Creating custom emoji iOS Keyboard - ios

I understand there are 1127 apps about custom emoji keyboard on App Store. Since I wish to not put the exact app idea here, I will give an example.
If I wish to build a custom keyboard with custom emojis, is it actually possible? I don't only mean if that is possible technically. I'm also asking if Apple actually allow it?
I tried doing my research and some sites say, they only allow emojis that are built into the phone and not custom.
Again, I don't want to make a chat app where my emojis will be useable. I want to make a keyboard app and if both users have the keyboard, the emojis will work perfectly. The keyboard should be useable throughout iOS environment.
Is this possible and does Apple allow it?
If yes, I would really appreciate some starting point guidelines since I'm a VERY new to iOS.
Thank you!

No its not possible:The problem which will arise is that you would have to add your emoji by sending a request to http://unicode.org/consortium/consort.html.
This is the institute will accept/reject new emojis supported by ios and andriod.
Actually the emojis are unicode characters that are decoded by os.So if you try to add a unicode by yourself that will not be decoded by os.
Your unicode characters can be decoded if you use them in an app not in keyboard extension.Than your app can decode it.e.g say {186abjd} = {your image} than for decoding you can check the string for {186abjd} if that text is found replace it by your image.Remember that this can't be an emoji as emoji are text and you cannot use text.

Related

iOS - How to make custom keyboard extension work with physical keyboard

I have had this question for a long time and I tried to search it in iOS 10 APIs but I couldn't find any, if anyone knows the corresponding APIs, please help here.
So I have an iOS custom keyboard for Mandarin and it requires selecting word after some inputs.
Google's custom keyboard GBoard now supports Simplified Chinese and it works with iPad Pro Smart Keyboard and it will display a list of candidate words right below the cursor as shown in this video.
GBoard Simplified Chinese Input
But I couldn't find the corresponding API to make this happen for my own custom keyboard extension.
So 2 questions here:
Is it doable now to make a custom keyboard extension work for external physical bluetooth keyboard, and how? Not iPad Pro Smart Keyboard but generally using Apple bluetooth keyboard with say an iPad Air.
If #1 it not doable now, how can I make my custom keyboard work like GBoard so that when the user types some english chars, the candidate list will appear right below the cursor and then use arrow keys to navigate and enter to input.
Much appreciated.

Presenting just a subset of emojis on the keyboard on iOS apps

I am making an app where I use the "People" emojis as avatar faces and the "Food and drink" emojis for, well, food and drink icons. I would like to use the regular keyboard for presenting the emojis for user input, but I would like to present only these two categories of emojis (and even so, each category would be presented in a different context).
I am working with iOS 8, Xcode 6.3 and Swift.
Can I configure the regular keyboard so that it only shows a subset of emojis which I define?
If not, can I create a new custom keyboard preserving everything from the original Apple keyboard but limiting the subset of characters? Any pointers on how to do this?
Thanks.
You can not configure the regular keyboard so that it only shows a subset of emojis. But yes can make your own custom keyboard.
You can find some really good posts about how to make the custom keyboards:
http://verisage.us/en/blog/2014/07/17/ios-8-custom-keyboard-swift-tutorial/
http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/ios-8-creating-a-custom-keyboard-in-swift--cms-22344
Also I found this FaceBoardPlus sample: http://code4app.net/ios/FaceBoardPlus/52a9ba56cb7e841e178b69d0 which is exactly what you are looking for but written in objective c.
EDIT: From iOS developer library:
After a user chooses a custom keyboard, it becomes the keyboard for
every app the user opens. For this reason, a keyboard you create must,
at minimum, provide certain base features. Most important, your
keyboard must allow the user to switch to another keyboard.
To provide a fully custom keyboard for just your app or to supplement
the system keyboard with custom keys in just your app, the iOS SDK
provides other, better options. Read about custom input views and
input accessory views in Custom Views for Data Input in Text
Programming Guide for iOS.

How to lock keyboard to Simplified Chinese Handwriting?

I want to lock my keyboard to just simplified chinese handwriting. How do I do this?
The problem is that I am trying to create a Chinese quiz app in Xcode 6 using swift and I want the quiz-takers to write in the character to match the English word using a chinese handwriting keyboard. I do not know how to program this and other questions asked like this do not seem to yield a useful result for me.
You can't lock the keyboard unless you present your own custom keyboard. Once again, you have to take into account those with physical keyboards as well (who can bypass your custom keyboard).
A good recommendation is to use a custom handwriting recogniser that links to a label (to prevent keyboard intervention).

Creating an Emoji-Like Keyboard

I am looking to create an emoji keyboard, which works similar to the native one on iPhone.
Currently all apps that provide a keyboard, do not let you insert an emoji inline with the text.. rather they provide you the ability to 'paste' it in like an image.
In addition to this, if an emoji is sent to a user that doesnt have the app installed, will they see the 'emoji' or will it display as a bunch of random characters?
I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction, as I cannot find the detail I am looking for.
Thanks
As for creating custom keyboards, you should get started by reading Apple's official documentation on the subject.
To answer your question about displaying Emoji: Any platform that supports Emoji will see them as an Emoji. A good source to see which platforms support it is CanIEmoji.com. Any other platforms will likely display it as an empty square, since it is not a supported character.
Any custom emoji keyboard you create will show up like a picture attachment, iOS especially doesn't allow custom inline emojis. Check out these two articles they might help with even more info:
https://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/emoji-apps/
https://medium.com/#mantia/so-you-want-to-build-an-emoji-keyboard-26450ba5136a

iphone os custom keyboard

I've read a lot of topics about developing a custom keyboard for iOS and it's clear that it is impossible to build a system-wide alternative keyboard.
But I still try to understand how Emoji keyboard(the emoticons additional layer) could make it possible and it is an official app on AppStore (that means it passes Apple approval!).
Note that their keyboard, once installed, can be added in Keyboard section in Settings!
Thanks for help
Emoji apps enable a by-default-disabled keyboard built into iOS. If I recall correctly, it's enabled by default in certain regions (Japan) but disabled in most places. So they aren't adding a new keyboard, just revealing one that's already there.
edit: ... and here's how they do it
The Emoji Icons are a stored in the private use area of unicode. They won't look any good on a different device than an iPhone/iPad, this is Apple specific.
The app is just to enable the keyboard. You can do it yourself: Making An Emoji Enabeling App.
Have a look at The truth about iPhone Emoji, which sheds some light on the whole topic.

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