The keys in German
The keys are QWERTY on Flikzi’s honeycomb: hexagons with no gaps between them, in rows of 10, 9 and 7, each row half a key further in. They are the same keys in every Latin-script language. German’s own letters need no keys of their own: they come with the words, or from holding a letter.
The three rows
| Row | Keys, and what a flick down types |
|---|---|
| Top | q1w2e3r4t5y6u7i8o9p0 |
| Middle | a@s#d$f_g&h-j+k(l) |
| Bottom | z*x"c'v:b/n!m? |
A tap types the letter. A flick up types its capital, so there is no shift key. A flick down types the digit or mark shown under it. ?123 and ☺ are half keys at the two ends of the middle row. The comma is left of the bottom row; right of it are the full stop and enter. The space bar is below: swipe left on it to delete. Every gesture.
German letters
Touch and hold a letter and its other forms open above it. In German a held key offers its German letters: slide to one and lift. Most of the time you won’t need it, because the letters come with the words.
| Hold | It offers |
|---|---|
| a | ä |
| o | ö |
| u | ü |
| s | ß |
Typing German on Flikzi
- Autocorrect that allows for a neighbouring key, a missed letter, an extra tap and swapped letters
- The word you are typing, and words that finish it, in the strip above the keys
- Next-word predictions after each space
- A flick up for a capital, a flick down for the digit or mark under the letter
- German’s own letters with the words, or from holding a key
- Your own words and phrases, learned on your phone
The keys are in QWERTY order: z and y are where an English keyboard has them, not swapped as on a German QWERTZ keyboard, and there are no ä, ö and ü keys.
Type the word plain and Flikzi writes it as German spells it. The word it will put in leads the strip above the keys, and space or a full stop puts it in. Where the plain letters are a word too, as with schon and schön, Flikzi goes by the words before and keeps the other one in the strip.
ß sits with s. Hold s and slide to ß, or type one s in its place and let the word bring it: heis becomes heiß, fusball becomes Fußball. For an umlaut on its own, hold a, o or u.
A capital you flick is always kept, so a noun or a name Flikzi doesn’t know still gets its capital: flick its first letter up.
With Flikzi Pro, the mic at the right end of the strip types by voice in German, when the speech recogniser on your phone has that language. Voice typing.
German with your other languages
A phone already set to German starts with it on. Otherwise pick German in Flikzi’s settings, under Language: the free version types one language, and German can be it. With Flikzi Pro, open Several languages to switch on as many as you use, then flick up on the left of the space bar to move to the next one, or flick up and hold for a picker. The space bar shows Deutsch while you type German, and the picker lists it as DE.
Often typed with German: English, Dutch, Swedish. All 23 languages.
Where the words come from
The word list comes from the Android Open Source Project’s LatinIME dictionaries (Apache License 2.0), with word counts and next-word data from the Tatoeba sentence collection (CC BY 2.0 FR). It all ships inside the app and runs on your phone, so nothing you type is sent anywhere. Open-source licences.
Questions
Is Flikzi’s German keyboard free?
Yes, if German is the language you type: the free version of Flikzi types one language of your choice, with every flick on the letters and the space bar. Typing German alongside other languages, and switching between them with a flick, needs Flikzi Pro, a one-time purchase of US$4.99 before tax. Every new install gets 14 days of Pro free.
Does Flikzi have a QWERTZ layout?
No. Flikzi’s German keys are in QWERTY order, so y is on the top row and z on the bottom row.
How do I type ß on Flikzi?
Hold s, slide to ß and lift. Words bring it too when you type one s in its place: heis becomes heiß.
How do I type ä, ö and ü?
Type a, o or u and let the word bring the umlaut: konnen becomes können. On their own, hold a, o or u and slide.
Does Flikzi send what I type in German anywhere?
No. The dictionary and the engine are inside the app, and nothing you type leaves your phone. Flikzi has no internet permission, so it cannot send anything. It asks for your contacts or the microphone only if you turn on contacts’ email addresses or voice typing, and it works without them.