Microsoft SwiftKey: Microsoft account mandatory for backups from end of May
Microsoft's widely used SwiftKey keyboard for Android and iOS will soon require a Microsoft account for backups.
Swiftkey: Microsoft makes OneDrive mandatory for backups.
(Image: Andreas Floemer / heise medien)
Users who have connected their SwiftKey keyboard to a Google or Apple account are currently being informed by email that they will have to link their app to a Microsoft account in the future. Otherwise, their app data backed up in the cloud will be lost.
OneDrive instead of Apple or Google
The software keyboard, owned by Microsoft since 2016, will dispense with logins via other providers such as Google and Apple from this spring. By making login via a Microsoft account mandatory from the end of May, the company is relocating the app's user data to its own cloud storage, OneDrive. As the company writes on its SwiftKey product page, the switch to OneDrive backup is being introduced gradually and is expected to be fully implemented by May 31, 2026. Currently, logging in on an Android smartphone is still possible with a Google account, as we tried out today.
Microsoft justifies the move to OneDrive with its "commitment to data protection and transparency." By linking to a personal cloud account, users can synchronize their input data across devices, including personalized suggestions for autocorrection and dictionaries. Themes can also be backed up this way.
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As Windows Central reports, SwiftKey's info email highlights "improved data protection" and the ability to collect Microsoft Rewards points, which can be used for donations to charitable causes or discounts on Xbox games, for example. In addition, usage is to be simplified by allowing users to use the same login credentials they already use for other Microsoft apps and services.
Also usable without an account
If you switch to a Microsoft account with the SwiftKey app before the end of May, or log in to SwiftKey with a Microsoft account, you don't need to do anything else. Data from users with a Microsoft account will be automatically backed up to OneDrive.
If users do not link SwiftKey to a Microsoft account and do not want to activate OneDrive's Backup & Sync function, the data will remain stored locally on the device, according to Microsoft. SwiftKey can thus continue to be used normally, but the data will not be synchronized across devices, the company explains.
SwiftKey continues to enjoy great popularity, according to download numbers in Google's Play Store. The keyboard has been downloaded more than a billion times from the Play Store. In Apple's App Store, the app has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars. The app for Apple's ecosystem was briefly on the verge of being discontinued in 2022, but Microsoft changed its mind a few months later and brought it back with new features. Parts of the software keyboard are also included in Microsoft's on-screen keyboard for Windows.
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