3w ago

Which keyboard app do you use on your phones? Do you enable clipboard history in it?

I use Gboard, as I'm on Android.

Do you use Gboard or the clipboard feature? Or use a similar feature of an other keyboard app?
Do you use apps like NetGuard or TrackerControl to restrict net access to the keyboard apps?

Have tried some FOSS apps some years ago, but didn't stay on them because, Malayalam(my mother tongue) and the handwriting mode(which is quite good), is not available in most other apps.

I had thought about turning on the clipboard history option and am thinking about the privacy/security aspect behind it. As per Gboard, it remembers history for 1 hour and there seems to be no sync option. So it seems sort-of safe. Thinking about such things since I do copy-paste OTP's.

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I only use FOSS ones. I hop between florisboard and unexpected keyboard, and I gave heliboard a shot again recently because it has the swipe/glide typing but I couldn't stick with it because I was missing other features, so I'm back on floris.
Since I only use open source keyboards, I'm not really concerned about privacy...so no blocking of internet access.
I also thought about trying out the clipboard history, and also am wondering if it's safe...
If you want to try FOSS keyboard again, HeliBoard is your best bet.
- Thank you.
  Will look into Heliboard. Does it have a Handwriting mode?
  
  Unfortunately no.
  I don't think there is a FOSS one that supports it.
  
  I have Heliboard and it works great.
  Not sure if it's different but I use swipe on it and I love it.
- Florisboard looks nice - I'm using Unexpected myself due to customizability but Floris seems plenty customizable while being a little nicer and simpler. Will have to test it a bit

I use HeliBoard because I have to switch between 5 languages (German, Polish, English, Swedish and Korean) constantly and it does it for the most part (other than the korean) automatically for me.
I didn't think of clipboard history yet, but I know that Keepass2Android deletes the copied passwords after a while, that's kind of good enough for me.
- It seems with Heliboard you have to switch between languages rather than having it detected automatically. It also doesn't support swiping so not really a replacement for Swiftkey yet, for me at least.
  
  You set up which languages you want to have there and then it switches between them when you just start writing automatically.
  
  It automatically switches languages on Duolingo for me.

Heliboard. It don't have trackers.
- Tried them all. Floris, Heli, Futo, Heli wins.

FUTO keyboard. It has the best swipe-typing and voice to text out of all source-viewable ones. (Not fully open source due to the license)
- For reference, here is the license. I'm curious which part makes it "not fully open source".
  
  You have to be able to redistribute commercially, but the FUTO license only allows non-commercially.
  This has no effect on us users so it is essentially just as good as open source, but technically it is not open source.
  
  First realize what is being talked about is the generally agreed upon open source definition https://opensource.org/osd
  While it seems they have simplified the license removing some reasons it's not to be considered open source, it's still restricting commercial uses in the following two restrictions:
  "You may distribute the software or provide it to others only if you do so free of charge for non-commercial purposes.
  Notwithstanding the above, you may not remove or obscure any functionality in the software related to payment to the Licensor in any copy you distribute to others."
  In short open source would only require the software be distributed with source under the same licensed as recieved, thus can't restrict it to non-commercial, nor prevent the changing of payment details.
  Obviously it's a reasonably permissive license, and possibly won't impact you from using it as an end user. It's just has some restrictions for the creators to request payment, and to prevent third parties profiting off the product. Think Creative Commons, share alike, non-commercial for software. (While most will consider this fair its not quite fully open)
  One reason they went this route was to prevent third parties form distributing their software with ads and using it in systems they are actively attempting to provide alternatives for (ie software that may spy on your system useage/and call home) the non-commercial clause has more teeth than say MIT where it would be relicensed, or GPL that while the software source would need to be provided might still be embedded in a ecosystem.
  
  So the open source community has a very clearly defined definition of "open" - open does not mean that you can just read the source code. Just reading helps with some trustworthiness, but in order to be afforded all of the protections and benefits of the word "open", they require some form of ability to fork the code, and to be able to do useful things with that fork. No fork = not open. There are a ton of good reasons for this that I won't dig into here but you can certainly find by looking up the free software foundation or the open source initiative.
  Futo is considered "source available"

I use FlorisBoard for pure functionality.
I've been working with an odd app where you type at length but the message gets eaten sometimes. So I follow up everything with instant hits of the select-all + copy buttons
I find the < and > arrows to navigate text much more ergonomic than holding on space to edge around, especially for long strings (webpage forms lol)
Private clipboard is a measurable peace of mind. Had a heart attack when a private SSH key got autosuggested on the stock keyboard. Not sure if it ever gets TLS transferred anywhere though, e.g. for autocorrect training.
I do switch back to the stock keyboard for emoji search though.
- Also a florisboard user! Just patiently awaiting them to re-add glide typing

Thumbkey.

