Month: September 2022

There’s not an app for that: The impending end of SwiftKey on iOS

UPDATE, August 2, 2023: Microsoft changed its mind, and has continued to support SwiftKey with both bug fixes and new features. The reversal happened before the app would have been delisted.

I have had some kind of iOS device going back to the iPhone 4 in 2010. How has it already been 12 years? Time is crazy.

The default keyboard the iPhone uses has never felt right to me, and so early on I looked for alternatives when Apple allowed for third-party keyboards. I found one in SwiftKey, which looked nice, was usually good with autocorrect, rather than aggressively awful (why is it I had not seen the term “auto-corrupt” before today?) and didn’t require you to swap to a different keyboard screen for something as simple as using a question mark.

Microsoft bought SwiftKey in 2016, but this didn’t seem to affect the app itself, so I continued on my merry way with it.

Today Microsoft announced it was ending support for the iOS version of SwiftKey on October 5, 2022, and it would be delisted, meaning it will work on current devices, but when you get your shiny new iPhone 18 Pro Max Ultra, SwiftKey will be nowhere to be found, purged completely from iOS.

Microsoft didn’t say why they are killing off only the iOS version, but it probably has to do with data collection and the limits Apple has in place for third-party keyboards.

I am sad.

For now, I’ll keep using it, as I don’t expect to get a new iPhone or iPad any time soon and the app will work fine in the meantime. After that, if I do get a new Apple iSomething, I’ll have to consider other options:

  • Default keyboard. It’s better now, but it still has a weird floaty feel I don’t like, and the keys seem a bit too small, even for my tiny, doll-like hands.
  • Gboard. Decent, but I’m trying to get away from Google, not run into its data-harvesting arms.
  • Grammarly. I guess they make a keyboard? Does it prompt you to get the Grammarly app if you make too many typos?
  • Others? Microsoft also owns Nuance, which itself owned Swype, so…who knows?

Meh. Meh, I say! This also reminds me that the utterly addictive iOS game Dungeon Raid got abandoned years ago. I played the heck out of that thing, then it stopped getting updated and is now gone forever (it was a paid app, not “freemium”). Given how much I played, I probably shouldn’t lament its disappearance.

A shot in the arm (literally)

I got my fourth COVID-19 shot today. Not the fourth one today, but the fourth since this whole kooky pandemic began. I opted for Pfizer, the devil I know.

The jab was quick and inconsequential, as usual, and my arm is a bit sore as I type this late in the evening. I did get a headache in the afternoon, which is a possible side effect, and was new for me. Not too bad as side effects call, so I merely grumble about it.

The clinic ran things very efficiently–I was in and out before my actual appointment time. Masks were still mandatory, of course, and they made me wait 15 minutes to see if I’d mutate into a super-being (I did not), but there was no real effort at physical distancing, unlike previous times. A decent amount of people were there (I had to stand in line waiting for the clinic to open), but I overheard staff say that this was pretty normal–most go in the morning and the afternoons are quieter.

I want to make a joke or use some metaphor about how the clinic is an old Best Buy, but nothing comes to mind. Have a picture instead.

It was also a warm and sunny early fall day. Having the weather continue to be summer-like is going to make The Rains that much harder to endure when they arrive. Maybe.

Also, here’s a photo of a flower at nearby Holland Park that I took when I realized how absurdly early I was.

Run 719: Malfunctions of machine and man

Today’s run was sponsored by Meh. Or maybe Metamucil.

I headed out early to beat the relative heat, with the forecast calling for a record-breaking 28C today. It was 15C when I headed off, 17C at the start of the run and 20C by the end, so temperature-wise it was fine. There was intermittent sun and high cloud, which was also fine. I sweated a bit, but not excessively. Fine.

Not fine:

  • Heart rate monitor issues at the start again. I paused the run 17 seconds in to run the heart rate app. It took a rather long time to find a heartbeat, but once it did, it seemed fine at first, then the heart rate did that weird “to the moon” thing, so I pulled back hard on my pace to get it down into a normal range, then increased my tempo to my usual running pace, after which the BPM behaved normally, pretty much for the rest of the run. No idea what is happening here, other than the hardware may be bugging out after three years.
  • Also during the first km, my right ankle was cranky. I have no ideas why. It went away. I have no idea why.
  • Around the 4K mark, the skin under the watch was so itchy I paused the run, took off the watch, saw that there was a red spot, scratched it, broke the skin, then wondered if the heart rate sensor would be more or less accurate if my blood was on it. Also, I adjusted the watch to fit a tiny bit more snug and the itching stopped.
  • Around the 5K mark I had to use the loo, with no loo in sight. This meant the second half of the run was me asking myself repeatedly, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”
  • The 7 km segment was unusually slow. I have no idea why.

Overall, I am nonplussed. It wasn’t a bad workout per se, but it just felt very blah. Maybe it’s just Monday. At least the bear signs are gone now. That means no more bears, right?

Oh, and completing the run did give me this:

Stats:

Run 719
Average pace: 6:00/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:50 a.m.
Distance: 10.06 km
Time: 60:21
Weather: Sun and high cloud
Temp: 17-20ºC
Humidity: 75%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 158.4
Total distance to date: 5292 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (400 km)

The worst people ever

The people who currently reside above my condo baffle me with the noise they make. I don’t understand how people can be so indifferent to others, so absolutely awful.

But I guess humans are just like that.

EDIT: Someone was cranky when they wrote this! Understandably so, perhaps. But let me amend the above to “some humans.” I haven’t lost all hope for humanity…yet!

Run 718: Cooler, faster, glitchy

Conditions were quite different for today’s run. It was an unseasonably cool 15C (which is actually aces for running) and cloudy, with no real chance of the sun coming out. Wind was light. In all, very nice conditions, if the rain held off.

The rain held off. It actually started to shower about half an hour after I got back.

I was determined to do two things today:

  • Run to a BPM of 150
  • Make sure my heart rate was being tracked from the start of the run

On the former, I averaged 151, which is pretty close. But there is an asterisk to go alongside that, in part because I found it strangely challenging to maintain 150 in the first half of the run, and then there was the start, which ties into the second thing. To better insure tracking of my heart rate right from the get-go, I ran the heart rate app, got my heart rate, then started the run. This initially seemed to work.

Later, when I checked during the first km, the BPM was grayed out at the last reported rate and the little heart symbol was spinning. I stopped, did the routine with the heart rate app and resumed my run. As I hit the 2K mark I saw it had stopped again, so did all the steps yet again and just as the day before, it finally seemed to lock in and was fine after that.

But it now reports a BPM of 109 for the first km, which is too low. I mean, I did pause during that time, which would have lowered the overall rate, but I think it’s just missing a lot of data. I don’t know if the watch is going hinky (it’s three years old) or if it’s watchOS 9 shenanigans, since I updated it a few weeks ago. Blergh. I don’t really want to get a new watch, especially as I consider a Garmin for running. Blergh, I say.

As for the run, I actually sweated more despite the cooler temperatures, due to the high humidity, but it still felt quite comfortable. I wore my long-sleeved shirt, too, which is a tad warmer than my usual t-shirts. I felt pretty comfortable throughout and was thinking how I haven’t mentioned the left hip lately. I did feel it a bit toward the end, but more in a “Remember this old war wound?” way, not actively hurting. It’s fine now.

I ended with a pace of 5:49/km, which is much better than I expected for the given BPM (even if it may not be entirely accurate), so I am pleased with this workout. I’m also happy to have done all three runs this week. Go me!

I checked the heels of my Brooks again. I may need a new watch and new shoes soon. The heels are worn to the point that I probably shouldn’t use them much longer. The 390 km below is strictly for runs, but they probably have a few more hundred km from walking.

Stats:

Run 718
Average pace: 5:49/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:04 a.m.
Distance: 10.06 km
Time: 58:32
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 15ºC
Humidity: 85%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 159
Total distance to date: 5282 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (390 km)

Good thing I kept that writing quote on my blog

My fortune from last night’s Chinese food:

Maybe I’ll do National Novel Writing Month this year and finally write that Great Canadian Novel that has long dwelled in my mind.

Or maybe I should be insulted because the fortune is implying I’m not already an accomplished writer, when I’m sure I could pay several people right now to insist I am!

Or perhaps I’ll play those six numbers, win the lottery and find inspiration in my newfound riches, and become an accomplished writer once the financial pressures of life are gone.

So many possibilities, such a tiny piece of paper.

The Chinese food was not bad, either.

Rockin’ robin

The robin in the reference photo for this was standing in tall grass (for a robin), hiding its feet. I thought about filling them in, but in the end just cropped off the bottom of the drawing. I felt a little Liefeld at the time.