Mastodawn

TapType is out. It's a keyboard for blind Android users.
There are no visible keys. You tap where QWERTY keys would be from muscle memory, and a spatial prediction algorithm figures out what you meant. It scores nearby keys using a Gaussian proximity model and runs a beam search against an 80,000 word dictionary. You don't need to be precise. That's the whole point.
Swipe right to commit a word. Swipe down or up to cycle through suggestions. Swipe left to delete. It learns what words you use most and ranks them higher over time, and you can add your own words to a personal dictionary.
Every letter has its own unique sound, from Andre Louis's keyboard sound recordings, so you can learn to identify keys by ear without relying on speech. Each swipe direction has a distinct sound too. TTS is there when you want it, adjustable speed, and you can turn it off entirely if you prefer sounds only.
It has emoji search with skin tone selection and favourites, a number pad mode, an upper case mode, and full punctuation support with a customizable quick list. Two-finger gestures handle things like send, close keyboard, switch keyboard, and voice input.
Everything works with TalkBack. I built this because FlickType was a fantastic keyboard for blind iOS users and then it was gone. Nothing like it existed on Android, so I made one.
It's free, no ads, no tracking, no metrics. I'm not evil.
Download: https://github.com/aaron-gh/taptype-releases/releases/latest
#TapType #Accessibility #A11y #Android #Blind #VisuallyImpaired #TalkBack #Keyboard #AssistiveTech

Release TapType 1.0.1 · aaron-gh/taptype-releases

Bug fixes Fixed touch passthrough breaking other keyboards when TalkBack is active. Passthrough now only activates when TapType is the current keyboard, and clears immediately on keyboard switch, ...

GitHub

Jonathan 5h ago

@fireborn I love this. Very well done. One thing though, it says there is no voice input method available, I should have one though. Do I need to set that somewhere? Also the Talkback passthrough thing seems to be a bit buggy yet, or at least for me, I just turn TB off for now.

@jonathan859 Talkback passthrough should work fine. Can you explain what issues you're facing?

@fireborn Aha, when I turn off https://github.com/aryanchoudharypro/NVGTBridge it works fine, but when it's enabled in the accessibility settings TalkBack won't focus the keyboard. No idea why, I haven't added the keyboard to NVGT Bridge or anything.

GitHub - aryanchoudharypro/NVGTBridge: allows games written in nvgt to have functionality like ios direct touch by using an accessibility service to remove the game from the explore by touch zone"

allows games written in nvgt to have functionality like ios direct touch by using an accessibility service to remove the game from the explore by touch zone" - aryanchoudharypro/NVGTBridge

GitHub

@jonathan859 Interesting. I'll look into this, I have nvgt bridge on.

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 yep, talkback passthrough doesn't work here either. no other accessibility services on, pixel 8 pro, latest android, latest talkback.

@freya @jonathan859 Interesting. Tap once and then keep tapping? you have to tap once to focus it.

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 yeah, that just makes the talkback "nothing here" boop

@freya @jonathan859 interesting, looking into it. I don't have a pixel, so I got it to work on a samsung and figured that would be fine. haha.

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 I just got an 8 pro and um. wow android has come a long way., talkback is still not as fast as voiceover but.... I presume there's reasons for that?

@freya @jonathan859 Reasons for that can quite simply be boiled down to talkback sucks.

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 and ToBeSaid is a glitchy mess, wow, hoily shit

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 will it generate a custom voice? yes. will that work with talkback? no. will it slow my entire phone down to where it takesd a solid 2.5 seconds to recognise a talkback gesture? also yes

Jonathan 4h ago

@freya @fireborn Lol yup, tried it. Heck na.

Jonathan 4h ago

@freya @fireborn RH Voice and E-Speak are the fastest you get atm. We need more and better TTS for Android. And a proper SR, but hey Aaron is working on that. I still have some faith in Android.

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@jonathan859 @fireborn I have a lot more faith in android than I used to, this pixel is remarkably usable. the linux terminal option is a lot more, um, broken than I was expecting, aaron love, is termux any less jank?

@freya @jonathan859 There's a modified Termux floating around that is way better, but it's quite old now and isn't perfect. Maybe I should for kTermux haha.

@freya @jonathan859 Try this taptype build, should solve all of your issues https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/kbtos30ej5jpfvkveju2t/taptype-1.0.1.apk?rlkey=hw4s9e9keazu7jd9qbb84uycc&dl=1

Jonathan 4h ago

@fireborn @freya Yup, TB pass through works here, thx.

@jonathan859 @freya Yup as in it worked, or something else?

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 nope, still doesn't work here. if I use two fingers and swipe left on the keyboard area I get "nothing to delete", and it inserted a 'g' when I tapped on the "TapType keyboard" object.

@freya @jonathan859 what the fuck? You did turn on the pass through in the settings, right? The keyboard won't block you from trying to use it with it off.

Jonathan 4h ago

@fireborn @freya The fuck? Now it did break for me as well though. Let me make a recording real quick.

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 ok that works now. unfortunately two more issues: 1) it's very, very low down, like it's using like 1/3rd the space on the screen meaning the keyboard is tiny, and also there's issues there if I tap-tap-tap-tap-tap at full speed, even at full 'iPhone direct touch typing" speed, it's in the middle of reading one letter when I tap another, and the new one gets ignored

@freya @jonathan859 If you open the app you can change the keyboard height.

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 ok that works now, but it's still quite.......... glitchy? inaccurate? I'm not sure how to describe that

@freya @jonathan859 What sort of glitch do you mean? you mean you think you should be getting a certin prodiction and you aren't?

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 mm, yeah, I think I'm remembering Fleksy and that felt a lot....well a lot faster, for one thing, this feels, and I don't think this is your fault, this feels very androidy. slow. deliberate. and a lot less accurate

@freya @jonathan859 Try turning talkback off and typing at full speed? I think I know what's going on and it's talkback fuckery if so

@freya @jonathan859 Yup, it's very slow right now. Apparently it's being worked on though. Interestingly I have less issues than most with it.

Ra (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩 4h ago

@fireborn @jonathan859 also do you know if there's a workable eloquence or vocaliser that won't shit the bed due to licensing and/or direct boot? and/or is there a prebuilt copy of the GrapheneOS TTS? I'm using google right now

@freya @jonathan859 eloquence is on the play store, that's the only way to get that. SmartVoice has a method of installing vocalizer voices, but I've not looked into how to do it.

Jonathan 4h ago

@fireborn @freya Yeah Vocaliser with Smart Voice would work, is slower though. I can give you the Ava data if you want. Can't remember all the steps on getting others though.

Jonathan 4h ago

@freya @fireborn No idea about the GOS TTS, would like to know as well. Eloquence is oficially on the play store, it works, is a bit battery intense and laggy though. Oh and the price is, meh. But well, if you love it like me.

Jonathan 4h ago

@freya @fireborn Lol, typical TalkBack. Maybe it has to do with the Pixel part? I think Aaron is on Samsung while we're on Pixels.