2y ago

Privacy with Google's Gboard

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?

175 comments

Leaving this up because there are some good discussions here already and it's a great question. I'd just flag rule 2 in the sidebar and that we ask questions and recommendation requests to be posted in !askandroid@lemdro.id instead. Thanks!
- Off topic question, don't you guys think splintering the Android community into multiple communities specifically for certain things when there are so few people on the Lemmy platform will lead to the instance becoming driy without content? Not sure if there's been discussion about this yet.
  
  Lemmy unfortunately doesn't currently have functionality that could help people curate the type of content they want to see from within a single community (e.g., hiding posts, filtering by tags). Maintaining separate communities is more work for the moderators but gives people the choice to decide what kind of content to subscribe to when populating their "Subscribed" view.
  Our hope is to foster a space that's scratches the r/android itch with !android@lemdro.id, while also having a space set aside for questions, support, and seeking recommendations with !askandroid@lemdro.id. There's also a tendency toward better quality responses for the latter when it's in a community of people who have deliberately subscribed because they like to help folks out. That's the thinking at least.
  Do feel free to join us on the Matrix chat anytime! https://matrix.to/#/#lemdro.id:matrix.org

Give OpenBoard with gesture typing a shot. No gifs and stuff, but gesture typing works together with suggestions, unlike either base OB or Floris. Someone casually mentioned it a few weeks ago and damn how much my life changed.
- Life changing
- I'm so thrilled right now! I'm already typing this reply on OpenBoard and I'm loving it.
  Gboard was also a big hurdle to my need to degoogle my phone. But not anymore!
  Thank you so much. You've brighten my day. I'm both happy for knowing this and for finding about it on the fediverse.
  
  I just wanted to say how much I appreciate this whole vibe!
- BTW that still uses Google's proprietary gesture typing library internally: https://github.com/wordmage/openboard/commit/46fdf2b550035ca69299ce312fa158e7ade36967
  There's still no good FOSS alternative to Google's library though so it is what it is.
  
  Aha, that's why it's not on F-Droid. That makes sense.
  Still, it doesn't connect to the internet so unless there's something very sneaky Google does in the background, it should be good?
  Floris Board afaik has its own implementation of gesture typing, but that's been stuck in beta without word suggestions, so it's not really usable.
- Wow this works pretty well!
- How did I not know about this?
  Amazing. Thank you.
- That's impressive thank you. Gesture typing with it now.
  
  How do you gesture type with it? Slide doesn't work for me and there's no option to enable it.
- Thanks for sharing. I've finally replaced Gboard. Now I have to adjust to the new key sizes, but at least I know my data is private
  
  You can resize it in settings, at least the height. I have mine set to 80%. Before OB I was using GB and I recall setting it so both looked the same.
- Wow, this is an awesome keyboard! I love the pointer moving with the spacebar.
- I can live with no gifs, but I can't live without emoji support :/
  
  It has regular emojis
- Voilà ! My first great piece of advice found on Lemmy! So thankful for this, and for witnessing the sudden growth of a great community here on Lemmy <3
- I'm glad the word is spreading, i also found out a few weeks ago through Lemmy. The only bug that drives me up the wall is when trying to delete backwards to fix a word. It eventually eats the space to the PREVIOUS word, joining them together and making an even bigger mess. It also looks like it never got an update after September :(
  
  I guess you're using Jerboa? Apparently that's a bug between ~~WebView~~ Webkit and the AOSP keyboard (which OB is based on), or something... I don't quite get what's going on...
- I've been looking for something like this for so long, thank you!
- Thanks! The only thing I don't like is that I can't have arrow keys. It's immediately better than SwiftKey for sure, so I'll adjust.
  
  You can use swiping on the space bar to move left and right at least.
  AnySoftKeyboard has arrow keys and more gestures, but it's not as refined overall imo.
  Floris Board has gestures to move around IIRC, but not at the same time as gesture typing, and is lacking word suggestions.

GBoard learning algorithm has been federated since 2017 🤷‍♂️ edit
https://ai.googleblog.com/2017/04/federated-learning-collaborative.html
- That's actually pretty cool
  It works like this: your device downloads the current model, improves it by learning from data on your phone, and then summarizes the changes as a small focused update. Only this update to the model is sent to the cloud, using encrypted communication, where it is immediately averaged with other user updates to improve the shared model. All the training data remains on your device, and no individual updates are stored in the cloud.

