Gboard is a lot better than the native keyboard. Strange that OP is going to such lengths to complain when iOS supports other keyboards.
The main benefit I've found with Gboard is a larger vocabulary, and perhaps a less aggressive autocorrect that doesn't constantly try to correct technical terms into similar common words.
I’m not suggesting this is the author’s reason, but avoiding a Google product that keep a trail of everything you type seems like a strong argument.
Via iOS permissions you can restrict internet access to the keyboard and it still works well.
I can guarantee that's 100% not his reason given that his stated alternative is switching to Android.
Yeah fair point
I’ve tried Gboard and SwiftKey on iOS.
Not sure if Google just gave up on updating the iOS variant or if Apple holds it back intentionally (probably a bit of both) but they pale in comparison to their Android counterparts.
I’d prefer a useable stock keyboard but I take your point.
SwiftKey also crashes daily. There's no good keyboard for iphones, at least for my stubby fingers. I've literally won local mobile typing speed contests (so it's not user error I dare say) and the last five-ish years that I've been on ios have been a total and utter misery. If I had some cash floating around I would be back on android.
One of the reasons in recent times to go to Apple ecosystem was supposedly better privacy protections and decoupling from dependency on Google. You would pay extra for the UX and privacy among other things. Installing third party keyboard means that they can see what I type.
Apple has a privacy setting for each keyboard that restricts if they have network access.
Glad to learn this! I didn't know about it but I also double-checked the UI and it says in a warning dialog that the third party will be able to see everything I type and the network setting isn't mentioned there.
Anyway, my point regarding the UX still stands. Apple's UX is barely as good as other major player's - not great, not terrible. Mediocrity isn't what Apple should be aiming at.