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.
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FlorisBoard with Material You dynamic themes version
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.
Openboard
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.dslul.openboard.inputmethod.latin/
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!
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 Unfortunately, the app hasn’t been updated and has been lost to outdated time.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.
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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.
AnySoftKeyboard is great.
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’m trying to find the long press adjuster myself, where is it?
UI>Tweaks and more>Tweaks>under behavior tweaks.
I’m not sure ifn you’ve seen the rest of the thread, but there’s a version of OpenBoard that has swipe as well. It’s almost exactly the experience I’ve been looking for. You might like it as well.
OK. Yep open board seems to address all the issues I had with ASK. I’ll definitely give this one a good attempt. Really all my gripes are taken care of, and all in easy to navigate settings. Thanks OP!
Swipe is actually a bit difficult to use with the Colemak layout. With the most common letters all on the home row, much of the swiping just turns into going back and forth on the home row, so you need to be pretty accurate.
I’ll take a look at it though, thanks for the suggestion.
I forgot to mention, ASK also has a very wide selection of languages.
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Look at the AnySoft keyboard, available from F-Droid.
It has emojis like the one you mentioned inbuilt.
i like florisboard: language switching, clipvoard actions, undo/redo, customization, …
FlorisBoard is feature rich.