At least by letting developers do it with deeper system integrations. Text messages and multimedia messages are texts and photos that you can send to any other cell phone. For your information: iMessages are texts, photos, or videos that you can send across iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Mac. I know many people don’t use Apple Watch to send long messages, but with the device becoming increasingly independent – especially with the cellular option – Apple should consider new ways to messaging with it. There are generally three types of messages on your iPhone, iMessage, text messages (SMS), and multimedia messages (MMS). And the Scribble feature, which requires the user to draw the letters on the screen, is slow, inaccurate and not available in all languages. Sometimes Siri can’t correctly identify everything I said, which usually happens when I use specific and complicated words. So why would someone use a real keyboard on a watch? Well, at least in my personal use, voice commands are not always the best option. What’s the real use of Shift?Īs I said before, it’s already possible to send messages with Apple Watch using voice dictation or the Scribble feature. It requires an Apple Watch running watchOS 6.0 or later. If you want to test the Shift Keyboard, the app is available on the App Store for $1.99. It’s more like a proof of concept than something you’ll use everyday. That means you can only use it with the system’s native Messages app to send iMessage and SMS. The downside is that due to the limitations of the Apple Watch SDK, Shift Keyboard works as a standalone app and not as a third-party keyboard. Although it doesn’t have any numbers or special characters, it’s a lot faster to type in. Surprisingly, it works very well and it’s my favorite method.
You can choose which one you want to use the first time you open the app and change it later in the settings. Precise is the most obvious and simple option, with all the letters, numbers and special characters in large size.Īs the name suggests, it’s for those who know exactly what and how they want to write. You can even choose whether to display the Precise keyboard in alphabetical order, QWERTY or AZERTY.īut the most interesting option is the Full keyboard, which shows a keyboard exactly as you see on iOS. Since Apple Watch is so small, this keyboard works along with predictions and suggestions to enhance the message you’re typing. There are actually two types of keyboard inside the app: Full and Precise. And while that may sound a bit weird, Shift Keyboard works better than I expected and it has proven to be an interesting option. Imagine having a full keyboard, with all the characters appearing on the Apple Watch, just like on your phone. He created Shift Keyboard, an app that puts a real keyboard on the Apple Watch screen.
While Apple suggests that using voice dictation is the best way to share something, developer Adam Foot came up with a different idea. It’s always been possible to send messages through Apple Watch, but not in the same way as on an iPhone because of the obvious differences in screen size.