Are there any keyboards on f-droid that offer word prediction?
I always go back to SwiftKey (but didn’t update if since they announced AI stuff) because nothing comes close, but I would gladly change it to something FOSS.
Submitted 6 months ago by Hirom@beehaw.org to technology@beehaw.org
https://f-droid.org/en/2024/04/25/twif.html
Are there any keyboards on f-droid that offer word prediction?
I always go back to SwiftKey (but didn’t update if since they announced AI stuff) because nothing comes close, but I would gladly change it to something FOSS.
@fri @Hirom HeliBoard is FOSS, on F-Droid, does predictions, works offline, and is actively maintained.
If you want swiping, you'll have to install a proprietary Google binary though. Basically download https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/tree/46fdf2b550035ca69299ce312fa158e7ade36967/app/src/main/jniLibs/arm64-v8a (probably this version, although there are others for other less common processors) and add it in the HeliBoard settings.
Homepage is @
https://github.com/Helium314/HeliBoard (and it links to the page that contains that binary library, including other architecture versions).
heliboard
@fri @Hirom
https://anysoftkeyboard.github.io is pretty great. Many languages, customized layout, word prediction, no data reporting.
Open board is unmaintained, heliboard is the fork, and has added some great features IMO.
I’m still looking for a keyboard with predictions which doesn’t require me to change languages manually. I’m currently on Gboard as there is no decent alternative.
I’m currently trying HelloBoard, and was about to say I also miss the multi language cabapility.
But HelloBoard do have that capability, it’s just not obvious to enable.
Wow, okay. Thank you for this.
I’m looking for one that allows handwriting to text, if anyone knows of one.
cool! didn’t know that fcitx was also available for android
teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 6 months ago
Unfortunately (and incredibly) Gboard is the only keyboard that fits all my needs. I’m on graphene so I feel ok about just blocking its network access. This means voice transcription doesn’t work, but otherwise I get swipe, predictions, and other languages.
Onihikage@beehaw.org 6 months ago
I was in your shoes for ages, but HeliBoard has predictions and other languages out of the box. Voice transcription works if you have FUTO Voice Input. Gesture typing uses a swypelibs binary extracted from Gapps; you just have to download it manually since the app never requests network access (instructions are on the Github page). I started using it today and some of its features actually seem to work better for me than Gboard, like the swipe gestures on delete or space, and it has at least a few more features I’m pretty sure Gboard doesn’t. Give it a look at least.
teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 6 months ago
Cool, will do. It’s weird to me that open boards need to pull the swype binary. Is it really that hard to replicate?
AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 6 months ago
The biggest thing keeping me from switching away from Gboard are things like the Japanese and Chinese IMEs. I have yet to find an open source keyboard with both of those, while also allowing me to switch to English.
d3lta19@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
I do exactly the same. It’s the only Swype that works reliably for me