My main deal breaker with most open source keyboards is the usually pretty bad multi language support. I type in three languages all the time and don't want to have to switch keyboards every time I switch the language. Currently using SwiftKey, just because it handles multi-language (fairly) well.
- There is a fork of openboard with multiple language support, but it's missing glide typing. When these two features are merged it's the perfect keyboard. Until then the language switch icon works well enough.
  
  As mentioned on this thread elsewhere, try the fork with glide typing enabled . it works rather well.
  
  You mean it can auto recognize the language you're using?
- Same. Gboard is the only software keyboard capable of multi-language input that "just works". I tried OpenBoard, AOSP, Floris, Anysoft and while they seem okay in general, none supports polyglots as well as Gboard
- This is also my main deal breaker. Gboard does pretty well for me but I only type in two languages.

If you're on calyxos, grapheneos, or lineageos you can disable network permisions for that app. If not, use netguard as a firewall and block it.
https://f-droid.org/packages/eu.faircode.netguard/
- If you have Google play services the keyboard could phone home through play services. Shutting off network access isn't 100% effective, especially for Google apps.
  Obviously depending on your threat model this is fine.
  
  If you are using Graphene, Play Services are themselves sandboxed and running as a user app with no privileges. I think they really can't be accessed on graphene, unless specifically choosing to.

There's a fork of OpenBoard with swipe typing at https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard
I've found this to be better than any of the alternatives.
- I use the same, it's just openboard + the propetary swipe lib

I believe some custom ROMs use an AOSP version that is very simplified, but it’s not a 1:1 replacement. I’ll be following this to see if anybody has suggestions.

F-Droid has a lot of security issues(if you care about security), use Neo Store if you want access to F-Droid apps with a more secure app.
EDIT: Even better to use Obtainium and add the links of the APP's own Github/GitLab repo to it.
- Any chance u can explain how Neo Store is more secure?
  
  iirc fdroid utilizes very old api which is problematic as newer api gets newer security features droidify and neostore both are more modern
  
  Neo Store can enable automatic updates for apps downloaded from F-Droid.
- I read through that article, and though I don't have the time or knowledge to properly critique it, I found quite a lot of it unconvincing.
  It's one thing to agree there are potential issues, but the article seemed to jump a bit too easily, via rhetoric more than logic, to "therefore it's unsuitable" and similarly to "the other ones are better".
  (Disclaimer: I only know mildly what I'm talking about!! If whoever reads this is interested, I hope you can follow the details to their source and get involved in the proper discussion for improving f-droid and/or encouraging another respiratory client.)
  
  Here are a couple of videos that try to explain it a little easier.
  Video 1
  Video 2
- A tempting idea would be to compare F-Droid to the desktop Linux model where users trust their distribution maintainers out-of-the-box (this can be sane if you’re already trusting the OS anyway), but the desktop platform is intrinsically chaotic and heterogeneous for better and for worse. It really shouldn’t be compared to the Android platform in any way.
  This is, quite frankly, borderline misinformation. Malicious packages in Linux distributions are unheard of. Malicious apps in the allegedly-more-secure Google Play, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen.
  The downplaying of the importance of reproducible builds further diminishes my opinion of this piece.
  I'm going to go ahead and continue using F-Droid, thanks.
  
  What exactly are you trying to point out ?
  From your quote: "It really shouldn’t be compared to the Android platform in any way."
  And where exactly does it downplay reproducible builds ? "reproducible builds are not as common as we would have wanted."
  "I'm going to go ahead and continue using F-Droid, thanks." Good friend, do whatever it is you want to do.
  I'm just trying to spread security awareness.
  EDIT: "Saying Play Store is filled with malicious apps is beyond the point: the false sense of security is a real issue. Users should not think of the F-Droid main repository as free of malicious apps, yet unfortunately many are inclined to believe this."

