Fossify Keyboard

★★★☆☆

I wanted to like this keyboard. The other Fossify apps have worked out well, and unlike, say, GBoard, I know nothing’s leaving my device. And it does support multiple languages, which helps when I’m practicing Spanish in Duolingo. But it only supports tapping, not swipe gestures or auto suggest, and I just can’t seem to type reliably that way.

The problem is that I have a lot of trouble tapping the right letters with my thumbs. (I swear this has gotten worse over time – I’d assume my hands had just gotten clumsier, but I’ve gotten better at touch typing on a real keyboard in the same timeframe.) That’s been mildly annoying with GBoard, but GBoard also supports swiping gestures, and autosuggest usually includes the word I wanted if I’m a little bit off. And I think the hit boxes might be a bit bigger, or adjust based on what autocomplete thinks is more likely.

So with Fossify Keyboard, I frequently end up with severalbwordsblumpedntogethrt because I keep hitting “b” or “n” instead of space, and then I have to go back and fix it (which of course is a pain on a touchscreen).

I gave it about three weeks on my phone, during which I used it for all the usual text messaging, social networking, email, and so on. I’ve since switched back to GBoard.

It seems to work better for me with a tablet, though, where I can sort of touch type or hunt and peck. I’ll keep it on there for a while and see how it holds up.