Microsoft’s beloved keyboard app Word Flow in beta for iOS

Even though touch screen typing has seen constant improvements from both Apple and developers since the debut of the iPhone, it still feels like there are miles left to go in terms of really perfecting the concept. As the average iPhone user becomes more and more savvy – and as the ability to type quickly and accurately on your device becomes more important – the need for a typing tool that can make the process effortless becomes even greater.

While there is certainly no shortage of great typing apps on the App Store, the most interesting of them all may be coming to us soon from a most unlikely source.

According to a recent announcement, Microsoft is bringing a version of its popular Windows Phone keyboard to iOS users everywhere. Dubbed Word Flow, this keyboard has long received near-universal acclaim as the absolute best touch-to-type keyboard on the mobile market today.

What makes this keyboard app so special? Well, for one thing, it may just be the smartest app on the planet in terms of word predictions. While many keyboard apps promise to learn from your inputs to provide accurate word predictions, Word Flow has the unique quality of being able to seemingly predict what you are about to type before you’ve even really thought about typing it.

Yet, the biggest selling point of this app has to be the one-handed typing mode. With a simple gesture, you can convert the standard screen-wide keyboard arrangement into an arc shape that is perfect for one-handed typing. Anyone who has ever tried to type one-handed without missing a beat will quickly fall in love with this design, and it’s made even better with Word Flow's already stellar swipe-to-type features.

Add to this enjoyable vanity features like customized keyboard backgrounds, and it’s hard to not get excited for Word Flow. While the app’s iOS release date is currently unavailable, you are able to sign up for a beta of the app now through this Microsoft website.

Just be warned that once you get a taste of Word Flow, it might be hard to go back to anything else.