A privacy-conscious keyboard made for your thumbs.
About this app
Thumb-Key is a privacy-conscious smart keyboard, made specifically for your thumbs.
It features a 3x3 grid layout, and uses swipes for the less common letters. Its easy to learn, and designed for fast typing speeds.
Instead of relying on profit-driven, privacy-offending word and sentence prediction for accuracy, as do most popular phone keyboards like Gboard and Swiftkey, Thumb-Key uses large keys with predictable positions, to prevent your eyes from hunting and pecking for letters.
As the key positions get ingrained into your muscle memory, eventually you'll be able to appromixate the fast speeds of touch-typing, your eyes never having to leave the text edit area.
This project is a follow-up to the now unmaintained (and closed-source) MessagEase Keyboard, which is its main inspiration.
Licensed under AGPL-3.0-only, by heretic.
What's New in v5.1.13
Imported from the F-Droid repository index.
Version history
Jul 14, 2026 · 3.9 MB · Android API 24–36 · code 183
Imported from the F-Droid repository index.
SHA-256 0e39d28c82c11fdb85df470d32bdc575e514a9e4cfa8f3c615ebb438f14914d4
Jul 12, 2026 · 3.9 MB · Android API 24–36 · code 182
Imported from the F-Droid repository index.
SHA-256 31ea2dda2f03da0a1a02980ed52a40c5f67db4e1850057ad0cf2a41b8e84da97
Jul 5, 2026 · 3.9 MB · Android API 24–36 · code 181
Imported from the F-Droid repository index.
SHA-256 b995ebc370cc03276803cff25c0a620243b6ce174236cfa3936b1acfb8dfdbfe
Will it run on your device?
92%
- Runs on a broad range of modern Android versions.
- Multiple CPU architectures are covered.
- Aligned with the latest Android target SDK expectations.
Installation Guide
Open Settings on your Android device
Go to Security → Unknown sources (or Install unknown apps)
Enable "Allow from this source" for your browser or file manager
Open the downloaded APK file from your Downloads folder
Tap "Install" and wait for installation to complete
Launch the app from your home screen
Make sure to re-enable Unknown Sources restrictions after installation for security.
How to install this safely
How to verify the file you downloaded
Before you install anything, confirm the file is the one described here. On a computer, run shasum -a 256 your-download.apk (macOS or Linux) or certutil -hashfile your-download.apk SHA256 (Windows), then compare the output character-for-character with the SHA-256 on this page. If a single character differs, the file is not the build we recorded — delete it.
What the signing certificate proves
Every Android app is signed with a private key that only its developer holds. The fingerprint on this page is a hash of the matching public certificate, and it proves continuity rather than identity: it tells you a build came from whoever signed the earlier ones. Android enforces this at install time — if a package claiming to be com.dessalines.thumbkey is signed with a different key, the system will refuse to install it over your existing copy. A fingerprint that changes between releases is worth pausing on, because a repackaged app that has been modified by someone else cannot keep the original signature.
How to roll back to an earlier version
If the current release misbehaves, 5.1.12 is the last build before it. Android will not install an older version code over a newer one, so you must uninstall Thumb-Key first — which clears its local data unless you have a backup. Reinstall the older APK only if its signing fingerprint matches the build you already trust, and check the API range: an older release may target an Android version your device has moved past.
Why we list sources instead of hosting everything
The official store channel is almost always the right choice: it updates automatically and carries the publisher's own distribution guarantees. A direct APK is useful when a device has no store access, when a rollout has not reached your region, or when you need a specific version — and only when the publisher has authorized that copy. APKBrowse does not list pirated, cracked, or unauthorized rebuilds of Thumb-Key, and a listing is removed when the evidence for it stops holding up.
Get Thumb-Key
Every source we list for com.dessalines.thumbkey is legality-reviewed. Pirated or cracked builds are never offered.
Other sources
F-Droid listing
officialF-Droid builds this app from source and signs it. This is its official listing, with older builds and full release notes.
Source code
verified publisherThe upstream repository this build is compiled from.
We check legality and signature continuity, but device behaviour still varies. Install at your own discretion.
App Information
Security Verification
We record provenance; we do not run malware scans. Verify the hash yourself before installing.
SHA-256 Hash
0e39d28c82c11fdb85df470d32bdc575e514a9e4cfa8f3c615ebb438f14914d4
Signing certificate
ea7195cfce638ae6b1a8002ddc0d4863366095ea5b8d95c1cd5e25db0fe2e7c3
Permissions Required
What each permission lets Thumb-Key do. A highlighted one is worth a second look — not necessarily wrong, just worth asking whether this app needs it.
Previous Versions
The signing certificate fingerprint for this release is on record, so a build that does not match it did not come from this publisher.
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