: The app will play an integral part in planning and organizing events.
- Background: Even after closing an app, certain circumstances can still take place behind the scenes.
- The app is suspended: it no longer runs and, at this stage, may be terminated if no use has occurred within a specified timeframe or memory becomes overburdened.
CoreData Is A Data Management Tool That Helps You Manage Your Data
CoreData is an Apple-developed data management solution to assist developers with creating apps. The object graph of an app can be managed using this program, and both temporary and permanent data can be stored in the cloud to be reused later.
Furthermore, users are able to track changes made at any point and undo any unnecessary actions at their leisure.
iOS Simulator Is A Tool That Allows You To Test And Debug Any App
iOS Simulator provides you with a tool for testing and debugging any app. Testing is the key to guaranteeing its success when developing or releasing new applications, so using its settings and functions to identify how well they function as well as any bugs within an XCode IDE simulator that runs across Apple devices; manually using multiple devices for performance testing purposes or through performance benchmarks on each one, try conducting performance tests prior to release of your new app on them all.
Enhance User Experience
Other elements may play a part in user acceptance as well. Pay close attention to comments left by your users on the Apple App Store/Android Play Store and act accordingly.
Do market research to understand what other developers offer before differentiating yourself with innovative functions that distinguish your apps/games/mobile products/etc.
Prioritize Security
People rely on their smartphones for various activities: work, social media posts and updates, cooking meals for the family, or attending appointments with physicians - among others - so users are becoming increasingly worried about privacy terms when using mobile devices.
Developers must prioritize security to satisfy users and differentiate themselves from competitors; SDK has its algorithm designed to protect user data.
Conclusion Of Article
While the process can be long and tiresome, new tools will allow faster results to come faster. If you are creating an iOS Custom theme Keyboard for Apple Products from iOS development companies, using an SDK instead of writing code may help enable predictive text, autocorrection, and swipe typing features.
Combine with Apple Development Tools such as XCode Cocoa CoreData to ensure compatibility, debuggability, and successful results from your keyboard by default creation project.
Debugging app extensions can be challenging due to breakpoints not appearing when your extension runs with its target audience.
For stock keyboard extensions, to debug them quickly, run code by choosing from the right side and tapping the Navigator Button; alternatively, use any mobile application installed on either device or simulator as you debug code by selecting it directly.
