Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Microsoft has brought Bing Chat integration to the SwiftKey keyboard app.
- This integration offers both AI chatbot functionality and a Tone feature.
- This feature is now available in the Android and iOS apps.
Update: April 14, 2023 (2:40 AM ET): Microsoft brought Bing Chat to the beta version of SwiftKey on Android last week. Now, the company has announced that the chatbot is available on the iOS version of SwiftKey as well.
Microsoft says the iOS app indeed includes both Chat and Tone features. The latter lets you tweak highlighted text (e.g. your email draft or text message) to sound more professional, casual, or polite.
Original article: April 6, 2023 (9:40 AM ET): We thought Bing Chat integration could be the Surface Duo 3’s killer app, also urging Microsoft to bring it to the SwiftKey keyboard. It turns out we didn’t have to wait long for this wish to come true, as Microsoft has indeed brought the AI chatbot to its keyboard app on Android.
The Verge spotted Bing Chat integration in the latest beta version of the SwiftKey app, allowing users to access the chatbot while in any app.
The integration takes the form of two options, with the first being the familiar Chat option. This allows you to pose a variety of queries using natural language, ranging from simple web search queries to creating travel itineraries and more. The experience seems identical to Bing Chat in the Bing app though, so those expecting something different might be disappointed.
Would you swap to SwiftKey for Bing Chat integration?
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The second option as part of this Bing Chat integration is a “Tone” function. This feature allows you to highlight or copy text, with Bing Chat subsequently spitting out tonal changes of your choosing. In other words, if you want your email or WhatsApp draft to sound more professional, casual, or polite, this is a handy tool.
Bing Chat integration in SwiftKey is slowly rolling out to the beta version of the app on Android, according to a Microsoft executive. So you might have to wait a short while if you aren’t seeing it yet. Then again, we imagine there are loads of people who prefer Gboard and other keyboard apps instead. But these users can always fire up the Bing app to use Bing Chat.
