Got a shit tonne of experience with open source keyboards. Literally the only kind of app I can say I have good enough experience to have an opinion on and heliboard has hands down been the best.

There's a very simple explanation to every "how is (niche technological thing) not more popular?" questions, and that is simply... Most people are perfectly happy with the defaults.

Don't take this Fediverse instance and the people who interact with it as an example. Even Reddit's tech subs are very niche serving, most of the responders will be people who live and die with tech... which does NOT represent the great majority of people.

Said great majority is perfectly happy with their phones as is. The default keyboard is 99% of the time perfectly usable. So people don't even feel a need to change. Therefore niche keyboards will have very little popularity. Even big ones like SwiftKey.

Serious question: what problems does the default keyboard have that Florisboard is trying to solve? I've never looked at the Android keyboard and thought "I wish this worked differently," except maybe when I switch languages by accident.

I've become dependent on SwiftKey. Unfortunately, it's invasive. I block network access on the app. It works great without it. It adjusts sensitivity and accuracy based on your typing habits, fixing mistakes over time that I make incessantly on other keyboards.

I use futo keynoard ans I dind it to be a better experiemve

How is this keyboard not popular?

their front page explicitly says "Currently in beta state" and according to their docs installation via Google Play requires joining a beta tester group.

that means a random user searching "keyboard" on the Play store isn't going to see it. likewise if a friend told you "I use Florisboard" and you searched for it by name in the Play store. if you're not already in the beta test group the direct link to the app page literally 404s.

it's certainly available to power users who already know they want it, but it's sort of pointless to ask why it's not popular at this stage of its development.

Heliboard has halmak too

Try my oled theme.

It was on the florisboard theme page but the dev took it down because I made it in florisbord not in a repo

Word suggestions/spell checking are not included in the current releases and are a major goal for the v0.6 milestone.

I've been watching Florisboard since before that text read "v0.5". It's a good keyboard but can't be a daily driver for me without that.

I really like the ethos of Florisboard, but their spell check is just not in a state that makes it usable for me.

FUTO Keyboard is my favourite.

I, for one, prefer Unexpected Keyboard because it has alt, ctrl, fn, and easy access to all the symbols i need for English and Portuguese. Sadly, it lacks some emoji, but i never used them much beforehand; just feel like i'm missing out lol.

the basic idea is that you tap a key, and drag towards an optional character you want to use, to enter it. here's a preview:

MUCH prefer AnySoftKeyboard as it has niceties like easy switching of language on the fly, arrow keys and other stuff like that, i just wish the autocomplete was not worse than not having any as it actually wastes your time showing you whatever incorrect and extremely unlikely suggestions it wants instead of something that actually follows what you're writing

I also use FlorisBoard, it's the best one I've tried. I don't use spell checking or suggestions so lack of that didn't bother me, the general functionality and design was just better than other options.

Development has recently started on it again, so these missing features will probably be implemented soon, which will probably help it's adoption!

Most common letter E is too far right to be useful as single hand Typer (LH)

I use Swipe typing a lot! Does Florisboard have it yet?

I just got attached to Typewise (despite not being Open Source sadly). It is one of few apps, where I bought an expensive lifetime option.

This is my keyboard, love it

I've used it for years and like it a lot. Development seems kinda slow, though, and there aren't that many themes. Those might be downsides to some people. I think it pretty popular, though. A decent number of people seem to use it.