FUTO Swipe
Ranked 3 of 12 keyboard apps by recommenders
People recommend it as a free, privacy-respecting swipe keyboard that performs about as well as Gboard. Common caveats are limited language support and a confusing license.
People recommend it as a free, privacy-respecting swipe keyboard that performs about as well as Gboard. Common caveats are limited language support and a confusing license.
58 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 40
- criticize it
- 18
- approval share
- 69%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 40 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Accurate swipe typing, close to Gboard
“Just typed this with swipe typing on the keyboard and damn it's as good as Gboard.”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe Relative error rate improvement vs. Gboard” “practically on par with GBoard aside from a few blips here and there”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “Swiping feels a bit more accurate than Gboard overall.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” - Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model”
- Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model”
- Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model”
Free, privacy-respecting, GPL-licensed keyboard
“Thanks to all involved for this privacy respecting swipe keyboard!”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “Glad to see that companies like that still exist.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “the library uses the GPLv3 (good)”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” Many languages, switches mid-sentence
“Futo just has all the languages I need, and does a better job with EN swipe than Heliboard.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “it switched between languages in the same sentence in a way that made sense to me”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” Handles long words well
“Long words usually work very well though. That's most of what I use swipe for.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “I just tried and it handles them well.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Nonsensical suggestions and typo fixing
“FUTO still suggests a lot of nonsensical next words that just do not follow after the previous in English.”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “The first two words i tried to type were both "hello" and I got "help" and "hell" as first suggestions.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “I was spending more time fixing typos than actually typing with FUTO”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” - Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model”
Confusing or non-free license terms
“NOT guaranteed to be free and open! seems to have a confusing license setup.”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “It's just another proprietary software, on the lesser evil side of spectrum.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “I really wish FUTO would stick with FSF-approved licenses.”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe Relative error rate improvement vs. Gboard” Limited language support
“I hope FUTO does start caring about language support, because for example their AI powered text prediction is only available for English.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “If only FUTO supported combined keyboard languages without duplicates.”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model” “It doesn't have a Bulgarian dictionary and support for swipe in BG”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “FUTO Swipe – A new swipe typing model”
Other keyboard apps people recommend
The four most recommended other keyboard apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gboard | 59 | 43 | 58% | 10 | — | — |
| FUTO Keyboard | 51 | 22 | 70% | 12 | 1 yr4 owners | Approved |
| FUTO SwipeThis page | 40 | 18 | 69% | 1 | — | — |
| iOS keyboard | 28 | 182 | 13% | 8 | 10 yrs9 owners | — |
| Microsoft SwiftKey | 21 | 31 | 40% | 8 | 8 yrs7 owners | — |
What people said
40 of the 66 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Pretty much always accurate.”
“FUTO is Android-only, and ClearFlow is only available in the Android Gboard, not the iOS Gboard.”
“It doesn't have a Bulgarian dictionary and support for swipe in BG”
“Swiping feels a bit more accurate than Gboard overall.”
“Thanks to all involved for this privacy respecting swipe keyboard!”
“Futo just has all the languages I need, and does a better job with EN swipe than Heliboard.”
“I just tested those two on futo, and it easily picked them both out.”
“it's by far the best mobile keyboard I've ever tried”
“I hope FUTO does start caring about language support, because for example their AI powered text prediction is only available for English.”
“it switched between languages in the same sentence in a way that made sense to me”
“I'm curious to see how it deals with dual languages”
“Glad to see that companies like that still exist.”
“This is building on quick sand, a truly new model would not use the same dumb old grid that's neither fit for hands nor for fingers.”
“Long words usually work very well though. That's most of what I use swipe for.”
“I reckon it's as good as Gboard now.”
“I just tried and it handles them well.”
“With this license, I can still do that, even if it’s not technically “open-source™” by the OSI definition.”
“it feels faster and has all the goodies I want in a soft keyboard”
“practically on par with GBoard aside from a few blips here and there”
“I was spending more time fixing typos than actually typing with FUTO”
“you spend more time deleting works than actually using it”
“It's just another proprietary software, on the lesser evil side of spectrum.”
“The first two words i tried to type were both "hello" and I got "help" and "hell" as first suggestions.”
“It's better than GBoard in some ways.”
“The insistence of keyboards on having a large bar of autocorrect suggestions taking valuable vertical space annoys me to no end.”
“FUTO still suggests a lot of nonsensical next words that just do not follow after the previous in English.”
“Looks like they've fixed the swipe backspace and spacebar to not be over-sensitive like it was a year or two ago”
“I've been using the new swipe for a few days and it's truly excellent.”
“There are a few issues, like it randomly capitalizes words in the middle of sentences.”
“it's on fdroid too - at that point the play store is simply a nice to have”
“NOT guaranteed to be free and open! seems to have a confusing license setup.”
“On the other hand it will prevent our language from evolving.”
“though it at least does not seem as bad as the license for the keyboard”
“it's a little bit lame that they are boycotting iOS”
“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.”
“the library uses the GPLv3 (good)”
“If only FUTO supported combined keyboard languages without duplicates.”
“Very cool, I use swipe typing almost exclusively so good to see open models.”
“Just typed this with swipe typing on the keyboard and damn it's as good as Gboard.”
“I really wish FUTO would stick with FSF-approved licenses.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.