I've been using SwiftKey for over a decade now, and I didn't really realize how potentially horrible it is for privacy. What are some good alternatives you guys can suggest, ideally open source?
My ideal keyboard includes swipe to type and a notepad (to paste certain emoticons like shrug emoji and such).
Thank you!
Edit, for any future lemmings/internet people who want the definitive answer (so far, as of October '23), OpenBoard works great.
Then when you open OpenBoard, go to Advanced and select "Load gesture typing library". When it asks you to select a file, select the "libjni" file and swiping should work just fine.
Yes probably. It's a compromise and not ideal. I revoke internet access and on Graphene OS not tied to a Google account. We all find our own peace with this kind of thing. Florisboard looked very promising but the swipe text wasn't implemented last I checked.
Can you still use GIFs and stuff like that if you block its access? Seems like it would be better if we had an equivalent of a hosts file on Android to block or redirect certain addresses.
Wanted to add my perspective. Decided to splurge and get the z fold 5 after rocking the OnePlus 7 pro for 4+ years now. Wouldn't have upgraded except I cracked the shit out of my OnePlus recently and repairing/replacing just wasn't worth it.
After using this phone for a couple days, I have having serious thoughts about returning it. Spent so much time customizing the keyboard for the main screen, but just couldn't find a comfortable typing experience. Then I realized I hadn't installed GBoard yet. As soon as it was loaded, I was off to the races. No customization required. Very comfortable typing experience now with the default settings.
I downloaded that, but gesture support is no working. Do we have to do something else. I already turned on the gesture support option in settings, what am I missing?
Unfortunately doesn't have swipe :/
I was just trying it out for 10 minutes or so. I'll still keep it and try to work around it unless I find something better.
Ive been using this keyboard for around a year now, and compared to Swiftkey and gboard, I absolutely hate anysoftkeyboard with a passion. However, its the best FOSS alternative I've come across.
Also, my dogs name is Bowie, so whenever I type his name, the keyboard just starts spitting out David Bowie lyrics across the bottom of the keyboard, so thats kinda cool I guess.
I tried ASK and wasn't a fan. Unless I'm missing customization options, it lacked the ability to change long press times, there's an obnoxious empty space above the keyboard, and it was quite poor at auto correcting words that were supposed to have apostrophes. You'll have to change your bottom row to get the space bar a similar size to Swiftkey (I missed it a fair bit before doing this), and it doesn't have the hold space bar to move cursor either.
I get that using a different keyboard is going to be an adjustment, being a convert to Colemak, but this one seems just a bit too rough around the edges for me.
E: found the long press adjustment, but now can't find how to add long press symbols to the keys...maybe I'm just too dumb for this keyboard
E2: Actually, after more messing with it, I'm going to give it another go. Still missing the long press symbols, autocorrect apostrophes, and auto space placement after adding commas and periods though. We'll see how long I can put up with that.
I was going to recommend AnySoftKeyboard but someone recommended OpenBoard fork with swipe type and that's by far the best open source keyboard app I've used now... Especially coming from gboard
I'm in kind of the same boat as you op, I've been using Swiftkey for 5+ years but have been wanting an altnernative that isn't associated with the big tech companies for a while. After seeing this post earlier today I decided to give AnySoftKeyboard a shot.
I got it all configured the way I wanted but now I'm actually using it I don't think it's gonna work for me tbh. I'll give it a few days before making a decision though. I wish there more options out there.
On the plus side, I came across this and it made my day:
Hahah, that's hilarious! I tried ASK as well but gave up after 10-15 minutes of using it.
One of the comments has a link to a fork of OpenBoard that includes swipe (version 1.4.5 or something), and it works really well. The auto correct isn't as great as Swiftkey (I'm hoping it gets better with time), but the swiping is absolutely solid.
Been using this for about a day now and I don't see myself going back to Swiftkey. Typed this comment with it, hahah.
Floriaboard deserves a shoutout. As a multilingual, I value the mixing languages without switching them. Takes some time to adjusr and no autocorrect for now, but it's getting there.
I've used MessagEase for many years now and I absolutely love it. It's a very different kind of keyboard and so takes a while to get used to but once you've learned to use it properly you can type a lot faster with it on a touch screen with limited real estate.
I can't claim to be a 100% sure to be honest, but if the information on their privacy info page is accurate, it shouldn't ask for any android system permissions at all, including internet access:
In particular, MessagEase does not seek Internet access permission.
I think so. The last update was in december -21, which doesn't seem that far back for a keyboard app. I've not contacted the developer by their support channel email so I don't know if they respond that way. I've personally had very few problems with it over many years' use.
I've been using SwiftKey for about as long as you have and for a while, about once or twice a year, I'd do exactly what you're doing- looking around for a better, privacy focused keyboard. I find one or two and try them out for a while but always end up back on SwiftKey because the predictions are unmatched.
There was a cool multiswipe keyboard called KeyMon like ten years ago. It was great to be able to dual swipe to type. It brought back memories of t9 typing. Unfortunately, the app hasn't been updated and has been lost to outdated time.
OK, this doesn't have swipe to type or a notepad, but I'm trying out Thumb-Key. It's a very different sort of keyboard, almost akin to the old-fashioned way of texting with just the number keys on a phone, just updated for a smartphone screen. The problem is that it takes practice/memorization to learn, because it's a whole new layout. It's open source and very privacy conscious (there's no predictive text or autocorrect).
I started using it about a month ago, and I'm now having a pretty good muscle memory. I like how having larger keys makes it much easier to "touch-type" (even thought I can barely do it, but I see the potential).
The only thing I'm missing is auto-completing my email and home address, but oh well.
I use Gboard and have been meaning to find an alternative, so this is a useful thread though it seems the concensus is there aren't really any.
What I'd love to do is completely remove any reference to stickers and gifs from the emojis selection but it's not possible. The emojis button can be removed from the keyboard, maybe it's time to go back to traditional ASCII.
Check out the comment about the version of OpenBoard that supports swipe. I'm using it right now, actually. It's not perfect but serves as a solid alternative to Swiftkey.
OMG I hate the stickers. I used to accidentally send them all the time when trying to hit the comma. I uninstalled all the stickers packs, which means I can't accidentally send them now, but I still accidentally hit the button since you can't remove it for some dumb-ass reason.