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Many apps have implemented new keyboards on the Apple iPhone device and AnchorFree; a popular VPN provider has joined the trend by updating its Kaboom app for iOS with a new one.
Most famous for Hotspot Shield, which has been downloaded 400 million times around the world, the company AnchorFree is adding some keyboard versions of its own to the iOS platform. The company already has some separate apps which have gained some popularity including the popular Kaboom.
Kaboom is a messaging app which allows users to send messages which will self-destruct after a given time or after a number of views. The messages which can be photo or text can be accessed through a secure HTTPS web browser link and does not necessarily require Kaboom to view. This makes it readily available on any social media platform ranging from SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter and so on. The move to turn the app into a keyboard signifies how the company is trying to make the app even more accessible at all times as long as you are using your mobile device.
Installing Kaboom as your default keyboard on any Apple device is as easy and straightforward as you have been doing before for other keyboards. Go to Settings, click on add new keyboard and activate “Allow Full Access.” This allows you to switch to Kaboom at any time together with any other keyboards you have installed. The important part to point out is that Kaboom is not a fully fledged keyboard, however. You can switch to Kaboom when you want to send a self-destructing message. That is when you hit “Kaboom it”, and a link is sent for the content that has been typed.
AnchorFree, the parent company for Kaboom, started in 2005 and has brought in more than $60 million in funds over the past ten years. This includes $52 million round in 2012. Other stand-alone apps for the company besides Kaboom are privacy-focused Youtube app, called Access Tube, and the other photo sharing app called Picaboo.
Apple has opened up third party keyboard apps just recently, compared with Android system which has had third party keyboard apps for a long time. Many companies have been trying to produce keyboards for the popular iOS with versions including GIF- centric incarnations and other that just focus on pure productivity. Microsoft recently launched a keyboard for Android. Rumors are also circulating that the company has been making an iOS keyboard called Work Flow. Last month Microsoft bought SwiftKey, a popular keyboard app. Google has also been rumored to be making an iOS keyboard app.
A spokesperson for Kaboom told reporters that as of now Kaboom was not for monetization yet but was just a proof of concept product. He went on to say that ‘bundling’ of apps in the future would probably happen. That is if Kaboom proved to be so popular then there is no reason it could not be integrated into the Hotspot Shield app. This maneuver is also done by other tech giants like Facebook, which prefers to launch apps on their own before they take off, and they can integrate them to the big thing.
