this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023
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Privacy

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I've looked at a few on fdroid and they all seem like they aren't being maintained anymore.

Edit: I've spent the past day trying most all of the suggested keyboards here and I think I've landed on either Unexpected Keyboard or AnySoftKeyboard. Thanks for all the suggestions. Thumbkey is quite the thing to get used to.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I develop thumb-key, so it's maintained.

[–] ShroOmeric 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Hey, thumb-key is really cool! I've been using it for a bit and it has solved my issue of constantly fat-fingering wrong letters into what I'm trying to type on other keyboards. I just want to say thanks for developing it and keep up the good work!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (3 children)

is it possible to add auto complete / recomendations?

[–] ook_the_librarian 2 points 11 months ago

Yes, please. I'm still using MessagEase. I want to like thumbkey, but it's missing a few features that are already implemented in MessagEase. Long pressing for numerals is another feature I miss.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

I should really use it but I just cant get myself to learn a new layout

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

i love thumbkey!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Sadly the development stopped, but still one of the most feature-rich.

[–] Deckweiss 2 points 11 months ago

And still it doesn't fit my needs

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Florisboard is a good one.

[–] ShroOmeric 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yep, hoping they will keep updating.. buy still better than most the way it is..

[–] ARNiM 6 points 11 months ago

They do, the author just recently started working on it again and welcoming contributions :)

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

OpenBoard is great and supports swipe typing using a Google library.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

OpenBoard 1.4.5 doesn't support swiping, i am wrong?

I know there is a fork with swipe support

[–] vikingtons 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

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)

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[–] hiramfromthechi 18 points 11 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Oh, i didn't think about that! Tho I'd feel gross installing a google product on my phone

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You don't even need GrapheneOS for that, I'm using LineageOS and can turn off internet access for apps

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[–] tuto193 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

OpenBoard is great. I've tried a few and it just feels like a privacy-focused version of G-Board

[–] KpntAutismus 4 points 11 months ago

i second this. the first app i install on every new device is openboard. right after f-droid.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I do not find the glide typing option

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (4 children)

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.

https://github.com/dessalines/thumb-key

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's kinda like Japanese keyboards

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

In general or just on phones?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You sonuvabich beat me by 2 minutes! ಥ_ಥ

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What made you initially look for an alt keyboard? I have huge problems hitting the buttons on querty and started by looking for a chorded layout.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

I sawa video on MessageEase and thought it was neat. Also, I hate legacy problems like QWERTY... And things like qwerty on phone screens.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Omg I'm so frustrated with QWTY on phones I'm giving this a try now!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Not every project needs regular maintenance. I can imagine a keyboard to be a finished product, no updates necessary.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

i've been loving FlorisBoard (F-Droid, GitHub). great customizability, language support, clipboard actions.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

+1 for floris, it's the only keyboard with glide typing and themes are super good.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] RageAgainstTheRich 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I love Florisboard but i just wish they would add the spelling checker 😔

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I suggestion a Open board with swipe function. https://github.com/Helium314/openboard Swiping this on Openboard 🦾🦾

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I use Simple Keyboard from F-Droid (rkkr's, not the one that sold to an ad company) and it's quite nice.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (3 children)

AOSP 14 works great and has swipe.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Are there any good privacy focused voice to text keyboards? Or do I need to run whisper on a private server to do that?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Futo voice input.

Pretty impressive

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I use SimpleKeyboard with updates disabled

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

To type with only one finger, there's 8Vim.

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