FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model(swipe.futo.tech)
115 pointsby futohq4 hours ago22 comments
  • popcar213 minutes ago
    Awesome. I've been using FUTO keyboard for two years now and it's the best free & private keyboard I found, but swiping has been really bad for all these keyboards which was such a pain because I use swiping a lot.

    Nice to see the hour of swiping I did adding to their dataset actually helped. I'm using it now and it feels as good as the Google keyboard.

    Edit: It is sending me a little that it keeps swiping "whats" instead of "what's" though, hopefully they fix that later.

  • blopker16 minutes ago
    I've been using this keyboard on and off for a while now. I've always switched back to gboard, however this update made me convert full time. It's really good.

    There are a few issues, like it randomly capitalizes words in the middle of sentences. Also, it doesn't seem to take context into account when suggesting words, so words that clearly wouldn't follow the last word will often show up.

    It's not as good as gboard yet, but close enough that I'm going to stick with it.

    Note that if you have a more powerful device, you can get larger models for voice and larger dictionaries from their site. They make a noticeable difference.

    The only fundamental issue I have with it, they seem to be ideologically opposed to adding a GIF search, which I miss occasionally. https://github.com/futo-org/android-keyboard/issues/293#issu...

  • sheept6 minutes ago
    It would be nice if there was a swipe typing keyboard that was similar to Chinese/Japanese IMEs where you can swipe out a full phrase and the keyboard can use it to fix short/ambiguous words based on context. Today, when I'm swipe typing sloppily, it can be hard to distinguish between pairs like on/in, of/if/I'd, it's/its, etc
  • HiPhishan hour ago
    For anyone wondering: the library uses the GPLv3 (good) while the Android keyboard uses the Futo License (shit).

    - https://gitlab.futo.org/keyboard/swipe-library/-/blob/master...

    - https://github.com/futo-org/android-keyboard/blob/master/LIC...

    • cgean hour ago
      To add to the license complexity, the model uses another FUTO-written license, though it at least does not seem as bad as the license for the keyboard:

      https://huggingface.co/futo-org/futo-swipe/blob/main/LICENSE...

    • rkagerer43 minutes ago
      What's particularly objectionable about the Futo License?

      Is it this part?

      you may not remove or obscure any functionality in the software related to payment to the Licensor in any copy you distribute to others.

      • mzajc35 minutes ago
        The clause you cited as well as the "Termination" section and the non-commercial restriction make it a non-free license. Besides the direct issues with that, it also means all software covered by this license is unsuitable for FOSS-only distributions like Debian or F-Droid. It's not entirely clear to me if the license is copyleft; derivative works have similar problems if so.

        As an aside, Eron Wolf, the billionaire behind FUTO, has some rather... out of touch views[0] on the meaning of open source, and seems very committed to diluting the term to mean something closer source-available by removing the most of the rights granted (as defined by FSF, OSI, DFSG and others).

        [0]: https://gitlab.futo.org/eron/public/-/wikis/Thoughts-on-Open... - please keep in mind that the RMS quote at the top is taken out of context; he is arguing for more freedom, not less

    • nine_k39 minutes ago
      > shit

      It's just a commercial license with very mild terms.

  • prism56an hour ago
    Futo with the new swipe model is the first android keyboard i've used that I don't feel like i'm compromising vs GBoard.

    Integrated speak to text, good autocorrect typing, good autocorrect swiping.

  • Vingdoloras9 minutes ago
    After experiencing Nintype on iOS many years ago, I can't use any other swipe keyboard anymore. I'm stuck using the stock keyboard for typing, and sometimes (rarely) swiping a word or two when I din't have two hands available. Swiping (with one finger) when holding my phone with both hands just feels unnatural and sluggish. I wish Apple had just bought/sherlocked Nintype and integrated it into the stock keyboard.
  • ibejoeb7 minutes ago
    I've been using the new swipe for a few days and it's truly excellent.
  • functionmouse43 minutes ago
    edit: NOT guaranteed to be free and open! seems to have a confusing license setup. Boooo! Works good though, I'll take it over Gboard.

    This is such a massive deal. This is, as far as I can tell, the first useful free and open Swipe model. This paves the way for things like swipe typing on platforms other than iOS and Android, a major pain point to newcomer OSes.

  • Sebgueran hour ago
    Great timing given I just installed SwiftKey since Microsoft has started embedding ads and dark pattern redirects to Bing!
    • ericol44 minutes ago
      Assuming you mean uninstall, yeah I did the same because of that.

