Microsoft’s recently acquired Swiftkey turns off cloud sync due to “unexpected predictions”

2 min. read

Published onAugust 1, 2016

published onAugust 1, 2016

Share this article

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial teamRead more

Swiftkey, the developer of a popular mobile predictive keyboard thatMicrosoft acquired in February,recently turned-off its cloud sync feature following various reports of unusual predictions from users (viaSecurity Week). Nine days ago, Reddit userJawaharlalNehrureported that the predictive keyboard was giving him someone else’s suggestions on his Android phone, including predictions in German as well as sensitive information such as email addresses and more.

As many Reddit users have since contributed to the thread, with some of them expressing their distrust in the service, Swiftkey has sinceacknowledged the problem. According to the team, the issues only affected a limited number of users and did not pose a security issue. Additionally, Swiftkey’s cloud sync service will be turned off while the team is looking into the issue:

This week, a few of our customers noticed unexpected predictions where unfamiliar terms, and in some rare cases emails, appeared when using their mobile phone. We are working quickly to resolve this inconvenience.

While this did not pose a security issue for our customers, we have turned off the cloud sync service and have updated our applications to remove email address predictions. During this time, it will not be possible to back up your SwiftKey language model.

The vast majority of SwiftKey users are not affected by this issue. If you have any reason to believe you are seeing unfamiliar predictions, please contact[email protected].

In the meantime, you can still use Swiftkey but you won’t be able to sync your predictions across devices. As one of the most popular predictive keyboard apps on mobile devices, Swiftkey had to react quickly to avoid the bad buzz and we’re now waiting for the team to give an update on the service’s status. If you use Swiftkey on your mobile devices, sound off in the comments to tell us if you have been affected by the issue and if you still trust Swiftkey with your personal data.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time).

For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web.

Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they’re looking for.

User forum

0 messages

Sort by:LatestOldestMost Votes

Comment*

Name*

Email*

Commenting as.Not you?

Save information for future comments

Comment

Radu Tyrsina

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low#

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app#

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities#

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount#

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier#

Microsoft’s recently acquired Swiftkey turns off cloud sync due to “unexpected predictions”#

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier

Microsoft’s recently acquired Swiftkey turns off cloud sync due to “unexpected predictions”