FUTO just launched their privacy focused keyboard app. I know there have been quite a few posts about keyboard recommendations, so this might be worth checking out if you’re not happy with your current one.
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WARNING Anti-libre software, FUTO Keyboard and Google Play, bans us from removing malicious source code.
Just use heliboard (openboard’s fork to accept multiple languages spelling-correction), you dont have to search further
Id use it but the hindi keyboard sucks and I dont know how to fix it (inscript with “capitalized” underlay)
So far it seems quite impressive. Also has scroll on spacebar swipe which I wasn’t expecting but is a great touch.
Not sure I can live without a gif search but given that would require network access and reduce privacy, maybe it makes sense to just change to gboard when needing gif search then switch back for everything else. Not too annoying so far.
I’ve been meaning to try helisboard buy having to add in the swipe and then also add in futo voice to text felt like a project and this is an all in one which is great.
Looks nice! Hope they add Korean and Chinese characters as that doesn’t seem to be working for now.
129 MB for a keyboard? Why?
I’m guessing the local llms
Why is it 103 mb?
It’s the voice recognition model probably. Plus there are machine learning models in it as well to predict text.
Why not use AnySoftKeyboard?
For example, because its autocorrect in a multi-language setting is pretty bad (autocorrecting wrong language even if its manually switched).
I use heliboard and futo for speech to text. I was using sayboard for stt, and it worked OK, but futo just seems so much better at it. So far in liking it, I didn’t know they released a keyboard as well, I won’t be giving it a try but I hope it works out, I’d prefer FOSS.
Giving it a try. But so far it seems like it would be nice if you can specify a different sever to run the whisper api calls on. I set up kõnele to use my server for voice to text, but it would be nice to remove an app.
Installed and we’ll see how it goes. Thanks for the heads up!!
FYI: this is another FUTO app that uses their proprietary “FTL” license, so it’s not open source.
It is open source. But they supposedly keep some rights (they say for some time) so people dont produce fake versions of their software like has happened with newpipe (newpipe versions on google play store bundled with malware). I dont like a license like this but I think I want to trust Louis Rossman. He looks like someone who is truly commited tto his mission.
The well known term for this is “source available”.
You sure? Section 2.1 miss an important keyword: modify. If I can’t modify and distribute my modified version, it can hardly call OSS.
Huh, thanks for the heads up. Section 4 makes it look like they can close-source whenever they want.
I’m just glad FUTO is still letting Immich use the AGPL instead of this, though.
This license while not the most permitting does not appear to hide the code behind any proprietary shielding though.
Source available ≠ open-source
Ah. Of course. Something being open source doesn’t make it open source. It all makes sense now thank you for clarifying.
That also wasn’t technically a response to my comment, it was an ideological defense mechanism to avoid addressing the content of the license.
Calling source available an open source is like calling shareware an open culture.
Yeah yeah, it’s open for everyone… For not for list of small but still exceptions…
You still shouldn’t dismiss these sorts of licenses as “free software” has done an alright job for user freedoms but not getting developers compensated for their efforts—which is why licenses like these pop up sharing the source code, but not letting their work be exploited.
May you explain how it is OSS when the license Section 2.1 doesn’t grant me the right to modify the code?
If the license doesn’t meet the OSD, then it isn’t open-source, but just source-available. You are welcome.
It was. I pointed out, that FTL is a proprietary license. Because: «Open source doesn’t just mean access to the source code» © OSI
Yeah I don’t agree with the osd being the only approach to being open source. Turns out people have differing opinions on that. You’re welcome.
It wasn’t a response to my comment because you didn’t respond to my comment. You said is proprietary. I point out that it’s not a terrible license. Then you resort to a sound bite non response.
You could have pointed out for example that ftl 3.2 and 4.1 are pretty shitty limitations to impose.
Well, it isn’t the only one. FSF also has requirements for free-software licenses and FTL doesn’t meet them.
I was answering that statement: «does not appear to hide the code behind any proprietary shielding», 'cause it does.
2fer on this one - got a fun new keyboard and discovered Obtainium, which I’m quite excited about!
Thank you for the recommendation. I’ve been dying to get rid of Swiftkey. 🙏🏾 So far, it seems to work well.
Awesome. Every so often I try a few different keyboards but always go right back to SwiftKey because the predictions are so good. I’ll give this one a shot
removed by mod
Sorry, was the only way to share the app. I know it’s not optimal, personally I use Aurora Store to grab it.
It’s also on FDroid and available via Obtainium/Github
Actually, it doesn’t seem to be there https://search.f-droid.org/?q=futo&lang=en
IDK about obtanium, but IIUC the sources are on their gitlab instance https://gitlab.futo.org/alex/latinime
You have to add the FUTO repo https://app.futo.org/fdroid/repo/
If you’re adding another repo, it’s not vetted by fdroid.
Yea I’d prefer to wait until it’s on fdroid proper
It can’t be included in the official F-Droid repos, as it is not Open Source.
It’s hardly better than any other proprietary software as the FUTO Temporary License does not allow users to make modifications and share them with non-programmers. They could include ads or spyware and no one would be allowed to strip that out and share the result with others.
They also clearly forbid redistribution “directed towards […] monetary compensation”. But F-Droid has to be compensated for their server costs as well, and they ask for donations as they should be. That’s why limiting commercial redistribution alone is a huge issue that would keep it from ever being called “Open Source” or “Free Software”.
It’s not open source it’s source available, it won’t ever be on fdroid main repository