Fleksy

Fleksy
Original authorThingThing Ltd.
ReleaseDecember 2012
Operating systemiOS
Android
Linux
Unity
TypeVirtual keyboard
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.fleksy.com 

Fleksy was a proprietary third-party virtual keyboard developed by ThingThing Ltd. for Android and iOS devices.[a] The keyboard used error-correcting algorithms that analyze the touch region on the keyboard and pass input through a language model to determine the intended word. The application also supported swipe gestures for functions such as inserting spaces, deleting text, and cycling through word suggestions.

History

Fleksy was developed by Fleksy Inc., a company founded in 2011.[1] It was originally developed for the blind and visually impaired to enable typing through muscle memory.[2]

In July 2012, Fleksy became commercially available on the iPhone through Apple's iOS App Store.[3] On June 15, 2016, Fleksy was acquired by Pinterest.[4] In 2017, Fleksy was acquired again by Spain-based company ThingThing Ltd.[5]

In the summer of 2018, Fleksy ran a seed crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.[6] Later that year, Fleksy was preinstalled as the default keyboard on Palm devices; the campaign raised over $800,000 through equity crowdfunding.[7]

In October 2019, Fleksy's PEGI rating was temporarily changed to PEGI 12 on Google Play. The original PEGI 3 rating was restored after the company contacted the International Age Rating Coalition.[8]

In 2020, ThingThing pivoted Fleksy toward a B2B model, launching a Software Development Kit (SDK) aimed at third-party developers in sectors including healthcare and productivity. In August 2022, ThingThing launched a developer platform with integration documentation for the SDK.[9]

In January 2024, Fleksy received a grant from Innovate UK to develop mobile security features aimed at combating financial fraud.[10] By late 2024, the consumer app had been removed from both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

Software

Fleksy's auto-correct algorithm functioned through a combination of analysis of user typing patterns and linguistic context. It analyzed tap locations rather than the letters selected, which gave it a degree of tolerance for imprecise input, allowing users to type on an invisible keyboard or even outside the keyboard boundaries in some cases.[11] This behavior made it particularly accessible to the visually impaired community.[12][13][14][15] The software was considered for the "Story of the Year" category of the Technology Year in Review for 2012 by the American Foundation for the Blind.[2]

The keyboard also allowed sighted users to type without looking at the screen.[16] Quentin Stafford-Fraser wrote on his website: "I found I could type whole sentences immediately, without looking at the keyboard".[16]

Availability

Fleksy was available in 82 languages[17] and supported QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ, Dvorak, and Colemak keyboard layouts on Android and iOS. The Fleksy SDK offered autocorrection, next-word prediction, and swipe input for third-party developers.

Awards

Fleksy received a number of awards following its release in July 2012:

Notes

  1. ^ As of December 2024, the app is no longer listed on Google Play or the Apple App Store.

References

  1. ^ "Fleksy" Archived 2019-08-07 at the Wayback Machine, fleksy.com, Retrieved on 7 February 2013.
  2. ^ a b "2012: A Technology Year in Review" AFB AccessWorld, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  3. ^ "Fleksy - Happy Typing" iOS App Store. Retrieved on 7 February 2013.
  4. ^ "Fleksy Acquired by Pinterest". fleksy.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  5. ^ "Fleksy gets major reboot under ThingThing". TechCrunch. 2017-07-25.
  6. ^ "Fleksy Keyboard is raising £230,000 investment on Crowdcube. Capital At Risk". Crowdcube. Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  7. ^ "Fleksy's keyboard grabs $800k+ via equity crowdfunding". TechCrunch. 2018-10-25.
  8. ^ "Google's Play Store is giving an age-rating finger to Fleksy, a Gboard rival". TechCrunch. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  9. ^ Lomas, Natasha (2022-08-30). "Fleksy targets devs with SDK platform for smart keyboard features". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  10. ^ Plante, Olivier (2024-01-03). "Blog - Fleksy Granted Innovate UK Funding to Combat Financial Fraud on Mobile". Fleksy. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  11. ^ "Hacker News" news.ycombinator.com, Retrieved on 23 August 2012.
  12. ^ "An App for Wayward Fingers and Thumbs: An Evaluation of the Fleksy App from Syntellia" AFB AccessWorld, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  13. ^ "Fleksy Gives Blind iOS Users Top-Speed Typing Access" Archived 2013-01-15 at the Wayback Machine About.com, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  14. ^ "Mistype Every Letter & Fleksy Still Knows What Keys You Meant" Archived 2013-01-14 at the Wayback Machine About.com, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  15. ^ "Fleksy app: Helping you to type faster" Archived 2013-12-06 at the Wayback Machine Royal National Institute for the Blind, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  16. ^ a b "Being Accessible | Status-Q". Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  17. ^ Fleksy (20 September 2016). "What languages does Fleksy support?". Zendesk.
  18. ^ "Fastest touch-screen text message record officially broken with Fleksy keyboard". Guinness World Records. 2014-05-19.
  19. ^ " SXSW, Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  20. ^ "Fleksy typing app gets mainstream recognition in the Apple Australian App Store" Vision Australia, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  21. ^ "CES Innovation Awards" Archived 2013-02-09 at the Wayback Machine CES, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  22. ^ "Qualcomm Press Release" Qualcomm, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  23. ^ "Fleksy - App of the Month August 2012" Archived 2012-09-17 at the Wayback Machine Royal National Institute of the Blind, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  24. ^ "Announcing the AppleVis Golden Apples of 2012" AppleVis, Retrieved 7 February 2013.
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