Advice for Using Voice to Text on Gboard (Google Keyboard)

BridgePlayer

I've never used voice to text on my previous phones because of the concern that Google was storing what I say when I use the feature. I recently switched to a Pixel phone and GrepheneOS, which I love! I downloaded and installed Gboard and didn't give it network permission however when I tried to use voice to text, Gboard told me that the feature wasn't available. I solved this by going to Gboard settings and doing the following:

Enable: Settings>Voice typing>Use voice typing (If this is not already enabled.)
Enable: Settings>Voice typing>Faster voice typing

Once this is done, in GrapheneOS go to App Settings for Gboard and give Gboard Network permissions for an hour or two. This will enable Gboard to download the offline voice to text file. Once this is done, disable Network permissions. Voila! You now have voice to text on Gboard and thanks to GrapheneOS, never have to worry about Google invading your privacy. I hope this helps.

cac9478

Thank you!! Just got it working on the main and work profile. As much as I hate Google I can't separate with Gboard, there are no worthy competitors.

BridgePlayer

cac9478 Agreed! Glad I could help.

DirtyDan

Just so you know, there are more privacy respecting gboard alternatives that work completely offline to remove Google completely from the equation.

You would need a keyboard and a voice input app to work alongside it, which can be activated by hitting the microphone button on the keyboard.

For keyboard, check out Heliboard or Florisboard.

For voice input, check out Transcribro (on Accrescent)

I personally use FUTO Keyboard and FUTO Voice, which work beautifully as they use local (offline) data models for autocorrect and voice input. FUTO Keyboard also comes with voice input in the app if you only want 1 app.

rellhom

DirtyDan

do these have second language support (specifically looking for Japanese and English)

BridgePlayer

DirtyDan Thanks. I've tried a number of keyboards and I keep going back to Gboard. In my mind, it's the best and with GrapheneOS I can have the best and not have the worry.

BridgePlayer

rellhom Yes, Gboard does support both English and Japanese.
[https://support.google.com/gboard/answer/7068494?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid](https://)

DirtyDan

rellhom English works great. Other languages are a work in progress, some better than others at the moment, but they are trying to make improvements so you may wish to keep it on your radar for the future.