14 DAY TRIAL // Google has recently released a new version of Chrome for iOS that comes with several improvements and fixes, but at the same time, it also removes support for third-party keyboards on Apple's mobile platforms.
Third-party keyboards have been around for a while on both iOS and Android, with SwiftKey in particular being one of the most successful applications of its kind currently available on mobile platforms.
But it's not a secret that, on iOS, such apps have been quite buggy and causing various problems. On iOS, for instance, SwiftKey was said to be quite slow and laggy after the update to version 9, and similar reports keep coming, despite several updates.
Google is well aware of this problem, so the latest version of Chrome for iOS removes support for third-party keyboards completely because of an undisclosed bug.
Could return in a future update
Details are very scarce right now, but in the official release notes of the new version, Google says that “third-party keyboards have been disabled due to crashes caused by a bug in iOS 9.”
In other words, in Google Chrome for iOS, when you launch the keyboard to provide a new website address, you get to see the default iOS keyboard and not the third-party one you're using. This shouldn't be a deal-breaker, however, but it's clearly impacting consistency across the operating system.
Google Chrome is now at version 46.0.2490.85, but the search company doesn't rule out the possibility of reintroducing support for third-party keyboards in a future update. And this would clearly come in handy to many users, but it could take time until the bug is fixed, so for the moment, just try to get used to the standard iOS keyboard.
In the meantime, Google is also testing a beta version of Chrome that comes with plenty of new features, including support for 3D Touch, but this is only available as part of an invite-only program.