Microsoft updates Word Flow keyboard for iOS with built-in search for animated GIFs, images, contacts, and the web via Bing
Microsoft today released version 2.0 of its swipe-friendly Word Flow third-party keyboard for iOS. Now the app is a much better match for the Gboard iOS keyboard that Google released in recent months.
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has been steadily porting its Windows phone keyboard to Apple's platform: it began testing Word Flow on iOS in January, then shipped the iPhone version with one-handed mode and custom backgrounds in April. Today's 2.0 release adds built-in search for GIFs, images, contacts, and web results via Bing.
The move is a direct answer to Google, which launched Gboard for iOS in May with web, GIF, emoji, and places search from the keyboard. With both companies' keyboards now offering in-line search, the third-party keyboard is becoming a search entry point on a rival's OS.
First-order effects
- iOS users of Word Flow can now run Bing searches and pull GIFs, images, and contacts without leaving the app they're typing in, bringing the keyboard to functional parity with Gboard.
- Bing gains a new distribution surface on iOS, where Google otherwise owns default search placement.
Second-order effects
- Google faces a mirrored competitive dynamic on Apple's platform: its Gboard search defaults to Google, so every Word Flow install is a contested query origin rather than a neutral typing tool.
- Search volume starts migrating from browsers and dedicated apps into keyboards, raising the stakes of keyboard retention metrics for both companies.
Third-order effects
- If keyboards consolidate into search surfaces, ownership of the input layer becomes strategically valuable on platforms you don't control — though Microsoft's own trajectory suggests limits: within a year it shut down Word Flow entirely and pointed users to SwiftKey, indicating feature parity alone did not sustain a standalone keyboard.
- The pattern points toward keyboard strategies being absorbed into broader platform plays — distribution through acquisitions or pre-installed software rather than standalone apps competing on features.
The trend: Mobile keyboards are turning into search and discovery surfaces, with Microsoft and Google replicating each other's features on iOS while the standalone keyboard app proves hard to sustain.