To those who have been recommending Florisboard in this thread: Thank you. I've longed for a good FOSS keyboard, but always found they lacked enough features that I was willing to compromise and stick with gboard. Florisboard, using the latest beta from IzzyOnDroid, absolutely hits the mark already. It's missing a few features, like word autosuggest, but I can live without that for a while.

I use OpenBoard from F-Droid.
- I use a fork of OpenBoard with Swipe Typing libraries added to it.
  
  Any idea why that isn't in F-Droid?

FOSS is not just about privacy! Freedom is that important reason you should care about. FlorisBoard is my suggestion for you.
- Yesterday I installed Grapheneos so I've swapped to florisboard. Not bad but it's very specific on where you swipe using gestures. I'm slowly getting used to it but gboard was a lot more forgiving.
  
  Try OpenBoard with gesture typing
  
  If you're on graphene OS then just uninstall GBoard and when youre installing it back uncheck the network permission checkbox. Easy as pie
  
  If you're on GrapheneOS, you get the option to block an app's network access when you install it. So you can use whatever keyboard you want and it can't call home.
  
  Why Gboard is better at gestures? That's because it tracks you.
- Is it actually actively developed? The last version is from September of last year.
  
  Yes, it is. But it doesn't update fast.
- Used FlorisBoard for a good while, it's the perfect replacement imo. I don't remember exactly but there was a certain feature missing for me so I uninstalled it but it may have been implemented by now.
  
  The major feature that's missing is autocorrect, rely on it a lot
  
  I checked every keyboard on F-Droid, Floris is the best keyboard you can find now.

What do you mean, no competition? SwiftKey was the first to have swipe typing, and still does it best, because it learns how you swipe and adjusts itself for that.
- Swype was the first to have it. It did so amazingly well and was better than SwiftKey while it was still around.
  
  Oh shit you're right! I forgot all about Swype. I used that too, back in the day.
  
  I loved Swype. Nuance made it a pile of shit though. One annoying thing after they bought it was that 'K.' would always autocorrect to K. d. Lang. You could not tell it to stop doing that.
  I use SwiftKey now. Microsoft is getting more of my data.

https://github.com/florisboard/florisboard/pull/2209
As soon as this gets merged, I'm done with Gboard I hope.

I don't know how much of a difference it makes in terms of Gboard phoning home, but you can disable a bunch of data sharing options in the Privacy section of Gboard's settings:

maybe using a firewall to block it's internet access?
- Any suggestions on how to bead in on it's connections?
  I'd expect it to use some QUIC type protocol reaching out to one of the generic Google shortcutted domains, but that's 100% speculation and 0% testing.
  
  Searching has brought up pcapdroid (it's on fdroid) as a way to watch network traffic from apps via local vpn. I only just installed it myself though so you know as much as I do at this point.

I use it without giving network permission
- Network permission? How did you disable network access?
  
  Settings -> Apps -> All Apps -> Gboard -> Permission -> Network -> Don't allow
  
  Use Netguard
  
  Using grapheneOS so from permissions. Not sure if possible without any fake VPN filtering app on stock

A lot oft ROMs allow you go completely disable Internet access for a certain app. Disabling the data collection toggles in GBoard and disabling internet access for GBoard, Play Services, Play Store and the Google App should prevent most logging.
- Does Lineage allow this? It's the rom I'm considering for my Galaxy Note 10
  
  Sorry for the late reply but yes, this works on Lineage, one of the reasons I'm using it!

I think OpenBoard is as close as it gets. There are no features like stickers but the layout is very similar.
- There are no features like stickers (...)
  I'm sold! I hate stickers. x)
- What you really want is OpenBoard with gesture typing.

I always see people recommend FlorisBoard, but I haven't been able to leave OpenBoard for it on the basis of never getting autocorrect to work on FlorisBoard. Is that implemented and I'm not setting it up right, or do you all manage to text with 100% accuracy?
- https://github.com/florisboard/florisboard/pull/2209
  This is the pull request that implements that.
  
  Holy monkeys!!! I'm absolutely giving this a shot right after work today, thank you so much!

What's wrong with this?
- I've been using it for a couple weeks, and it's a lot slower than gboard. No swiping support, suggestions aren't as refined, and basically impossible to use one handed.
  