Microsoft Swiftkey no matter what mobile device I’m on (iOS or android). It has a very forgiving autocorrect and great memory. It’s super crashy whenever a new iOS update comes along. But they fix it real fast.
- I bought it before it was Microsoft, great kb.
- Same. It overly corrects sometimes and can be a bit laggy, but in mixed language sentences it's unmatched by a wide margin IMO.

Oh boy, where do I start. FOSS mostly
8Vim - when I'm drunk or moving a lot
DotDash - when I wan't to write with morse code just for fun.
Hackers keyboard - for SSH terminal stuff
Unexpected keyboard - for SSH terminal stuff and when I need a lot of special characters.
Thumb-key - when I really have only one hand to write
Traditional T9 - when I write English and want a good auto-complete.
Kboard - for my kamoji needs and often reoccurring short messages.

Heliboard,, sourced from F Droid with the clipboard enabled.
I used to use Openbaord fom F Droid
- Same here. I use Heliboard.
- Heliboard was the closest to Gboard imo. It would be better though if it supports Japanese input.

I am currently using FUTO keyboard.

I just tried the FUTO keyboard and it's almost perfect, but it doesn't detect swipe language automatically. Still, it's a nice option.
- Also using this, but the swipe prediction is garbage sometimes.
  In the sentence above, it didn't predict 3x words, nor give me the correct one as an option, and I had to type it manually.
  If I swipe really slow, it performs a little better. But who wants to do that?
  Maybe in doing something wrong in the settings.
  What I like about it: it isn't google, and I can use a QWERTY layout, with number row, and the shift+number matches that of a standard keyboard. Couldn't get that to work with other FOSS keyboards,
  
  It gets beggar! I've been using it for a few months now and I'm only having to sop and root wiz a few times per sentence

3 that I use for different purposes. Gboard is my default.
Then I have Keepass2android for when dealing with passwords.
Finally I have Irregular Expressions for DoInG👏🅂🅃🅄🄿🄸🄳 ̶k̶̶e̶̶y̶̶b̶̶o̶̶a̶̶r̶̶d̶̶ 𝖘𝖙𝖚𝖋𝖋
.ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ uᴉ ʞɔɐq ʎlᴉɯɐɟ ʎɯ oʇ ƃuᴉʞlɐʇ uǝɥʍ ɹo

FUTO keyboard
- Just installed it today. Significantly improved voice typing over Google and its processed locally on your device, not server side like everything Google.
  
  You can upgrade your voice typing model anytime over their website.
  https://keyboard.futo.org/voice-input-models?locale

Florisboard but it may or may not have your language.
I think it is configured so that you can add languages tho

I use swiftkey. I type in 3 different languages daily (even in individual conversations) . Swiftkey does this very simply and automatically. Almost no fucking around with changing languages. It just does it by itself.
Would love to use other keyboards, but none of them comes even close if you need multiple languages all the time.
- SwiftKey on Android I'm guessing? iOS version only allows two concurrent languages sadly.

a aaa aaaaa

for quite some time I am using Florisboard, a FOSS and privacy-respecting keyboard that has a ton of features. clipboard, undo/redo and copy/paste buttons etc. very useful when writing longer texts.

Heliboard
- I'm going to check it out
- Thank you.
  Will check it out. Does it have handwriting support?

Inkwell , it's a florisboard fork , gonna install Heliboard instead... yes I enable clipboard history and even pin items

Unexpected Keyboard

Heliboard has a clipboard and a lot of other useful stuff.

Fossify Keyboard
Enough for my needs. No autocorrect function, which helps me practice my written English. The clipboard function is interesting, as it allows for instant copied text or fixed text, but I seldom use it.

OpenBoard. FOSS. No predictions or swiping though.
- IIRC Openboard is not maintained, move to heliboard.
  
  Oh. Thank you for the information and recommendation. Will have to update.

