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Fleksy

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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

Notes

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

References

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  1. ↑ "Fleksy" Archived 2019-08-07 at the Wayback Machine, fleksy.com, Retrieved on 7 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 "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.[dead link]
  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. 1 2 "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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