Microsoft’s Hub Keyboard for iOS is nifty but there’s no emoji

It has been a long time coming but Microsoft has finally released its own keyboard app for iOS.

Called Hub Keyboard, the app offers a number of SwiftKey-inspired features, which isn’t surprising given that Microsoft acquired the company in February. It also comes with Office 365 integration and it’s free to download.

The app is an improvement on the default iOS keyboard and will be a big help to anyone who’s deep in the Office 365 ecosystem. You can grab your OneDrive files and drop the links directly in your chat messages and link your address book for easy sharing of contacts.

The app also cleverly uses SwiftKey’s autocomplete feature, which makes for an a much speedier typing experience.

For me, I never stick with third-party keyboard for iOS but as I said, if you’re an Office 365 fan, it certainly offers some useful features. One thing it can’t give me is easy access to emoji and that’s not something I’m willing to give up anytime soon.

Since it is a project from Microsoft’s Garage, it’s likely the app will be chopped and changed in the future if the interest is there.