Swiftkey 5.1 beta brings support for 13 Indian subcontinent languages

Swiftkey on Thursday annunced the release of the version 5.1 beta of its keyboard app for Android. The new version mainly adds support for 13 new languages, which belong to the Indian subcontinent. The languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Nepali and Sinhala. These join the already supported Hindi and Hinglish in Swiftkey language database.

Swiftkey is using Google Play’s official beta channel to roll-out the 5.1 update unlike earlier when the beta app used be available via Swiftkey VIP. To access the beta app on Google Play, you will have to join this Google Group and then allow beta downloads by clicking “Become a Tester in the Play Store,” after which, you will be able to install it from here. (update: it is live)

“We are delighted to enter open beta with languages requested by our users in India, expanding our reach into one of the most exciting, innovative markets for tech right now after months of hard work. We have spent a long time refining and developing our new set of languages for this market so that we could ensure the best possible typing experience for our users,” Swiftkey noted in a blog post.

In addition, Swiftkey is releasing a Diwali keyboard theme for its users. This theme will be available in SwiftKey Store of the Google Play version of the app for both beta and non-beta users.

Other changes in Swiftkey 5.1 beta:

• Better SSL certificate handling to increase robustness of the secure connections used for SwiftKey Cloud’s Backup & Sync services
• Quicker installation by replacing the popup EULA with links at the bottom of the page