AnySoftKeyboard
this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023
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Privacy
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Sadly the development stopped, but still one of the most feature-rich.
And still it doesn't fit my needs
Florisboard is a good one.
Yep, hoping they will keep updating.. buy still better than most the way it is..
They do, the author just recently started working on it again and welcoming contributions :)
OpenBoard is great and supports swipe typing using a Google library.
OpenBoard 1.4.5 doesn't support swiping, i am wrong?
I know there is a fork with swipe support
I'm using it now instead of gboard behind a firewall
https://github.com/Helium314/openboard
Also supports gestures for text selection (slide left/right on space bar) and text deletion (per character instead of per-word on gboard)
Lotta good recommendations here. If you get GrapheneOS, you could get any keyboard (including GBoard) and turn off its network access at the app level (as well as sensors and other permissions), which would make virtually any keyboard privacy-friendly.
Oh, i didn't think about that! Tho I'd feel gross installing a google product on my phone
I use AdGuard and do the same with its built in Firewall feature for GBoard. The thing is, since I don't use custom ROMs I can't be sure that GBoard won't just use Google Services for spying/tracking.
OpenBoard is great. I've tried a few and it just feels like a privacy-focused version of G-Board
Not every project needs regular maintenance. I can imagine a keyboard to be a finished product, no updates necessary.
I won't pretend to know how tightly integrated the keyboard is within the Android OS, but given the interoperability between app and keyboard it seems likely that vulnerabilities could be leveraged to gain malicious access to the clipboard and other sensitive data.
Probably that would be an Android vulnerability.
So this is definitely not for everyone but Thumb-Key is privacy friendly and designed to be used with just one thumb. I have used Thumb-Key (and it's predecessor Message Ease) for about 4 years now and they are way easier for me than qwerty, there are fewer buttons so typos are less frequent and you can access all letter/numbers/punctuation while holding your phone one handed.
It's kinda like Japanese keyboards
In general or just on phones?
On phones
Omg I'm so frustrated with QWTY on phones I'm giving this a try now!
I've only ever known qwerty for phones, what else is there lol
Thanks for this. I'm starting to learn it, but already feel like I make less mistakes without autocorrect. Sad as I'm a bad speller.
+1 for floris, it's the only keyboard with glide typing and themes are super good.
I use it too but i haven't figured out how to enable autocorrection.
Which is interesting in a sense because since then i know that i don't know how to spell most words.
I am inclined to keep it off just so that i have to think a bit more about what i write.
As of the latest version (v0.4.0-alpha04) autocorrect isn't implimented yet. Here's what I get when I open the settings:
Waiting on that myself.
Florisboard if you want high customizability, clipboard actions and internal (!) history, great privacy option.
Openboard if you want swipe typing and autocomplete.
Thumbkey if you want a keyboard that is made for use with two thumbs.
I love Florisboard but i just wish they would add the spelling checker 😔
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I use SimpleKeyboard with updates disabled
I use Simple Keyboard from F-Droid (rkkr's, not the one that sold to an ad company) and it's quite nice.
I tried most of them, it's just not the same as Gboard.
Anyone know if you can block Gboard with DNS?
Idk but you could always just install gboard & not give network permissions. You'll lose a little functionality like the ability to add gifs from the keyboard which obviously need internet to search/load.
I really recommend AnySoftKeyboard.
Are there any good privacy focused voice to text keyboards? Or do I need to run whisper on a private server to do that?
Unexpeted Keyboard is the one for me. Takes a bit to get used to but I wouldn't want to use anything else anymore.
I'm using open board with swipe entry (so it functions like gboard). My only complaint is I've noticed I have to be extremely accurate in my swiping or it won't type out the intended word).
In this message alone: my first attempts at the word "type" came out as toe. "Out" came out as TT & "along" came out as "alone"
So it's definitely not perfect. I might stick with it. I might just go back to gboard and not grant it network permission. It's only been about a week so a little too early to tell..
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