This is a continuation of a story that started on DN news last year when we asked the community for feedback on how we could improve the iOS keyboard (https://www.designernews.co/stories/29928-ask-dn-how-would-you-improve-the-ios-keyboard).

We got some great feedback - fixing shift and cursor control were two things we heard a lot! We listened and shared our progress (https://www.designernews.co/stories/38785-a-better-shift-key-for-iphone).

We decided to experiment with crowdfunding software on Kickstarter and eventually shipped Next Keyboard - peaking at #2 on the App Store. We still have a ton of work ahead of us but a lot of the success we've achieved so far is directly tied to the fact that we built this product with a community. Thanks again! Let me know if you have any questions around crowdfunding or community-driven products - @robjama

Thanks Will. That's a good question.

I think localizing is a worthwhile investment if your app has global appeal. We didn't do it in V1 though. We waited until we were making some money from the app. Localizing helped us get to #1 overall in some countries and get few prominent features on the App Store. I'd recommend experimenting with a 2-5 of the top languages to see how that works out for you. You can always add additional languages later.

There's some really high quality translation services out there like ibabbleon (https://www.ibabbleon.com) and cheaper ones One Hour Translations (https://www.onehourtranslation.com/).

Hey DN, I shared some thoughts about our experience of getting featured in an Apple ad. Thought you guys and gals might find it interesting. Let me know if you have any questions.

You could try Type Form (www.typeform.com). I've used it to test out app icons.

Busy Building Things is personal motto and a brand I created a few years ago. Our calendar is popular with startups and designers so we decided to make it again for 2015.

You guys might also like the free wallpapers. All the best for 2015!

Thanks Florian!

Hey, I'm one of the guys behind Next.

It's good to see it on DN again! We've received some amazing feedback from the community here so far.

I posted an ASK DN to get feedback back in the summer when we started and I shared an update a few weeks ago showing off some features and how we fixed shift.

Re: Why Kickstarter? We only decided to go that route recently. This our first time (pre) launching an app on Kickstarter. Here's some of the reasoning behind that:

1) We're taking a community first approach with Next and Kickstarter is a great place to continue that conversation we've started on DN, Reddit, Product Hunt and IRL.

2) Kickstarter is a great platform to find your first 1000 true fans - it's a great way to kick off marketing before hitting the App Store (where you can't communicate with your users beyond support emails).

3) We can generate (pre) sales while in beta giving us customers before we even hit the App Store plus committed testers who have a vested interest in the product.

4) Making great software isn't cheap and additional funding helps us improve Next

5) We always wanted to do a Kickstarter campaign :) learning a ton so far! Clay Herbert posted a teardown of our KS page here for those who are curious.

Hey Laurens, we have support for accented characters. Long pressing a vowel will bring up the additional characters.

We all make mistakes. Damn you autocorrect!

Reported it via the iTunes contact form. Hopefully someone notices it soon. Surprised this fell through the cracks.

Hey Hans, Show case will be an optional setting. By default it will be on but you can choose to turn it off.