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Most other extensions have functionality (such as photo-editing, posting to social networks, etc) for which it makes sense to have a parent app.

But for the simplest of keyboard extensions, without any (user-facing) data management or other requirements, I don't understand what the parent app should do.

Just having a "Hello" splash screen seems like a cheat. But is this what Apple expects, at least when it comes to keyboard apps (the simplest ones)?


P.S:

  1. Considering the documents are openly available here, I hope there won't be an NDA issue blocking this question.

  2. I'm not sure if there is another SE sub-site on which this question is more appropriate. However, if necessary, I'd be glad to move the question.

  3. I was looking for a keyboard-specific tag, but none seemed right. UIKeyboard seems specific to the earlier "default" iOS keyboard.

Dev Kanchen
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  • What about a demo of your keyboard? It might be important for you to teach users how to use your new keyboard. Plus, keyboards with custom autocomplete might want an interface to manage that database (or add entries). Since Apple is emphasizing privacy, you also could display a privacy policy here. – DanBlakemore Aug 30 '14 at 23:12
  • Like I mentioned the keyboard would not have any data-management requirements (so no autocomplete). A demo is the closest I've come to justifying the container app - although I'm making every effort to avoiding the NEED for one. But yeah I don't think there is any other glaring possibility that I'm missing here. Thanks for your input. – Dev Kanchen Sep 01 '14 at 11:23
  • This is very late, but @DanBlakemore if you can post your comment as an answer I could mark it as accepted (it is the only possible reasonable answer to this question I think). Note: The parts about the demo and the privacy policy especially is very interesting. Please exclude the "database management" aspect from the answer though since I have explicitly asked about requirements OTHER than data-management. – Dev Kanchen Oct 09 '14 at 13:29

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Since the keyboard needs an app, maybe use it as a way for users to try your keyboard without exposing content from other apps to it, at first. It might be important for you to teach users how to use your new keyboard.

Also, since Apple is emphasizing privacy (especially since the potential for key logging keyboards may seem high to the user), you also could display a privacy policy in your demo app. Or at least have an explanative mention of what you do with their typed text other than entering it into the whatever app your keyboard is currently running in.

DanBlakemore
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