Swype ist in etwa das, was T9 für traditionelle Dumbphones war, nur besser: So wie T9 anhand von einfachem Drücken der 9 Wähltasten alle möglichen Buchstabenkombinationen verglich und die wahrscheinlichsten Wörter vorschlug, funktioniert das Android-Keyboard über einfaches Ziehen des Fingers über die Qwertz-Tastatur.
Das Ergebnis ist eine schnellere, angenehme Eingabe mit nur einem Finger inklusive Fehlerkorrektur, im folgenden Beispiel das Wort „quick“:

Swype: Schnellere Eingabe am Qwertz-Keyboard

Leider zeigte Apple bisher kein Interesse daran, Swype auch für iOS-Geräte verfügbar zu machen.

Die Jailbreaker unter euch dürfen sich jetzt aber freuen: Entwickler Andrew Liu arbeitet an einer Portierung von Swype für .
Wer die aktuelle Beta-Version bereits jetzt testen will, kann Swype für iOS wie folgt installieren:

  • 1. Falls der noch nicht vorgenommen wurde, einfach JailbreakMe.com aufrufen und mit nur einem Klick jailbreaken.
  • (1) Repo http://wynd.x10.mx“ hinzufügen, nach „Swype“ suchen und downloaden, oder
  • (2) Swype via Mediafire herunterladen und selbst installlieren

Die aktuelle Beta-Version funktioniert nur in Apple-Apps, und die blaue Linie, die den Swype-Pfad zeigt, wird noch nicht angezeigt.

Die folgende Email eines SwypeInc Vertreters zeigt allerdings, dass man, wenn man interessiert ist, den Hack möglichst bald downloaden sollte – er könnte schon bald durch rechtliche Probleme entfernt werden:

Originally Posted by Brian Resnik;
The first thing we want to make clear is that this version released via is not in any way an official Swype product, or related to SwypeInc. in any way. It appears this developer wrote some of his own code to emulate a Swype-like experience and is using our brand. We don't know if this is a ‘hacked' version of Swype or not. I'm thinking not. We are still investigating, but either way, this is not an official release or port of Swype to iOS. Additionally, since we weren't involved with the development of this application, we can not vouch for the integrity of the software. From a consumer's perspective, we recommend researching the developer on your own to ensure the trustworthiness of this application from a security standpoint.

Our legal counsel is advising us on the best course of action regarding this ‚hacked‘ release. We'll continue to follow the situation and do whatever our management team determines is appropriate to protect our intellectual property. We're not looking to prove a point or anything like that. Frankly, as our CEO mentioned in an interview with GeekWire on the topic, the clear interest demonstrated by this release from iOS users in having Swype is exciting. But we do still need to protect our brand and, if it turns out that some of our code are being used, our patents.

Also, people are already saying „this proves that you can get Swype on iOS, even if it's through Cydia, right?“ Well, not really. Yes, you can get „tracing“ to work via some serious hacking (and even then it only works on jailbroken phones, and in stock iOS applications), but there are other really important elements to Swype. For example, word replacement and editing. With Swype, we know that the prediction engine won't get it right 100% of the time. Most of the time, absolutely, but there will always be a mistake once in a while. The nice thing about Swype is that when that happens you can quickly pull up a list of alternative suggestions – in the new v3.0, they're automatically shown whenever you swipe a word or tap on a previously entered word. When you pick an alternative suggestion, Swype replaces the previously typed word with the new one. Without keyboard APIs, we have no way of interacting with the text field in those kinds of ways. Sure, you can get basic character entry to work, but to get the full Swype experience, we absolutely require certain features to be implemented by Apple themselves.

via