Fleksy, the ‘fastest, most customizable keyboard,’ goes free
Fleksy touts itself as the fastest and best third-party keyboard available, but it wants to get even better. You might think that improving on an app would entail hours of expensive development. That, in turn, would require a bump up in the price of the app, but that’s not what the developers of Fleksy have decided is the right answer. Instead, they’ve decided that the way to make Fleksy even better is to make it free.
Why would free make it better?
Since it was released, Fleksy has been a paid app, costing $0.99 on the App Store. Starting today, July 8, the developers are giving the app away for free. You might be wondering how that will make the keyboard better, though. According to a press release from the developers behind Fleksy:
By making the keyboard available for free, Fleksy is able to serve a much larger and more diverse set of users. With this increased user base, Fleksy will be focused on delivering new and exciting product improvements across all languages.
As more people use the keyboard, the developers will get more feedback on what could be better. With that feedback in hand, the developers hope to improve and enhance the third-party keyboard app to make it even more powerful and robust.
Is there really such a thing as a free lunch?
Of course, all of the features available within Fleksy won’t be free. Instead, the app will continue to offer premium content via in-app purchase. Fleksy is already an extremely robust keyboard, offering a variety of themes and options like DVORAK and QWERTZ layouts, and more.
If you’ve already purchased Fleksy, the developers are giving new themes and extension slots worth $8 as free in-app purchases.
To thank users that previously purchased the app, Fleksy will be offering brand new themes and extension slots worth $8 for FREE as a gift. For those users that enjoy the option of upgrading their keyboard, Fleksy will continue to provide premium content via in-app purchases.
So you see, the old habit of making money off a program through in-app purchases is still alive and well within Fleksy.
The developers are missing out on $0.99 per user, but they will continue to make money on extras like the Chameleon Theme or the Energy Theme Pack. Even so, the options available within the basic app made it worth the $0.99, so getting it for free is a good incentive to try it out.
My thoughts
With Fleksy going free, there is no longer any reason not to try it out. In fact, there are plenty of good reasons to install the third-party keyboard. Fleksy just might be the only keyboard that allows you to find and send animated pictures easily, and it’s incredibly extendable.
Fleksy is designed for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and requires iOS 8 or later. The app is free to download on the App Store, with in-app purchases to extend its capabilities.
