An iOS keyboard without a subscription

Monthly price, monthly cost.

If a keyboard sends your text to a model on a server, somebody pays for that server every time you type. A subscription is the honest shape for that. A keyboard that runs entirely on your phone has no such bill, and charging monthly for it is a choice about revenue rather than about cost.

What to check before you pay.

• What goes quiet when you stop. On some keyboards the extras stop. On others the keyboard does, and you were renting the thing you type with.
• Whether the free tier expires. A free tier with an end date is a trial wearing better manners.
• Whether a card is needed first. A trial that asks for card details before it starts is counting on you forgetting.
• What the one-time price covers. The app as it stands today, or the work that comes after it as well.
• Whether you need the paid half. Find the paid feature list before you install. If your everyday habit is on it, the free tier is not the thing you are buying into.

Where EFKey fits.

Typing is free and stays free: 61 of the 104 features, with no account and no ads. That includes autocorrect, prediction, swipe, the number row, all 74 languages and the height and layout settings.

EFKey Pro is €14.99, paid once. The trial runs 7 days and starts the first time you tap a Pro tool, not the moment you install, so it is not burning while you are still finding the settings. No card is involved. People who used EFKey before Pro existed pay €6.99, and the app works that out by itself.

Where it does not.

When the trial ends the keyboard types exactly as it did before and the tools go quiet. If the tools are the reason you came, free is not going to be enough and it is better to know that on day one.

One payment also means I cannot promise that a feature you want will arrive. What it buys is the app as it stands the day you buy it, plus whatever I ship after. The upsell can be switched off in settings, so the app can stop asking.

Quick answers.