  It does have swiping though. It's ripped straight put of gboard.
- For me, I use the clipboard a lot and having to hit that clipboard icon at the top right of the keyboard every time I want to paste something really adds up imo. I wish the last copied string would be in the suggested words bar like other keyboards.

On my old phone i used Florisboard, it was pretty good and it's FOSS as well.
These days I use the samsung keyboard as I recently switched to a samsung device. The keyboard customizations are really awesome, if you have KeysCafe module installed. Not sure how privacy friendly it is tho.
- Not at all. And if you don't grant it contacts permission, it will keep asking. Every. Damn. Time.

OpenBoard, Florisboard, AnySoftKeyboard
THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES, PEOPLE!
- I installed all three.
  OpenBoard has no swiping support at all.
  AnySoftKeyboard is glitchy, moving the cursor around unexpectedly and inserting spurious characters.
  FlorisBoard's swiping is very inaccurate, to the point that it's barely faster than typing characters one-by-one.
  I hope this situation improves soon…
  
  Well uhhh, kinda late, but the "original" openboard project hasn't got an update in like, 12 months. There are forks, though.
  Fork with glide typing - Haven't received an update in 11 months https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard
  "New" fork: https://github.com/Helium314/openboard
- this

Configure the languages, then:

// LineageOS
- Give DivestOS a look, it tries to make LineageOS a more secure OS.
  LineageOS
  doesn't
  have
  good
  security.
  EDIT: Better formatting

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.

This is not a direct solution to your question. The only available option currently is Florisboard. I tried it but it didn't work well for me. Ever since I've justbeen using openboard. Clean, fast, pretty accurate but no glide typing. There is an open issue for it and some POC work had been done but not merged into main.
- Florisboard is what im currently using and its still missing spelling corrections and suggestions which makes it really hard to reccomend. Besides that i really like it. Make sure you go into the haptic settings and turn off "vibrate motor directly", the system haptics for most devices is much better than the mushy ones enabled by default.

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.

OpenBoard.

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.
  
  Many years ago when I was using it heavily, it was extremely good. If I had to estimate, 80 or 90 percent of the time I got the exact word I desired when swiping. Very low rate of having to make corrections.
  I don't know when exactly it changed. I think I may have upgraded to a newer phone and despite migrating the data successfully it just didn't "recognize me" anymore. Tried a couple keyboards before settling on Gboard, which was the most consistent (read: least frustrating) at that time, but still noticeably less accurate than Swiftkey.
  I generally have automatic updates disabled, so it's entirely possible that a newer version on the old phone would've been bad too, but I don't think I thought of that at the time.
  
  Ya, I've been using it for a long time and don't think it's gotten worse.
  
  I've been using it for years and I haven't noticed if its gotten any worst. It did however get bought by Microsoft, so it sends quite a bit of information back to Microsoft, if it is allowed.
- I still use SwiftKey. I think Microsoft bought them?
- I dunno, i use Swype still, and it's fine for me. At worst, it can be a bit laggy on old devices

I have my VPN block it from accessing the Internet so no data gets transmitted. You'd lose some features, but it works.

I’ve tried a bunch and tbh haven’t found anything sufficiently good for my standards

I use the AOSP keyboard with this magisk module.

Gonna try this out. Hmm. Seem OK. No floating, no one handed mode, no pinyin input though. Good start.

I use SwiftKey with internet access turned off. Works well enough though obviously the gif and stickers won't work.

I use stock Samsung keyboard and textra for messages. Textra has all the other features you love. Plus it is just a wonderful app that updates often and has SO MUCH customization, if that's your thing. I love it because I can give my boss and coworkers a certain color and then I only rarely text the wrong person.

I hate Gboard. So I use SwiftKey which is the best one.

Eh, florisboard is better
- It's ~~only~~ better for privacy. ~~It's definitely still behind in features.~~
  I'm going to partially take that back. I just realised I hadn't added Florisboard Beta in my Obtainium after switching to a new phone. We now have suggestions! I miss gif searching but, meh, I can live without that.
  Edit: well, kinda. There's a PR waiting to introduce "proper" suggestions. Right now in the beta, there's a suggestions panel, but it doesn't appear to be using the dictionary yet.

SwiftKey is just better. And recent bing Integration is just rad.

175 comments