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Apple brings predictive text to iOS 8

The new QuickType feature promises to help you more quickly type out a text message by predicting what you want to say.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney

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QuickType at last brings predictive text to iOS. CNET

Android users, move over. iOS 8 will at last bring the benefits of predictive text to iPhone and iPad users.

Announced Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, a feature called QuickType will offer predictive suggestions as you type your text messages. The goal is to offer the right suggestions to help you type your messages more quickly.

Already available for Android, predictive text is currently an option for iOS only through special apps such as SwiftKey. But SwiftKey limits you in that you have to use the app itself to type your message and then copy and paste it to your IM program. Apple's QuickType will be accessible directly in iMessage.

The more you use QuickType, the smarter it will get as it learns your style of writing and choice of words. Apple also promises that QuickType will work its magic in a way that protects your privacy, as all learning will be local to your iPhone or iPad and not shared in the cloud.

The only downside? iOS users who blame bad text messages on unwanted and unnoticed typos may need to find another excuse.

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