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here I may post some short, text-only notes, mostly about programming. source code.

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choosing a free and open Android keyboard # source

tags: android, free-software • 485 'words', 146 secs @ 200wpm

A few months ago I was trying to find a keyboard to replace SwiftKey (Microsoft's Android keyboard). The other behemoth in the arena is GBoard, Google's Android keyboard. I didn't want to use either of these because... they're privacy-invading megacorps. My morality aligns more with that of switching.software or this page on digital solidarity networks.

What I wanted

I wanted to find a keyboard that had:

What I chose

(spoilers) I ended up choosing FUTO keyboard, as it seemed ethically good, even though I don't fully enjoy the story of the FUTO organisation. From the about page - it seems fully funded and fully run by one rich guy who escaped silicon valley. I'd rather something more cooperatively minded, but hey-ho.

After using it for a few months, I have gotten used to its quirks (such as not autocorrecting if you are typing a word in between words not separated by a space, etc) and I am not regretting switching nor missing SwiftKey.

The others

Here are the others I considered:

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