This article captures an interesting moment in mobile typing history when Swype keyboard technology finally made its way to iOS through the jailbreak community. Patrick Bisch explores how iSwipe brought the popular gesture-based typing method to jailbroken iPhones, though with significant limitations that highlighted the challenges of porting complex input methods across platforms.
The review provides valuable context about text input evolution, tracing the journey from multi-tap typing through T9 predictive text to Swype's revolutionary gesture-based approach. Bisch explains how Swype had already found success on Windows Mobile and Android devices, making iOS feel behind the curve for once. When iSwipe emerged as a jailbreak solution, it represented both an exciting development and a cautionary tale about beta software.
What makes this review particularly honest is Bisch's balanced assessment of iSwipe's flaws. He doesn't sugarcoat the accuracy issues, noting humorous examples like "bacon" becoming "bassoons" and acknowledging that the software wasn't quite ready for daily use. The review also documents practical problems like misaligned suggestion bars that made the interface difficult to use in key apps like Messages.
The article includes step-by-step installation instructions through Cydia and embedded a demonstration video, making it a complete guide for interested users. Bisch's empathetic conclusion recognizes that criticizing free beta software requires understanding the challenges developers face, while still providing an honest assessment of whether the technology was worth using at the time.
Looking back, this review documents an important transition period when alternative keyboards weren't yet supported by iOS, making jailbreaking the only option for users who wanted advanced input methods. The eventual introduction of third-party keyboards in iOS 8 would make articles like this a fascinating snapshot of the workarounds users once needed to access features that are now taken for granted.
This summary was created by Dave Rogers. The original post was written by Patrick Bisch and published on July 18, 2011.
If you'd like to view the original post, you can find it here.