The best way to write Messages on Apple Watch?

This little app lets you write more complex Messages using your Apple Watch.

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When it comes to writing messages, Apple Watch limits you to canned responses, dictation, and Scribble notes. Now you can also manually write more complex messages, thanks to the recently-updated FlickType Keypad.

The little app that does

FlickType is a $1.99 third-party keyboard app designed for iPhone that also works as a gesture/swipe-type keyboard for the Messages app on your Apple Watch. You can use it to write, send and reply to Messages, use the Digital Crown to scroll for alternative words, emojis, and so on. It can be used as a Complication so it can be made available on your watch face – and in fact, you should enable this for best results.

If you have a cellular Apple Watch, the app allows you to quickly get back to urgent messages, even if they come while you take a jog around your local socially distanced park. The app also works with VoiceOver so can speak your message back to you if you want to be sure it’s correct.

How it works

The developer has done a good job designing the app.

Despite the small size of the display, buttons are nice and clear while support for gesture-based typing makes it feel easier to use than Apple’s own Scribble interface. You get more words written, for a start – and the apps smart enough to figure out what you are trying to write.

Some sample controls:

What’s it like to use?

I’ve been using the app for a couple of days. I have to say I’m quite pleased with it as it works hard to improve the standard Apple Watch typing experience.

My eyesight isn’t particularly good, so I expected not to like typing on the watch very much, but I’ve found its intuitive understanding of what I’m trying to write to be responsive and fast.

Essentially, it tries to figure out what you are writing based on where you first tap on the keyboard as you swipe the words out. It means that if you’re in the right general area it usually works out what you are trying to say.

There are some limitations, though.

For example, the keyboard doesn’t appear inside the Messages app because Apple won’t allow it to do so. This means that when you want to use the app to write a reply to an incoming message you need to dismiss the message, tap the Complication to access the keyboard, write the reply, and then tap send.

There’s a video that shows this here: