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London, June 7th 2024
Today marks a significant milestone in the world of virtual keyboards with the launch of Kebbie, the first open-source testing benchmark framework in the world designed to provide a comprehensive evaluation of virtual keyboard apps performance. This DevTool is now available to the public, addressing the long-standing need for an unbiased and transparent assessment of virtual keyboards.
A lack of truth between virtual keyboards
For years, the industry has lacked a true barometer to measure the performance of virtual keyboards accurately. While Gboard, Swiftkey, Apple’s QuickType and Fleksy have been popular choices, they have not provided the comprehensive metrics required to evaluate all aspects of keyboard performance. This is where Kebbie comes in handy.
Kebbie fills this gap, offering developers, users, and industry stakeholders a clear and detailed understanding of how various keyboards perform.
Which virtual keyboard is leading?
The current leaderboard, based on Kebbie’s open-soucre testing framework, reveals that Big Tech (Google, Microsoft, Apple) continue to lead the market. For example, Gboard, Swiftkey and Apple’s QuickType dominate the top positions with scores of 536, 474, 464, respectively. These keyboards excel in critical areas such as next-word prediction, auto-completion, and auto-correction, with Gboard notably achieving a very good 92% score in “Auto-correction relevancy” and 72% in “Typo Detection”. Fleksy, which provides its SDK to companies under a monthly licensing fee, sits just below Russian’s tech giant Yandex with a total score of 426, only 38 points below the very well polished Apple Keyboard.
However, the performance of third-party SDKs such as Tappa Keyboard and Keyboard Kit Pro is less impressive. Tappa Keyboard scored 318 total points, and Keyboard Kit Pro (its paid version) scored only 312, reflecting their lower performance in practical use. The data highlights the significant gap in user experience when typing on these virtual keyboards compared to their more established counterparts.
Kebbie not only provides a valuable benchmarking tool but also offers insights into the potential areas of improvement for virtual keyboard developers. By making this framework open-source, Fleksy invites the broader community of keyboard enthusiasts to contribute to and refine the standards of virtual keyboard performance, ensuring continuous innovation and enhancement.
Fleksy’s CEO, Olivier says “We’re seekers of truth and Kebbie enables exactly that. It’s clear that after spending billions, top Tech Giants are leading the pack but don’t have any SDKs available for third party companies and developers like Fleksy. At Fleksy, we work hard to provide a great DevTool so our clients can access the best typing experience and customise it”. Olivier continues “Obviously, we have to continue building and improving to stay the leaders of SDKs”
Kebbie stands out as a DevTool for virtual keyboard assessment, enabling both industry giants and emerging developers to benchmark and enhance their products effectively. The goal of Kebbie is simply to drive advancements in text input technologies, ultimately improving the typing experience for users worldwide.
For more information about Kebbie and to access the benchmarking framework, visit https://fleksysdk.github.io/kebbie/latest/leaderboards/compare/
About Kebbie
Kebbie is a small framework for testing and benchmarking mobile keyboards. The primary goal of this package is to establish a cohesive and standardised method for evaluating the various NLP capabilities of a mobile keyboard and comparing them to existing alternatives. https://fleksysdk.github.io/kebbie/latest/
About Fleksy
Fleksy is an award-winning virtual keyboard technology provider. The Fleksy Software Development Kits (SDKs) enable developers and companies to overcome the challenge of building a top-notch typing experience across various platforms. With support for 82 languages, autocorrection, predictions and swipe input backed by two Guinness World Records for the fastest typing on touchscreen, Fleksy’s technologies are proven to delight end-users worldwide. Fleksy customers can therefore focus on their area of expertise and market expansion confidently. For more information, visit www.fleksy.com
