I initially tried FUTO and switched to Heliboard (which uses a closed-source glide typing library) because FUTO’s open-source version frankly sucked.
I didn’t know I could make it better.
Credit to @Nednarb44@lemmy.world :
It takes a lot of time and a lot of peoples typing data from my understanding. It’s relatively easy for Google to make the glide/Swype type since they have a huge amount of peoples typing data. FUTO on the other hand has been making an open source version for probably 6 months or so no, solely relying on volunteers inputting words on their website.
For those interested in helping make the library better: https://swype.futo.org/ (it
probablyonly works on mobile)
- Futo’s software (incl their keyboard) is not open source
- Their founder has ties to Curtis Yarvin. Look him up.
Drew Devault is a controversial personality, but his article on this topic has a good summary of the facts: https://drewdevault.com/2025/10/22/2025-10-22-Whats-up-with-FUTO.html
What part of the FUTO keyboard license isn’t open source? It looks like most of what it says is in line with the kind of stuff you find in the GPL, MIT, BSD licenses. Is the non-commercial restriction the reason people say it’s “not open source”?
when futo dissolves as an organization, or someone forks their software and maintains it better than they do, that fork still has to have the button to pay futo and not the new maintainer.
there are restrictions on what you can do with the source. that is not open. the source is available and they’ll accept your donation of code, but you are donating to a company’s product, not a community project.
Yeah, I see what you mean. That makes sense. After reading through some common OSS licenses, I can see the difference between licenses that require you not to modify the license notification, versus software that explicitly forbids certain changes. But, given how little funding OSS projects get, I’m not bothered by the idea that they want to make sure people financially contribute to the original creators. After all, if someone does fork it and do a better job, they could easily just put their own donate button higher up above the original one.
That license places restrictions on your ability to modify the software, including your ability to remove content related to the payment of the licensor.
FUTO also admits that they aren’t truly open source: https://futo.org/about/futo-statement-on-opensource/
What’s the problem with drew devault?
I actually have no idea, but whenever he pops up I see people bring out the vaguely pointed pitchforks. I figured I’d point that out to avoid those people derailing the discussion.
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Definitely one of the weaknesses of Futo keyboard.
Thanks for sharing. Contributed a few swipe sessions. Website is a bit slow. Wish it loaded faster.
Really slow. I wonder why.
Cool initiative though.
Where can you download the dataset?
