Back in the early 1990s I was forced to do typing as a subject in the South African equivalent of junior-high school. We used mechanical (Olivetti?) typewriters (electric typewriters were for the older students who did typing as an elective). Even at the time, we found the whole thing archaic, as many of us had computers and printers, but obviously the school curriculum didn't move forward at the speed of technology. And mechanical keyboards aren't romantic when the typewriters and keys jam up and/or break in weird ways. Carriage returns weren't automatic either, as they are on the Hanxwriter app...you needed to manually move the lever on the left.<p>After a rocky start (because I refused to cheat and look at the keys), and two years of typing exercises, I found it was a useful skill, and, even now the keyboard "gets out of the way" when I type on any device.<p>I wonder if there are long-term benefits to formal typing education, vs picking things up, along the way, and if it is still taught formally at school.<p>As for the app, my first impression is that it provides an <i>ersatz</i> sanitised version of a real mechanical typewriter. Maybe that's a good thing, but it doesn't seem to fulfill any need that I have.