Keyboard apps for Android are plentiful. There are heavyweights like Gboard, SwiftKey, Fleksy, and Chrooma, as well as other lesser-known competitors like OpenBoard or Mint Keyboard. Another notable alternative keyboard is FlorisBoard, an open source keyboard. privacy-focused and highly customizable.
What happens in FlorisBoard does not leave FlorisBoard, and although it does not have all the functions present in Gboard, it is very close to it. In return, it includes many options and allows you create a fully personalized theme so it looks like what you want.
An open source Android keyboard
FlorisBoard is an open source keyboard app that you can download from F-Droid, directly from its project page on GitHub or through the early access program on Google Play, by joining this group first. It is compatible with Android 6.0 or higher and it is quite light: installed takes 29MB of storage. Gboard is 190MB.
After installing FlorisBoard and opening it for the first time, you will encounter the Setup wizard. It’s not as fancy as other keyboard apps, although it does include what you need to enable the keyboard and set it as default.
What is missing are the language settings, which are not part of the installation wizard, but must be changed yourself from the settings. You can choose the FlorisBoard languages in the settings, in the tab Writing. As with Gboard, you can define multiple languages and switch between them while writing.
the FlorisBoard options are very extensive, separated into four tabs. There is no shortage of classics like adding a row of numbers, but you can precisely configure the spacing between keys or integration with the clipboard. FlorisBoard supports gesture writing, although it is deactivated at the factory: you must activate it in the section Gestures.
FlorisBoard does not share data with anyone, so all the suggestions are generated on the mobile itself. Again, they are disabled at the factory, waiting for you to enable them in the tab Writing. The bad news is that these suggestions only work in English at the moment and are nowhere near as good as the ones offered by Gboard.
Custom themes
Besides having a good ton of options in its settings, another strong point of FlorisBoard is the possibility of customizing its appearance through themes. Other apps have themes, but FlorisBoard lets you create a theme to your liking.
In the section The subjects Among the settings, there are three ready-made themes, including a clone of the Gboard skin. However, the most interesting is to use the floating button to create a new theme. The theme editor allows you to change the colors of virtually any interface element, assuming you have enough patience.
If you don’t feel like creating a theme, you can also do FlorisBoard adopt interface colors of the application you are using, in true Chrooma Keyboard style. It is deactivated at the factory.
FlorisBoard is a keyboard app that promises, although it must be remembered that it is not finished. Some of its functions are still under development, although today it has much more than one would expect from a practically unknown keyboard. It is an application to follow for the future.
