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.
Download the latest release apk from here
And if you want swipe typing as well,
Download the “libjni_latinimegoogle.so” file onto your phone from here
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.
FlorisBoard with Material You dynamic themes version
Unfortunately Gboard is still the best around. Block it’s internet access.
I think that Gboard would still find a way to connect to the mothership.
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.
Florisboard appears to have been abandoned
deleted by creator
I’d love to love Florisboard, but it doesn’t make it easy. Swiping feels great, but it’s dearly missing autocorrect/suggestions and the word recognition is so bad that typing is faster at least 80% of the time, which defeats the purpose.
I hope it gets better in the future.Sadly, seems so. They have swipe now but they don’t have an autocorrect.
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.
It’s no better than SwiftKey for privacy though, is it?
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.
can’t access the GIFs panel without internet access…just standard emoji…I don’t use those anyway so can deal with that.
deleted by creator
So one of the suggestions was to use Invizible Pro to block it’s access. Do you use the same method?
GrapheneOS has a built in firewall but yeah anything that creates a firewall should work.
I see. Thanks!
Not a huge fan last time I used it
Check out one of the comments which has a fork of OpenBoard with swipe. I’m using it right now and it’s quite a solid alternative!
Florisboard
Poorly the dev is not active anymore. And the beta sucks, the new buttons are pretty weird.
For people needing autocompletion its poorly not an option, but I love it.
Easy clipboard functions, cursor, internal clipboard with history. Its also so good for security as no app can view your clipboard
Check out the comment which includes the fork of OpenBoard with swipe. I’m using it right now and it’s fantastic!
Openboard
I tried openboard but am missing swipe.
https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard
That’s the fork with swiping.
Sweet! This is more comfortable to use coming from Gboard to ASK. I got used to the issues with ASK but def prefer AOSP keyboards more.
Yep, this is absolutely fantastic. Thanks a bunch! It’s like 85%-90% of my Swiftkey experience, so I’m loving this!
(Don’t be a goof like me and install the Neo Store/Fdroid version and spend 15 minutes wondering how to enable swiping, btw. The version on Github which has swipe is from September 2022, a month after the Fdroid/Neo Store release: https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/releases/tag/v1.4.5-gesture-typing)
Too late, I guess ;)
But don’t forget to go into settings and enable the Holo theme for that pure nostalgia goodness :)
I’m glad this is my first time using openboard so that I don’t need this typeof keyboard nostalgia, because, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, BUT, boy, that theme is ugly.
Yeah, thanks! This swipes indeed.
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.
If you download from the github it has swipe.
This fork is actively developed, supports gestures amd many other features. Try it!
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?
You should download this file to your phone. Then in additional settings you should choose load gesture typing library and choose this file. That’s it.
Done it, still not working. Do we have to restart for it to effect??? i even turned on show glide trail, but nothing
It worked for me without restarting. Lemme know if you’re still interested in trying it out, maybe it can be troubleshot.
Maybe. It started working for me after this steps so 🤷♂️
Any way, thanks for helping fellow lemmy user.
❤️🙂
Thanks for this, btw. The fork that has swiping enabled hasn’t been updated for over a year at this point :/
u/sudo22 has mentioned that a library is required to enable swiping, but I don’t have a clue on how to download/use it. I’ll try figuring it out.
Edit : Figured it out, the app allows you to import the libjni_latinimegoogle.so file if you’ve downloaded it.
I was very pleased with how well swipe input works with this library. After finding this fork, I stopped using GBoard, which I am very happy about :)
Yes! Also the original, actively developed Open Board has a vastly superior auto correct. I’ve just been using it for a couple hours now but I absolutely love it.
My typing speed was really good in SwiftKey because of it’s autocorrect. I felt hindered with the previous fork, but this one is absolutely wonderful. I’m about 90-95% there.
Thank you, @Helium314 ❤️
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a lot! Now I can definitely leave gboard. One step more in my degoogling process.
yup! same here. this fork have me ability to finally leave GBoard. it is awesome!
I’m not sure how to enable swipe on this on. I downloaded and loaded the en-us regular and experimental dictionaries, but its still not swyping.
Edit: Oh wait I got it. You need this library: https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/blob/master/app/src/main/jniLibs/arm64-v8a/libjni_latinimegoogle.so
Yup. Gesture support is really good in my experience. Thank you, Google! I hate you but sometimes…
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’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.
Any of these allow you to change the size of individual keys like Smasung Keyboard?
I’ve tried most of the ones suggested on here, but I don’t recall any of them having this feature.
Removed by mod
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.
Dude, thanks to recommend this, as a multilingual I’m tired of the default keyboard of E/os that doesn’t have this feature.
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.
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.
Openboard with swipe has fixed this for me. Takes a little getting used to but worth it IMO.
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.
Thanks! Using it now, perfect!
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
Thanks, trying it now and it’s great so far. Also trying to get away from Swiftkey.
For anyone who wants it: https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard
Agreed, it’s a fantastic alternative.
GBoard is the one Google app I put in my owner profile. I’ve tried every recommendation I’ve seen and nothing else comes close to how good Gboard is.
