Fleksy
Virtual keyboard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
| Fleksy | |
|---|---|
| |
| Original author | ThingThing Ltd. |
| Release | December 2012 |
| Operating system | iOS Android Linux Unity |
| Type | Virtual keyboard |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www |
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
Awards
Fleksy received a number of awards following its release in July 2012:
- Officially broke the Guinness World Record for fastest touch-screen text message in May 2014[18]
- South by Southwest Interactive Accelerator 2013 Winner[19]
- Apple's Best of App Store 2012[20]
- CES 2013 Innovation honoree[21]
- Qualcomm QPrize finalist[22]
- Royal National Institute of Blind People, app of the month for August 2012[23]
- Golden Apple Award[24]
Notes
- As of December 2024, the app is no longer listed on Google Play or the Apple App Store.