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MessagEase going subscription based

MessagEase subscription popup

This popped up today on my phone when casually tapped on a text field. As a long ass time MessagEase user this makes me sad. Even though it has its issues, it’s also been pretty much unbeatable when you need to type text on Android without looking using only one thumb. Looks like MessagEase Pro subscription fee is 1,09€/month. Not that much but no thanks. Enshittification spreads. As a FLOSS enthusiast I’ve always dreaded this sort of thing when using “free” proprietary products.

Anyhow, do I have to go back to Gboard or are there any free/oss alternatives around to replace MessagEase with?

debil OP ,

Actually I just found out about thumb-key that seems to fit the bill perfectly. In theory at least.

Atemu ,
@Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

Made by one of the people who made Lemmy btw ;)

debil OP ,

Definitely not a con! Now testing thumb-key and it seems quite promising. Just need to get a Finnish layout (or umlauts) going…

debil OP ,

Ok, I think this has some way to go still. Compared to MessagEase quite a bit of features are missing (the combine button which gives instant access to a whole lot of special characters, many settings, also do I have to press # to access numbers, etc). That said, I’ll keep this installed and hopefully contribute to its development if I can.

lapingvino ,

happy to help! maybe we should set up a Lemmy Community if none exists already

bigMouthCommie ,
@bigMouthCommie@kolektiva.social avatar

i somehownever learned about these keyboards, and losing what speed i did have to relearn is kind of a pain.

BUT I AM TRYING

Cat ,
@Cat@kbin.social avatar

Give it time. You get used to it. Eventually, you will probably type more accurately than you did before. A qwerty or any full keyboard like that does not belong on a small screen. :-)

ShaharHarshuv ,

So it’s the same thing but with a different layout? Can you set it up to use the same layout? I’m already very deeply used to it.

debil OP ,

It has the MessagEase layout supported as well.

tuxed ,

AnySoftKeyboard is a great FOSS one!

TecCheck ,

You can try Florisboard or Openboard

debil OP ,

Thanks, but these seem they’re adhering to Gboard experience rather than MessagEase.

ShaharHarshuv ,

Honestly I don’t know how you can suddenly live without it. I’ve been using it for years so I’m hooked for whatever price they give… I also think they are patented so you can’t copy them legally.

debil OP ,

Well, quite easily because the amount of irritation that this move caused greatly exceeded the benefits of the product. Even if typing on mobile is now somewhat clunkier and more taxing mentally whether using thumb-key or Gboard.

Cat ,
@Cat@kbin.social avatar

The downloads list suddenly won't load anymore. I was going to get the last version before they added the notice to get pro.

debil OP ,

Yeah… It could’ve been one solution because in practice the app was pretty much unmaintained anyway.

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