artyom

Finally deleted GBoard

Over the years I’ve tested out pretty much all the Android keyboards, but swipe typing always kept me on GBoard, even though GBoard did not support voice typing for anything except Google, so I had to switch keyboards for that.

Recently I learned that HeliBoard has support for gesture typing with the Google library. But I couldn’t find any instructions on where to get the necessary files or how to do it. Well, someone posted a link to the file elsewhere so I’ll share it here. And it works! Extremely well. I can also pin a button for voice typing and then select Transcribro for that (which uses OpenAI Whisper locally and works super well.

Another gripe I had with GBoard was the cursor moves way too fast when swiping on the space bar. Not so with Heliboard. You can also swipe backwards from the backspace key and it will highlight text and then delete it when you let go.

openboard/app/src/main/jniLibs/arm64-v8a/libjni_latinimegoogle.so at 46fdf2b550035ca69299ce312fa158e7ade36967 · erkserkserks/openboard

100% FOSS keyboard, based on AOSP. Contribute to erkserkserks/openboard development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Mar 23 at 11:45pmWeb
Show threadEeyore_Syndrome5d ago

I use Futo Voice Input for voice input myself.

But yes, Helioboard is amaze.

I used the whatever third party blob for Helioboard’s swipe input is from… Forgot where I got the instructions for that…but it was easy peasy.

FUTO Voice Input

FUTO Voice, The Voice Input app that respects your privacy

Show threadartyom5d ago
They’re both pretty much the same thing except Transcribro is actually open source.
Show threadfloofloof5d ago
Transcribro is amazingly accurate, better than anything else I’ve tried.
Show threadSteveCC5d ago
I see that FUTO has a keyboard too. Is it necessary to install both FUTO keyboard and voice input? Do people like the FUTO keyboard as a google alternative?
Show threadGanbat5d ago
Futo is very problematic.
What's up with FUTO?

Show threadGanbat5d ago

I’ve always had trouble with Heliboard. I don’t know why, but I just can’t seem to type on it.

Edit: This is me typknfnkn hslkbkadd in the same waybibtypebkn gboard.

Show threaduuj8za5d ago
Does Helioboard support multi-language typing? I write in Spanish and English all the time. I tried FUTO’s keyboard but pretty much immediately had to uninstall it because constantly having to switch the language on the keyboard super sucked.
Show threadartyom5d ago
Sure does
Show threaduuj8za5d ago

Unfortunately, it’s got some issues… It kinda works, but after typing Spanish with the English keyboard, I think I broke the English keyboard…

It’s not as bad as FUTO, but the Spanish spellcheck on the English keyboard could be improved… 😢

I’m stuck on Gboard… :(

Show threadsbird5d ago

I believe Heliboard has the option for installing multiple keyboard languages, and you can switch between them by holding down the spacebar. No idea how well the spellcheck works in Spanish though. For me, using the Portuguese keyboard seems to work well, and spellcheck looks okay. Note that I have only had a few lessons in Portuguese and haven’t touched it since so I only know counting to ten and a couple other things, so I haven’t used it for a long period to fully judge how well it works.

Olá, um dóis três quatro cinco seis sete oito nove dez

Show threadsbird5d ago

OH I did not know you could swiped the backspace key on Heliboard. That is so useful! Thanks internet person!

Yeah, Heliboard is awesome. I fell in love with it because it is so ridiculously customisable, like you can change the position of all the symbol keys, the padding, the icons, everything! I also liked that there was an option to have it fit with my Material You theme (but it’s disabled by default, which I think is good for people who don’t like it)

I also like that you can set the option so that swiping up-down or left-right on the spacebar can be set to anything. For me, I just have it move the typing cursor around, but you can configure it to do other stuff too!