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The only app I can't live without. Except for gboard, all of my applications are Foss. There is no competition for gboard's swipe typing, not to mention its many capabilities like as searching for gifs, stickers, being able to paste copied images, translating, and so on. I'd like to know how I can use gboard while maintaining my privacy. According to what I've heard, it sends all typing data to Google's server. If you ask me, that's a massive no-no. Do you have any suggestions?
Since nobody has suggested it, I'm adding AnySoft Keyboard to the list of alternatives. It takes some time to train custom words but after that it's actually quite nice. Even the swipe typing works quite well. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.menny.android.anysoftkeyboard/
Just installed it. Swipe typing seems to sort of work, although it's even less accurate than Gboard. Still, I think I'll keep it, at least for a while.
I do wish for a physical keyboard, though… Wouldn't need gesture recognition then.
I am assuming you are on stock Android and not a custom ROM where you can manage network permissions. What you can do is you can use NetGuard (the FOSS version not the Google Play version) and cut off internet access to not only GBoard but also other apps that do not need it
I believe TrackerControl is based on NetGuard but offers some tracker blocking, so you can still allow internet access for functionality like GIFs and sticker searches. Although I'm not sure if the specific servers for Gboard have been identified.
OpenBoard.
I dropped gboard and started using FlorisBoard. It's a lot more crude and don't have the same features, but I'm very happy with it and will not go back.
I preffer my privacy over features, and using the software and reporting feedback helps it betting better.
We really need to ditch Google.
OpenBoard, Florisboard, AnySoftKeyboard
THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES, PEOPLE!
I miss the days of Swiftkey and Swype. They abruptly got worse at some point before Gboard happened, and I still don't understand why
Been using SwiftKey for going on a decade now and haven't ever had any trouble or noticed it getting worse. What happened?
It's still my default keyboard, if there's something dodgy with it, I'd like to know.
I still use SwiftKey. I think Microsoft bought them?
I have my VPN block it from accessing the Internet so no data gets transmitted. You'd lose some features, but it works.