The Fleksy virtual smartphone keyboard was already a popular product when it was priced at $1.99. Now the app is available for free from now on, with its revenue now coming entirely from in-app purchases.

Fleksy explains why they have made this business model change:

By making the keyboard available for free, Fleksy is able to serve a much larger and more diverse set of users. With this increased user base, Fleksy will be focused on delivering new and exciting product improvements across all languages. "We want every smartphone user to have the opportunity to experience fast, expressive, and intuitive typing," said Fleksy's Co-Founder and CEO, Kosta Eleftheriou. "We believe the best way to do this is to make the app free for everyone."

People who have already purchased Fleksy have not been forgotten. They will be offered a number of free themes and extension slots for the app that are normally worth $8.

Fleksy is also adding a new feature with this change:

There's also an improved rich content view called Highlights. Meaning, Fleksy will better assist with GIF, sticker and other content discovery based on what the user types. Instead of manually searching for stickers and GIFs on separate pages, the user now only needs to tap on the auto-recommended hashtag (Highlight) and Fleksy takes them to an integrated page of relevant content all in one convenient place.

You can download Fleksy now from the Google Play Store.