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.

Edit: Now on 2.0 with multiple languages supported.

If you find TapType useful, consider supporting its development:
https://paypal.me/aaronhewitt
https://github.com/sponsors/aaron-gh
https://liberapay.com/fireborn/

Download: https://github.com/aaron-gh/taptype-releases/releases/latest
#TapType #Accessibility #A11y #Android #Blind #VisuallyImpaired #TalkBack #Keyboard #AssistiveTech

Jonathan Mar 22

@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?

Jonathan Mar 22

@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 Mar 22

@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 Mar 22

@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 Mar 22

@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 Mar 22

@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

@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 Mar 22

@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.

@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.