Show HN: Typewise keyboard taking on Google (10x Dvorak and 100% Privacy)

by davideberle • 6 years ago

41 28 6 years ago

Hi guys! We’re David and Janis, co-founders of Typewise (https://typewise.app) based in Switzerland. Mobile typing is just too slow and annoying. While we haven’t built a brain-computer interface that works great just yet, here’s the keyboard for the future. Good news: it doesn’t record your data, unlike Google & Co. who fester on your private and intimate chats.

Why would I care about my keyboard? On average, we use our smartphone keyboard 76 times every single day. To me at least that seems like a darn lot. Now the problem is that using the keyboard is not much fun. Small keys lead to a lot of typos (according to a Uni Cambridge study, 1 out of 5 words contains typos). Auto correction often does something different to what I want. And as soon as I type in multiple languages most keyboards fail completely. Once we realized that we’re actually using a keyboard built for typewriters in the 19th century, it became clear that it’s time for something new and better.

This is why we built Typewise, a keyboard made for mobile devices, resulting in 4X fewer typos than the standard keyboard (based a standardized academic test https://typingtest.aalto.fi). The starting point was the hexagonal layout. Hexa-what? Our thinking was that since our fingerprints are round, so should the keys be, to maximize the distance between the key centers and thus reduce typos. On first sight it may look confusing. If you look a bit closer, you’ll see that the letters are almost equal to the current keyboard. There’s not much to be gained by reshuffling the letters (just see how many people use Dvorak, an alternative 10-finger keyboard…yes, almost nobody). We also thought about how to make the most of touch screens, and implemented gestures to delete/restore text, capitalize letters, etc. That way, we got rid of shift and backspace keys, further freeing up space for the actual letters. Because not everyone wants to learn a new way of typing, we’re currently implementing a gradual learning curve, where the user will start at the standard keyboard and then transitions step by step to the new solution, able to stop anytime she wants. The whole thing can then also be gamified, taking the keyboard from a purely utilitarian product to a fun experience.

Your privacy is at stake. Most alternative keyboards require “full access” (iOS) or other advanced permissions such as internet access, GPS location, browser history (Android). Why? Because most of their business models are built around user data. Especially Chinese made keyboards (such as Kika, TouchPal, Cheetah) have been in the news that they are abusing their access to user data and have subsequently been removed from the app stores.

As a Swiss company, even though we’re not a bank, we protect people’s privacy. For now, we do that by making our keyboard completely offline and not asking for any permissions. That way all user data remains on the device. Luckily, we received a research grant by the Swiss government and are now working together with amazing AI engineers from ETH Zurich, the “Swiss MIT”. Our goal is to build better predictions than Google, while guaranteeing full privacy. We understand that there are certain shortcomings; for example, integrating GIFs requires internet access. So we are devising a way of combining internet-enabled features with full privacy protection.

Taking on Google & Co. is never easy. We need more people to join our journey and we’d love to hear from you if our mission sounds interesting to you. You can try and use Typewise for free: https://typewise.app – there is a premium version; since we’re not collecting and commercializing user data, this is our only way of getting some revenue, paying the bills and continue the development (incl. that awesome brain-computer machine). Suggestions are welcome :-) Over to HN! Cheers, David & the team

fpirovan• 6 years ago

Do we really need a new keyboard app?

nathanganser3• 6 years ago

Been using Google's keyboard for a while. I like their swiping feature but not sure about privacy..

Might be open to switching to a new keyboard but I'd need to know more about what risks I'm taking with GBoard!

davideberle7• 6 years ago

And here's exactly the challenge. Google will not tell you how exactly they use your data. What you can check though is what data the keyboard is able to access, and then imagine the worst. Here's an excerpt from Play store, of Gboard's permissions:

find accounts on the device read your contacts view Wi-Fi connections read your own contact card find accounts on the device read the contents of your USB storage take pictures and videos record audio download files without notification full network access control vibration read terms you added to the dictionary measure app storage space use accounts on the device prevent device from sleeping read Google service configuration run at startup view network connections add words to user-defined dictionary

etusk• 6 years ago

Is privacy really an issue?

nathanganser3• 6 years ago

We can't really escape Google anymore those days.. I remember an article by DuckDuckGo on how to live without Google, but not sure..

dmambelli• 6 years ago

How performances compare in terms of user experience with competitors who collect data?

davideberle7• 6 years ago

There are three components to my answer :-) 1.) The actual keyboard, due to its mobile-optimized design, leads to 4X less typos; this is irrespective of privacy 2.) Our neural network performs 'at par' with the others, even though it's offline. Bear in mind that we'll be release massive improvements on this over the coming months. 3.) Certain features are not accessible, yet, for example GIFs, Voice, Web search, Translation, because this requires additional permissions. We're working on smart ways on that though.

