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code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
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</style>
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<!--[if lt IE 9]>
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<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/html5shiv/3.7.3/html5shiv-printshiv.min.js"></script>
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<![endif]-->
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1 id="use-anysoftkeyboard">Use AnySoftKeyboard</h1>
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<p>Your smartphone keyboard is an astoundingly sensitive piece of
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software. You use it to type everything from the most innocent of
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messages to the most crucial passwords. In terms of messaging on
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encrypted chat applications like Session or Signal, your smartphone
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keyboard bypasses encryption. They could know what you are searching
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about even on private search engines like SearX. This is because your
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keystrokes are unencrypted. With respect to passwords, your smartphone
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keyboard, if invasive, can potentially view your bank account details.
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This means that an individual who can access your smartphone keyboard
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does not need to utilize advanced techniques to view your data.
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Therefore, in terms of trust, you should make sure you absolutely trust
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your smartphone keyboard not to store your written text.</p>
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<p>When you keep the above statements in mind, it gets unhealthily
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fear-inducing when you read how <a
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href="https://www.androidauthority.com/swiftkey-suspends-service-data-leak-706680/">SwiftKey
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had a cloud syncing glitch which led to users being able to view other
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users’ email addresses.</a> It is also scary how <a
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href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/600m-samsung-galaxy-phones-at-security-risk-due-to-pre-installed-keyboard-flaw/">SwiftKey
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that shipped by default on 600M Samsung Galaxy smartphones had a
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vulnerability that allowed hackers to setup a proxy server to access
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sensors and install apps without the user knowing.</a> There was also a
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keyboard called ai.type that had over 40M users. Out of these, <a
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href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/popular-virtual-keyboard-leaks-31-million-user-data/">31M
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users had their data leaked because the MongoDB database had no
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password.</a> This included information like <a
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href="https://mackeeper.com/blog/data-breach-reports-2017/">phone
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numbers, full names, device names and models, screen resolution, Android
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version, IMSI and IMEI numbers, email addresses, country of residence,
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social media profiles, IP addresses and even locations.</a></p>
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<p>What is the solution to this madness? Fortunately, if you are on
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Android, you have free software options. By using free software
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keyboards, you can ensure that none of your keystrokes are stored or
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sent to a server. This brings us to <a
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href="https://anysoftkeyboard.github.io/">AnySoftKeyboard</a>.
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AnySoftKeyboard is a free, libre and open-source keyboard for Android
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that has multiple modes, layouts, theme customizations and more. It has
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all the features you would expect. Gesture typing, keyboard effects,
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corrections, emojis, you name it. Most importantly, it does not track
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any of your keystrokes. I have been using it for almost an year. It has
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been fast and efficient due to the minimalism and has saved me a lot of
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time. It has many niche features like a terminal layout that has arrows,
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tabs, pipes and forward slashes for ease of use in Android terminal
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emulators like <a href="https://termux.dev/en/">Termux</a>.</p>
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<p>If you are on an iPhone, the best option is ironically Gboard. You
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can block Gboard’s tracking using iOS’ tracker blocking. Gboard does not
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log the text you store and instead uses federated learning to improve
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its autocorrect. There are no private options for an iPhone so it is
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better to choose the best out of two evils.</p>
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<p>All in all, the keyboard you use should be a factor for everyone. Use
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a different keyboard and do not use the default one unless you are on <a
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href="https://lineageos.org/">LineageOS</a> or <a
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href="https://grapheneos.org/">GrapheneOS</a>.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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