Our Story

At WWDC 2014, Apple announced iOS 8 with custom keyboard extensions. Developers rushed to implement their own custom keyboards, competing on themes and various ways of typing. But the concept of a smartphone keyboard remained the same - a collection of symbols you type.

Fast forward to May of 2015, when Google announced Now On Tap. Hold the home button and Google pulls up content recommendations based on what is on screen, from any app. Frictionless search was here, but on Android phones only.

PorterKey aims to fill the gap on iOS for a system the pushes the boundaries of how we search. Integrated directly into the keyboard, PorterKey can provide movie, dining, or nightlife recommendations based on your most recent messages with a single tap. More categories and integration are on the way! The experience is frictionless: no need to switch apps, no need to retype a query somewhere else. Just type as you always have, and hit the porter key when you need content. See more by watching our short demo video.

PorterKey for iPhone and iPod touch is an intelligent keyboard ready to show you movie, dining, and nightlife recommendations. To use PorterKey, you don’t need to change any typing habits nor learn any new gestures. Just use the keyboard like any other keyboard, and hit the porter key when you need to find content. All recommendations are based on your current locations, via iOS location services or zip code. Watch our short demo video to see PorterKey in action.

As PorterKey is the default keyboard on our iPhones, we made sure to focus on usability just as much as new features. The keyboard is fast and fluid on all supported iOS devices and orientations. Standard keyboard settings are available from the start, like autocorrect and auto-capitalization. Themes are coming soon!

Privacy is our top priority. PorterKey has no logins, no accounts, and no registrations. Messages are only sent to the server for recommendations when the user initiates the request, never automatically. Absolutely no messages are stored on the server after recommendations are determined.

Onenigma was founded by Faris Toqan and Robert Pieta in September of 2014. The duo first met as CS students at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign when Faris hired Robert as an iOS tutor. Within a couple of weeks, Robert uncovered Faris’s love of design and hired Faris. Together, Faris and Robert worked on consulting projects for clients in San Francisco, Chicago, Saint Louis, and at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After a few years, they decided to start fresh and focus completely on building products together.

Work began on PorterKey in June of 2015, after a serendipitous conversation at Chipotle gave Faris the idea of an intelligent keyboard. Both founders personally hated app switching during conversations, especially when trying to decide where to go for lunch, so PorterKey was immediately moved to the top of the priority list. Working as a remote team, Robert from Chicago and Faris from Abu Dhabi, PorterKey beta testing began in July of 2015 and the app was submitted to the app store on August 2nd, 2015.