This comes from Android Smart Reply, not GBoard: https://developers.google.com/ml-kit/language/smart-reply
It's on-device local processing using AI and it integrates with notifications (not the keyboard). GBoard has no access to your messages
this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025
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Privacy
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GBoard has no access to your messages
As far as we know. Gboard comes from Google and I don't trust them even if they put it down on paper
You can use GBoard and block telemetry behind a firewall or not giving the app internet access if your OS support that feature. Personnaly I prefer using FOSS such as HeliBoard !
Futo. It has the best suggestions for me, even if (all) miss some deep customizations
The only realtime active firewall I can find for Android is NetGuard, but because of the way Android works it uses a VPN connection.
I guess what I am saying is that running an active firewall 24/7 on an Android device isn't practical for most people, and blocking connections at the router level only works until you leave home, unless you set up your phone to automatically VPN back to your house when your phone disconnects from your home wi-fi.
But yeah, FUTO and Heliboard are both excellent!
GrapheneOS let you disable internet access permission before installing an app. I think you can disable it on OnePlus too but after installing the app. Probably other manufacters has this feature in their Android flavors. But yes running NetGuard isn't ideal in many scenarios.
Oh right! And I forgot that an app called AfWall+ also blocks network connections on a per-app basis and can be active all the time. There's even a magisk module called 'afwall boot antileak' so that nothing gets network access before AfWall does.
Rethink DNS is both a firewall and a VPN
although, it is kinda buggy, my Mullvad VPN wireguard config in Rethink DNS app failed for some reason and it defaulted to passing the traffic through my real ip 🤦♂️
Feel free to decompile them - it's all there in the APK, you don't have to live in doubt.
You know, assuming they have a background with years of coding experience and have the necessary knowledge to decompile a program and the necessary free time to reverse engineer the gibberish the decompiler spits out only for it all to be for nothing before they even finish because a new version was released.
Who cares ¯_(ツ)_/¯ I'm using a foss keyboard
Thank you! This must be it.
I don't have message content in my notifications, so I don't think it can read any data from there. Maybe Signal just supplies it to this service directly?
Even if message content is hidden from the user, Smart Reply can access it
We are talking about Google, are you sure it doesn't do whatever it wants? You know, settings can apply for all apps except Google ones (just my 2 cents) why not use something else? Foss
I haven't found something that has good support for swiping words. Anysoft Keyboard gets too many words wrong.
If I thought Google was actually collecting what I type, I would put up with typing manually on another keyboard. But that kind of data collection without consent is illegal in the EU. I'd put the risk of Google breaking the law here at less than 10%, which is tolerable.
I think giving up swipe to text is a small thing to make your life more private
You can use HeliBoard that has no internet access (because it's a fucking keyboard) and load the Google library for swiping words. It works like a charm !
I've also tried Microsoft Swiftkey, and it's still not as good. Gboard is, unfortunately, the best option for useability, though it is worse than it used to be.
Adding evidence not an answer. Its wild to me when it predicts my Duolingo lesson words to me. Like that anomaly is just wild to me
Can you take a screenshot or provide examples? I've never seen Gboard provide more than single-word suggestions, and nothing particularly contextual.
Seems I was confused about it being Gboard. It's one of those suggestion lines that pop up over the keyboard, but apparently it's a separate service.
Gboard wouldn't need to take screenshots. It can see what you're typing as you're typing it. As far as what your contacts are saying, if they're using Gboard, it's the same for them. And even if Google doesn't admit it, we all know they're correlating every single data point about people they can get, which includes who talks to who. I wouldn't be surprised if they know you're talking to a particular person and tailors your suggestions to fit the conversation. This is an even stronger possibility if you're using one of Google's messaging apps.