Thumbkey, Samsung built in when I need a gif.
- Yay, glad someone uses it.

I simply use the default iOS keyboard.

Apple keyboard and I hate it. Gboard for Apple is lame, and most of the others available are paid but I also suspect could be lame, so I don’t want to take the risk.

I use Gboard and I absolutely loathe it. It constantly suggests words that are not words, and if I remove them, they don't actually get removed. I'm constantly minimizing the keyboard or recording audio and I have no clue how. I have yet to find anything better
- What else have you tried?
  
  Ms swift key and some others. After half a dozen I just kind of gave up. After going through this thread I am now trying out heliboard. But it also suggests gibberish.

I use Gboard because of it's customizability. I like adding words to the dictionary to make it easier to type usernames. Gboard lets you pin things so you can save for more than one hour. Never copy OTPs, always type them manually.

Still using Swype, never liked how the other swiping keyboards felt. No clipboard history

I laugh that the app from my bank throws an error saying all third-party keyboards are malware & unsafe.
I use AnySoftKeyboard still since it has a ton of keyboards & features (tho autocorrect needs improvements).

Nintype, although technically it’s the half baked community revival “Keyboard 71”
It has a lot of minor issues but it’s the only keyboard that does simultaneous two finger swiping. the learning dictionary is really good too. i can consistently type around 100wpm accurately with it.

I use SwiftKey and switch off the app access to the Internet.
Also trying out FUTO keyboard. Seems pretty good.
https://keyboard.futo.org/
- What do you use to switch off the internet access for it?
  
  Certain Android versions... when you go into any app settings you can disable mobile data or WiFi if you don't want the app to access.
  Tap and hold on the app -> app info -> network access -> block whatever you want.

any app is prob fine as long as you turn its internet access off. they literally have access to everything you type.

I still use Gboard but I feel like it's got a lot worse in recent years

I just use defaults.
Because the idea is, if my phone's manfacturer wanted to spy on me, they could do so regardless of what keyboard I use.
I use a samsung phone so its just the samsung default keyboard. I do go to settjngs and turn off any telemetry stuff and just have to hope they aren't lying when I turn off telemetry stuff.
I do use clipboard history, but if I ever copy a password or some sensitive data, I have an app that I can use afterwards that overwrites the clipboard data with random data.
But most of the time, never really need to copy passwords since I use bitwarden and it directly inputs passwords, bypassing the clipboard history completely.
Also OTPs are one time only so doesn't really matter if they get leaked.
- Thank you.
  Because the idea is, if my phone's manfacturer wanted to spy on me, they could do so regardless of what keyboard I use
  I use a Chinese smartphone. And use GBoard on it.
  I turn off the telemetry stuff too.
  My concern was me enabling clipboard history maybe taken as consent to send it to some online server for sync/backup or later use.
  Wanted to know what other people were doing about such risks.
  App to overwrite clipboard
  Cool. What is that?
  
  https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.paranoiaworks.unicus.android.sse/
  Its main function is not the clipboard cleaner, but its an open source app for encrypting files/folders or just text. The text encryption is quite interesting, since unlike a txt file, you can send encrypted ciphertext over sms messaging. There's also a way to hide a string of text in a photo. It's just a cool app I just kinda have on my phone, but I found the overwrite clipboard function be quite useful on its own. Its under "Other Utilities">"Clipboard Cleaner"

I use futo keyboard because it's got great voice and swipe typing.

Heliboard I believe, installed the google swiping .so, I believe you can set it to ignore saving inputs or forget them after a time. I like the customization options, I can have solarized dark everywhere including my phone.

since I do copy OTP's
OTPs*
- Yep. Will edit that

I use futo board. I like that it had the ability to process speech to text locally. I personally also disable the clipboard

At the moment I don't use any keyboard app. I haven't found any that I really like. I used to use gboard which was nice before I became privacy concious and realised gboard could be tracking every key press I make.
If I am going to use a keyboard app I wouldn't use anything unless it is FOSS software.
- So how do you use your phone? Every time you type something you use a keyboard app. It might just be the one that was shipped with android (Samsung keyboard, gboard, etc)
  
  Fair point didn't think of that. I do use the default keyboard app I guess. Is it possible samsung records keyboard information keystrokes etc?
- Try heliboard. It's FOSS, and it's based off the keyboard in AOSP, which should basically be gboard.

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