GregWillen• 6 years ago

I have been a Swiftkey user for years, how can this keyboard boost my typing?

Karmic_Clash2• 6 years ago

That "Swipe to delete" feature looks really annoying/cumbersome. Is there a way to turn that off and get a simple backspace key?

davideberle7• 6 years ago

Haha, actually it's the single most praised feature from our users :-) It's that benefit you get instantly, as typically the user "gets" it within seconds and really speeds things up. As I wrote in my lengthy comment, which I understand you might not have read, we will implement a gradual progression starting at the current layout (incl. delete key) up to the "power user" hexagon layout. You decide how far you're willing to transform your typing behavior :)

Karmic_Clash2• 6 years ago

Well, it could be the "single most praised feature" due to selection bias or survival bias: People who don't like the feature dislike it so much that they never become active users. :-O (Here's a good video about that kind of bias: https://youtu.be/P9WFpVsRtQg?t=88) The "gradual progression" sounds very neat! I could imagine that will make adaption far easier and make the keyboard much more attractive for people who aren't "power users".

pha10gr• 6 years ago

I think the federated learning used by google keyboard is already pretty secure right?

davideberle7• 6 years ago

It's not only about the actual words you're typing. This is one thing and you can opt to "trust" Google that they do what they say (which is not always the case, as previous scandals show). But it's also about other data the keyboard collects, such as contact details, memory data, usage statistics, etc. If you're comfortable with sharing everything with Google, well then that's that. I'd then still ask if Gboard is 100% comfortable to use, whether you never do a typo, whether you feel there's no improvement possible :-)

frankpalmegiano• 6 years ago

If it is only offline and not connected to online services how can the keyboard learn your user profile in an efficient and fast way?

davideberle7• 6 years ago

Our AI learns on the device itself. We've designed the AI in a way that this is done efficiently without consuming much power. What we'd like to add in the future is a way that you can load your Whatsapp/etc. history into Typewise, to give it an onboarding boost. Obviously that again requires more permissions, but we should find a way where the user can activate/deactivate this.

rgyg• 6 years ago

In order for the app to improve predictions through AI/machine-learning, aren't you better off collecting user drta for faster learning on a central server?

nathanganser3• 6 years ago

Yeah, wondering about this as well ?! I get the advantages of privacy but maybe there is something in the middle? Opt-in?

t-stylez• 6 years ago

This is far faster than any keyboard I have ever used - great job guys!

fefedede_88• 6 years ago

I read about the app early this year in the Swiss news and I decided to try it first because of privacy concerns and because I was curious about the hexagonal keyboard. Although it took me about a couple of days to learn the tricks, I’m now much faster typing (also because of prediction) and correcting, and navigating myself to delete mistakes between words is so much easier. Great app! FYI for bilingual people I would recommend to try the PRO version you can add up as many languages to the keyboard as you want.

michaelnoo• 6 years ago

Really cool once you get used to the peculiarities like swipe to delete and the layout, makes you much faster. I look forward to even better predictive texting.

philmue8004zh• 6 years ago

Privacy is still neglected today. I personally believe that companies will no longer have a «sink or swim» strategies in the future, as there will be a lot more regulation. And it is only a matter of time before user data is being democratized. Typewise is therefore exactly moving into the right direction. Furthermore, the keyboard takes some getting used to at first, but after a short practice period my speed has even increased. I look forward to more features!

g4d• 6 years ago

Presumably the android keyboard market is quite a mature one to enter. People are either stuck in their ways and use the same keyboard they always have or just use the stock samsung / google one that comes with the phone. Plus, having to tediously type a reply to someone when learning the new layout seems like a quick way for someone to uninstall the app...

I do like the swipe to edit / delete feature though.

davideberle7• 6 years ago

That's certainly true. However, just because it's difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Especially because current solutions have not solved the problem of tedious typing on phones, and many are violating user privacy (adding to the first problem). As written, we will make the user experience in a way that you can freely choose whether to stick to the traditional layout or advance to the hexagon one, so not forcing the user to re-learn if he doesn't want to.

saccopaulo• 6 years ago

I've been a user of this keyboard for 2-3 years now and I think it's the best effort to improve the traditional one as of now. The language support and the swiping functions really speed up the typing. You take some time to adapt to the layout, however after you go through with it, it's difficult to come back to the traditional keyboard,

markaba• 6 years ago

I'm using it since about 5 Years and I fully agree with you, it's great!

fiatjaf• 6 years ago

We should only believe in 100% privacy when this app is on F-Droid or a similar place.

maexle23• 6 years ago

Its fun to write with but still sometimes tricky to hit the space button. Guess I am texting way too fast ;)

Show HN: Typewise keyboard taking on Google (10x Dvorak and 100% Privacy)

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