The newest version of the operating system by Apple was released recently and it was met with some complaints from users that thought it was a little too “cartoony”, but for the most part, many users were still trying to figure it out. If you bought a brand new iPhone 5S, which came with the new software pre-installed, then you were trying to figure out the new software, as well as a new phone with plenty of features to keep you busy including the new fingerprint reader.
Now that both the software and the new iPhone have hit the market, it is time for Apple to be looking ahead at the next handset or software update. According to a filing this week with the patent office, it looks like Apple is taking one step forward and getting a couple new gestures patented for a possible upcoming software release. The new patents would cover gestures that are used with the iOS keyboard for the iPhone and iPad devices. The new gestures would allow users to skip tapping on the screen for certain characters or to move the cursor like the space button would do.
By the looks of the information that has been filed, users would be able to use one or two fingers to activate a variety of keyboard features. The functions would include adding a space or punctuation and deleting a word or character that you just typed. Swiping two fingers would activate the caps lock option, while swiping three fingers could add a space and punctuation. If you were to swipe downward, you would be shown a bunch of possible punctuation marks that are commonly used while typing a text or email. The patent was filed a while ago by Apple and after reading through it, it can be compared to what Android users get when they install Swype on their devices.
If these options were added to the iOS keyboard it would be a huge improvement to one area that has not been touched all that much by Apple. Apple will also not allow users to add their own keyboards to the device at this time. Because Apple has applied for this patent so long ago, it would be a surprise if it showed up unannounced at this time, so users that would like to see these types of features might now want to hold their breath.
