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.

  • akilou@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    2 years ago

    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.

    • FarLine99@lemm.eeEnglish
      01·
      2 years ago

      This fork is actively developed, supports gestures amd many other features. Try it!

        • FarLine99@lemm.eeEnglish
          21·
          2 years ago

          yup! same here. this fork have me ability to finally leave GBoard. it is awesome!

      • Ashen@sh.itjust.worksOP
        1·
        1 year ago

        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.

        • FarLine99@lemm.eeEnglish
          12·
          1 year ago

          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 :)

          • Ashen@sh.itjust.worksOP
            1·
            1 year ago

            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.

      • curiousmonkey@lemdro.idEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        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?

        • FarLine99@lemm.eeEnglish
          11·
          2 years ago

          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.

  • Anbalsilfer@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    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.

      • Anbalsilfer@lemmy.ml
        0·
        2 years ago

        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.

          • Anbalsilfer@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            2 years ago

            They are still on the app store, but unlike the keyboard app itself don’t seem to be updated for modern Android devices. For example:

            I’ve sent Exideas a support email asking why this is the case, so I guess when and whether they respond will be something of a litmus test of how active their support is these days. In the meantime, it seems the language modules/dictionaries can be downloaded as APKs directly from their website. They should not at all be necessary to use the keyboard, in any case.

            • aurele@sh.itjust.works
              2·
              2 years ago

              I’ve sent them a main as well this morning. The dictionaries apk are also only available using http.

              • Anbalsilfer@lemmy.mlEnglish
                2·
                2 years ago

                I just noticed I received a reply, two days ago:

                Google had added some new contraints and we just updated the several of our language modules. We updated English, French and German, the most popular ones, for now. English and French are available now and German is in review.

                Please, if you can, give it a try and see if the problem is rectified.

                So apparently the support is still active.

      • Anbalsilfer@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        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.

        • bahmanm@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          I installed it. Definitely very different! I’ll give it a fair shot though - looks like there’s been plenty of thought behind its design.

            • bahmanm@lemmy.ml
              3·
              2 years ago

              I’m already liking it - I’ve switced to it as my main keyboard. I’m actually typing this on my phone (miserably slowly 😂 - it definitely needs practice getting used to.) I think it’s a good practice for the memory muscles & the brain! Thanks.

              • Anbalsilfer@lemmy.mlEnglish
                3·
                2 years ago

                Glad to hear it and I hope Exideas’ admittedly questionable support won’t be a big issue going forward for you. It hasn’t really been for me - the app is pretty solid. It saddens me that novel designs like this never seem to catch on, between public inertia and established corporate actors actively trying to suppress anything new.

      • bledley@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 years ago

        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.

  • Dillacorn@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 years ago

    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

  • Sim@lemmy.nz
    0·
    2 years ago

    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.

    • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
      1·
      2 years ago

      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.

      • Sim@lemmy.nz
        2·
        2 years ago

        Openboard with swipe has fixed this for me. Takes a little getting used to but worth it IMO.