      I wasn getting a constant panel from them regarding using the backup feature, that will just keep re appearing.

      It was so bad I even moved to GBoard. Not the same, but I'm getting used to.

    • speedgoosean hour ago
      You meant uninstalled, right ?

      It’s unfortunate that the Bing team at Microsoft has so much power. They destroy products for the glory of Bing, and some money. Perhaps it’s about the money. But I feel like Microsoft doesn’t have to make a lot of money on everything they do.

      • skeledrew43 minutes ago
        Has to be. I jumped from SwiftKey the moment I heard Microsoft bought it, back in '14 IIRC.
  • amelius44 minutes ago
    On the one hand snapping to the nearest English word is useful. On the other hand it will prevent our language from evolving.
    • sheept8 minutes ago
      I can't speak for this keyboard, but at least on Gboard, if you type out a word a few times, it'll be stored in its suggestions dictionary and you'll be able to swipe type it.
  • skeledrewan hour ago
    I've been using HeliBoard for a while now, but IIRC the swipe library it uses is from Google (have to install it separately to comply with license). Wonder how this stacks up.
  • spicyusernamean hour ago
    Love swipe typing. Nice to see more keyboards in the space.
  • madspindelan hour ago
    Must say it's a little bit lame that they are boycotting iOS. I will not change phone just to use this app but it would be nice to be able to replace SwiftKey with this.
    • zeman hour ago
      I'm pretty sure there is no way for them to supply an ios version without having to go through some sort of apple approval process. hardly boycotting to say that you're not about to put up with that crap.
      • eikenberryan hour ago
        Don't they have to go through a Google approval process for (official) Android? I'm not sure I see this as a big win unless they are strictly supporting GrapheneOS and other de-Googled Androids.
        • zem35 minutes ago
          they do, but it's on fdroid too - at that point the play store is simply a nice to have. if google does anything they don't like they can just say okay and keep publishing on fdroid, they have not lost whatever efforts they have invested into android. apple has absolutely no way to just publish an app and let people install it, which at least to my mind delegitimises them as a viable platform. I'm pretty sure if I made open source mobile apps they would be android only, people would be free to take the source and release an ios version under different branding.
    • mft_38 minutes ago
      I assume it would be feasible for someone else to write an iOS keyboard relying on this model?
    • exabytean hour ago
      true... there are many better reasons to leave iOS than for a keyboard
    • eikenberryan hour ago
      Where did they say they were boycotting iOS?
    • smlacyan hour ago
      boycotting?
  • tekacsan hour ago
    This is amazing! It's driven me nuts for a very long time that so many mobile keyboards allow totally non-sequitur nonsensical sequence completions.

    In particular, if you end up using the voice input mode of it and have trouble with accuracy, I would giving a try to the biggest model that it supports. It's slower (although really not bad at all on my Galaxy Fold), but it's so nice to have it actually be as accurate as it is.

    • prism56an hour ago
      I settled on the middle model.
  • satvikpendem2 hours ago
    Very cool, I use swipe typing almost exclusively so good to see open models. It just needs to preserve word history for custom words, not sure if it does that.
  • nozzlegear2 hours ago
    The swipe demo on the website is neat! I wasn't expecting to be able to use it with my mouse.
  • jawnsan hour ago
    I'm curious how it compares with Microsoft SwiftKey. Obviously, that's not an open-source app, but it would be an interesting benchmark.
    • Mashimo22 minutes ago
      I'm also a heavy SwiftKey user, but donated some money to futo last year in hopes they improve the keyboard.

      SwiftKey got annoying with pushing Ai image Gen and sometimes pop-ups.

  • OsrsNeedsf2Pan hour ago
    Does anyone know of a FOSS keyboard that supports swiping in Korean? I'm yet to find one
  • jordand37 minutes ago
    I used the FUTO keyboard for a few months but ditched it as the word suggestions were either odd or random (one example: I'd write 'Jordan' and it would always suggest 'Peterson' as the next word), and I'd got a weirdly passive aggressive prompt saying I should really purchase a license. Went back to the de-Googled Android keyboard in GrapheneOS
  • jacooperan hour ago
    If only FUTO supported combined keyboard languages without duplicates. Why would there be two separate de and en layouts when multilingual typing is enabled.
  • functionmouse39 minutes ago
    seems to be really good
  • oehtXRwMkIsan hour ago
    demo seems worse than heliboard
    • prism56an hour ago
      I've used both extensively and it's a fair bit better, but was significantly worse preupdate