Alternatives to Gboard

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Today we will tell you about alternatives to Gboard, that is, we will look for some alternatives for Google keyboard. Needless to say, like many products from Google (although as we have seen not all) is excellent in its daily use. Why Google do you spend a lot of resources on something like the keyboard? We can only hypothesize, probably because in this way it manages to significantly improve its predictive artificial intelligence thanks also to what you type. Furthermore, the required permissions are definitely disturbing. All the predictions of artificial intelligence, however cute and funny, always risk bringing with them considerable privacy problems.

Thanks to one your report Let's specify this part better.

It is important to point out that the Google's official position is different. In fact, a common predictive model is downloaded and only an update of the anonymized model is uploaded online ^{1 2}. This is at least what is said, unfortunately Gboard it is closed source and therefore there is no way to check that everything happens as specified. Furthermore, we know well that anonymization cannot be fully guaranteed if we cannot know for sure how this data is anonymized.

Having said that we also point out this article by Typewise on Medium called Smartphone Keyboards: The Achilles' Heel of Data Privacy. It's in English but you can translate it with DeepL or with the extension Mate Translate.

Alternatives to Gboard: anonymization and pseudonymization

It could in fact be a pseudonymisation ³ and with all the data it collects Google it is not so absurd to think that in some way we can trace the identity of the writer ⁴. For example, we had already talked about it, 15 simple inputs are enough to trace a person's identity according to this study published in Nature and also taken up by The New York Times.

Having said that, however, if you want to use the Gboard It's good to know that you can at least do a opt-out and prevent, at least officially, your data anonymous are sent to Google. In advanced settings from the Gboard in fact you find a part called Learning. Here you can unflag the options you find (Customization and especially Improve voice and typing for everyone) and you can also decide to delete all the words that have been recorded up to that point. Even better, install it Netguard and remove the internet connection from the Gboard. This way you will be sure that nothing will escape from your cell phone!

We are looking for alternatives to Gboard

You understand well that in this way you will find one alternative to Gboard it is essential. Besides, why bother finding it alternatives to Gmail (because we don't want our emails to be analyzed) or of alternatives to Google Drive (because we don't want our documents to be analyzed) if then everything we write from our cell phone it could be analyzed by Google algorithms?

The importance of the smartphone keyboard

We know it's not easy, it's perhaps one of the hardest things to change along with Google Search and maybe Google Maps but in our opinion it is a step that must be taken because without one alternative to Google keyboard we risk ending up at the end of the line.

As always in this article we will analyze both open-source and closed-source alternatives, we will also evaluate keyboards without a dictionary, without emojis and so on. As always, we will look for the right compromise between our privacy and daily use.

Here are our picks for Gboard alternatives

• HeliBoard, an excellent application that derives from OpenBoard which has been stopped since 2022. It allows the use of a dictionary and is currently constantly updated. It is currently only available via APK on GitHub but it should also be released on F-Droid.
  • OpenBoard, you can download it from Google Play or from F-Droid, but it has been stopped since 2022.

• Immediately afterwards we find AnySoftKeyboard. This too is open source ⁵ and downloadable both on F-Droid that on Play store. It is in many ways the best alternative ever to Google keyboard. Has a dictionary (also in Italian), supports emoji and so on. If you love Gboard this is definitely it best alternative that you will find and perhaps the only one Open source which allows it swipe.
• Simple Keyboard it's a great keyboard without too many frills, It has no emoji, it has no dictionary, does not have T9. It just has buttons to press comfortable and wide. Perfect for those who are still a little attached to physical computer keyboards, less suitable for people who only and exclusively use cell phones to communicate. Available on F-Droid And Play Store.

• Unexpected Keyboard, it's a good, relatively recent keyboard. Its main features are the ability to use the CTRL, ALT, ESC keys as if you were on a normal keyboard and the use of the swipe to be able to write special characters. Initially it may seem strange but over time it becomes easy and convenient to use. Available on F-Droid And Play Store.

• If you don't like the graphics of AnySoftKeyboard you can try using Hacker's Keyobard. This one too F-Droid It is on Play Store. There are packages for dictionaries (Also Italian). It doesn't have emojis and it's one good middle ground Between Simple Keyboard and AnySoftKeyboard.

• FlorisBoard, keyboard Open source in alpha phase. Promising and interesting, if you want to test it you can find it on F-Droid.

• T16Fling, a keyboard decidedly different from the others with a 4×4 grid. Perfect if you want to try something completely different. Thanks to your report on Telegram.

• If you want to have fun instead, take a look at this keyboard Open source ⁶ where you can only write the key to! 😂

And Swiftkey?

We think it is appropriate to advise against others too alternatives to the Google keyboard because some things may not be known to everyone. For example, many people use the keyboard Swiftkey, nice practice and fast. But Swiftkey was purchased by Microsoft that privacy isn't too subtle ⁷. So before using it, think about it more than once.
Our advice is always the same: if you find a keyboard that seems perfect to you, first read the company's privacy policy (it must be present), try to understand if they can analyze your data and if they intend to resell it to third parties. Also take a look at the permissions you give to the app you are going to install. Here an XDA comparison between GBoard And Swiftkey.

Finally we remind you again that thanks to the application Netguard We remind you that it is possible to remove the internet from any application! In this case you could therefore use the keyboard you prefer by blocking the internet connection so you are sure that nothing will come out of your mobile phone!

Take a look at permissions required by Simple Keyboard: “vibration control” and that's it. After all, it's a keyboard, why we should let someone know our position just because we want to write something on our cell phone?

1. Federated Learning: Collaborative Machine Learning without Centralized Training Data[↩]
2. Privacy-Preserving Smart Input with Gboard[↩]
3. Pseudonymization and data anonymization: technical and application differences[↩]
4. Privacy at risk even if the data is "anonymized": here's how to protect it[↩]
5. AnySoftKeyboard on GitHub[↩]
6. source code by aaaaa[↩]
7. Windows 10 and privacy[↩]

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