Why data privacy in Smartphone keyboards matters and what we do about it
Data privacy is more important than ever before with data leaks of major (and minor) corporations occurring almost daily. From anti-virus software to extensive legislative work, there are many defense mechanisms available. Many of them however fail at the most crucial point: the human-machine interactive point on smartphones, the smartphone keyboard.
Why privacy matters
Programs such as messengers, banking apps or even video games can contain crucial information that, if compromised, would be devastating. Yet, few apps can have access to such a full scope of information like smartphone keyboards. As the bridge between your thoughts and the phones activity, the smartphone keyboard deserves special attention when concerning data privacy.
What kind of data are we talking about?
Everything you type (and in some cases, more than that) is at risk of exposure. But instead of fearmongering, let’s review what kind of data smartphone keyboards can have access to and potentially pass on:
- Passwords
- Payment information such as credit cards, PayPal, etc.
- Your search phrases
Depending on the smartphone keyboard you’re using, you might even have given it access to the following:
- Typing behavior, i.e. which words you write
- Full network access
- Browser history
- Calendar
- Contacts
- Exact GPS location
- Storage
What do other apps do
Now you may ask yourself: How can I be sure my smartphone keyboard respects my privacy? Luckily, the Apple App Store and Google Play Store partially mention what data a smartphone keyboard may or may not want. Let’s review some of the more popular ones:
Naturally, access does not necessarily imply abuse thereof. Yet a risk and uncertainty that the data — intentionally or unintentionally — can be compromised or shared with third parties. That’s why we strongly believe the only way to fully secure your smartphone is to not access the data at all and have the keyboard run offline.
Typewise: Privacy by design
Lucky for you, there is an alternative: Typewise Keyboard, which offers privacy by design. It has an AI that works 100% offline, doesn’t need shady permissions and never transmits what you type.
How does it work? The AI itself is located inside the keyboard, allowing it to adapt entirely to your typing behavior and preferences locally on your smartphone! So unlike conventional smartphone keyboards Typewise doesn’t need to transmit the data. Android users may still receive notification that our app “may have access” to certain information when setting up the keyboard. This is a standard security notification from Android indicating that a keyboard by nature can see what you write, and in no way means we collect your data.
“My App Store tells me that ‘Typewise Custom Keyboard’ wants network access and collects data, why does it need that?”
This is a very good question. Long story short: The Typewise app, not the keyboard itself requires this kind of access. To continuously improve the Typewise app, we analyze how users found the app and how they interact with it. Specifically the tutorial and the settings are of vital importance to us to improve the user experience and identify issues early on.
To reiterate: No data from the keyboard itself is compromised, collected or passed on to third parties.
Additionally, we do offer an Offline Mode which turns off internet access completely. You can toggle the Offline Mode in the settings of the Typewise App. For an additional layer of privacy, you can go for our Typewise Offline Keyboard, which doesn’t require any permissions (besides vibration on Android). As you can see in the App Store and Play Store it’s 100% offline (see below). Typewise Offline though will not be able to use potential future online features, such as GIF support. You can read more about the difference between the Typewise Custom Keyboard and Offline Privacy Keyboard here: https://medium.com/better-texting-with-typewise/wrio-is-now-offline-privacy-keyboard-42d0ec80459e
Typewise Custom Keyboard:
Apple App Store: Typewise Custom Keyboard for iOS
Google Play Store: Typewise Custom Keyboard for Android
Typewise Offline Keyboard:
