Plektra 26.10

Plektra 26.10 is our first Stable release. Plektra continues Pastiera with a configurable keyboard bar, physical keyboard controls and a full on-screen keyboard. It runs on Android 10 and newer.

Download

Download Plektra – recommended for most users

This version includes the regular keyboard features and TalkBack support. It leaves out the additional accessibility service used to intercept Clicks launcher buttons.

Download Plektra Full – for Clicks launcher-button remapping

Choose Full if you want Plektra to handle and remap those launcher buttons. You can switch between the two downloads by installing one over the other. Your settings and data stay in place.

Highlights

A keyboard bar that fits the way you type

Show suggestions, accented characters and menu buttons together, put them in separate rows, or keep only the modifier indicators. You can also hide the bar to give your text more space. Normal and Slim profiles have their own settings, so you can switch between a detailed layout and a compact one.

More control from your physical keyboard

Configure layouts, modifier keys, symbol pages and shortcuts for your device. Use the Ctrl layer to move the cursor and select text, or assign shortcuts to open apps and run commands. Titan 2 and Titan 2 Elite have dedicated keyboard profiles and display adjustments; Clicks and supported BlackBerry keyboards have their own controls too.

Suggestions, accents and symbols within reach

Use dictionaries, word completions and autocorrection while typing. Plektra can learn next-word suggestions locally. The character bar gives you variations of the letter you just typed, and the symbol pages let you enter symbols with the corresponding physical keys. Emoji are available from the keyboard and through shortcodes.

Less retyping with snippets and clipboard history

Save text you use often, such as an address, a signature or a standard reply, and insert it using a short shortcut. Clipboard history lets you return to earlier copied text. You can pin entries you want to keep and choose when other entries expire; sensitive contents have their own retention setting.

An on-screen keyboard when you need one

Plektra also works on phones without physical keys. Choose QWERTY, QWERTZ or AZERTY, use staggered or straight key rows, and long-press keys for secondary characters. Suggestions, symbols and snippets remain available when typing by touch.

Themes and clearer modifier indicators

Choose from nine keyboard-bar themes, including a high-contrast option. Modifier indicators show which keys are active or locked, so you can see the current state of Shift, Alt and other modifiers while typing.

A choice of voice-input providers

Dictate using Android’s system recognizer, FUTO Voice Input, or the supported OpenAI and OpenRouter providers. Cloud providers require your own API key and receive the audio you submit. Voice-input settings let you adjust pauses, duration limits and the dictation preview.

A place to write and try your settings

The built-in Notes editor supports Markdown and a preview. Use it for local notes or to try your keyboard layout, shortcuts and theme without leaving Plektra.

Moving from Pastiera

1. In Pastiera, open Settings → Advanced → Backup now and save a backup ZIP.
2. Install Plektra, then enable and select it in Android’s keyboard settings.
3. In Plektra, open Settings → Advanced → Restore from file and select your ZIP.
4. Check your keyboard profile, languages and imported settings. Keep Pastiera and the backup until you are happy with the result.

Pastiera and Plektra can stay installed side by side. Plektra Stable and Nightly can also coexist, with separate settings.

Known issue

On Titan 2, Android’s extra bar below the keyboard can hide the bottom modifier LEDs. Turning off the IME caption bar makes them visible again. We are tracking this in #154.

Plektra 26.10-nightly.11.184948Z

Plektra Nightly · 26.10-nightly.11.184948Z

Changes since 26.10-nightly.09.203552Z:

• Voice input: choose the system recognizer, FUTO Voice Input, OpenAI or OpenRouter in Voice input settings. FUTO uses its enabled auxiliary voice keyboard and returns through Android's IME handoff; if it is missing, Plektra offers FUTO's F-Droid repository. Cloud providers require your own API credentials and send audio to the selected service.
• Dictation previews and limits: continuous preview, a pause threshold, and a maximum duration. Duration choices are 1, 3, 5, 10 or 15 minutes, or unlimited. File-backed recording and streaming bound audio buffering. System recognition may handle pause timing differently depending on its provider.
• Previous language: enable Alt+Space to cycle backwards or Ctrl with the software language key. Both directions use the visible input languages. The Alt+Space language option and Quick Launcher's Alt+Space action are mutually exclusive.
• BlackBerry keyboards: the SYM and emoji grid includes the zero and currency keys. Shift, caps lock and one-shot Shift select the corresponding symbol mappings. The voice shortcut uses Alt+0 on BlackBerry profiles; hardware options follow the selected device. Adapted from Mircea Horea IONICĂ's work, with attribution in the code and port notes. Q25 and Key2 hardware acceptance remains outstanding.
• Clipboard privacy: sensitive clipboard entries have a separate retention period; ordinary history retention remains independent. History access is blocked while the device is locked or the screen is off.
• Input and display fixes: software Ctrl actions preserve key references; suggestions are more stable and bound processing of very long words. Titan 2 Elite corner controls follow the LED contour. LED-only mode stops both rails at the outer corner slots. Capture palettes preserve custom variation-key heights. The product showcase and README now describe the current feature set and device coverage.

Resolves #40: reverse language switching and #46: FUTO Voice Input.

Installation

Update the existing rocks.pkb.plektra.nightly installation to keep its data. Choose Full for Clicks launcher-button interception, or No accessibility to omit that service. Normal keyboard features and TalkBack remain available in both. The variants share a package and replace each other.

See getting started, release channels, and the product page.

Verification

The isolated Titan 2 Elite check covers Full, Suggestions, LED-only and Hidden. All four native captures and the rendered configuration cards were inspected. Showcase verification retains all foreground pixels and reports zero clipped LED pixels. Independent review found a held-SYM one-shot Shift error, which is corrected and regression-tested. The maintainer tested the FUTO auxiliary voice-keyboard handoff on 11 October. Both release variants passed all 1,077 unit tests (2,154 tests total), with no failures or skips. The nine linked settings also passed explicit ACTION_VIEW launches on the T2E. Published App Links include the canonical Nightly certificates. The published App Links certificate matches both final APKs. Q25/Key2 hardware behavior is unverified. A limited, allowlisted device-protected configuration snapshot prepares future BFU work; keyboard operation before the first unlock remains disabled. Private data and credentials remain credential protected.

Build

• Version: 26.10-nightly.11.184948Z
• Version code: 1791744588
• Exact source commit: d029832c5260040f2a852aa0adbe0a2813359a8b
• Tag: nightly/v26.10-nightly.11.184948Z
• Artifacts: full and no-accessibility APKs, one runtime SBOM per variant, exact-commit source archive, release manifest and SHA-256 checksums.

Both APKs are PIV-signed with the Nightly certificate. APK Signature Scheme v3, signing lineage, 16 KB ZIP alignment, package/version and non-debuggable mode are verified. Their payloads match the tested unsigned builds exactly. The hardware-backed SSH-signed Git tag records the final artifact checksums.

Plektra Nightly 26.10-nightly.09.203552Z

Plektra Nightly · 26.10-nightly.09.203552Z

Changes since 26.10-nightly.08.211000Z:

• Notes: a local Markdown editor with editing, split and preview views. View controls sit in the header. Formatting icons, selection, focus and undo/redo controls are improved. Backups include saved notes.
• Slim controls: configured menu buttons remain visible independently of suggestions and the action row.
• Bold suggestions: enable bold word suggestions under Keyboard bar → Contents. The setting applies to Normal and Slim mode, with physical and software keyboards.
• Languages: German, English and Italian dictionaries remain bundled. Download additional dictionaries from Installed dictionaries. Imported user words remain available without a base dictionary. Installing, importing or removing a language package refreshes the active keyboard.
• Backups: private and modified dictionary packages travel with the backup. Known repository packages are recorded by ID and checksum. Restore reports missing packages so you can download them. Saved input profiles and language selections remain intact.
• Cyrillic software keyboard: follows the active input profile, including Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian and custom layouts. Additional letters on multi-tap keys are available by long press.
• Keyboard controls: add the Android keyboard picker to the bar and configure the system caption controls. Software navigation keys use readable arrow labels.
• Display changes: keyboard geometry updates across fold and hardware/software transitions. Titan 2 uses its flat modifier strip, while Titan 2 Elite retains its display contour.
• Appearance: Coral and Cobalt themes, plus a smaller open monochrome icon that keeps the lower keys visible inside round launcher masks.
• Documentation: the image showcase includes real Titan 2, Titan 2 Elite and Pixel captures, source assets and rendering scripts.

Installation

The canonical package is rocks.pkb.plektra.nightly. Update the existing Plektra Nightly installation to retain its data.

For languages other than German, English and Italian, open Installed dictionaries and download the required package. Existing downloaded or privately imported packages remain installed. A fresh offline installation can suggest user words before its base package is downloaded.

Nightly builds are prereleases. See getting started and release channels.

APK variants

• Full: includes the Clicks accessibility service. Choose this variant for Clicks launcher-button interception.
• No accessibility: omits that service. Normal keyboard features and TalkBack support remain available.

Both variants use rocks.pkb.plektra.nightly and the same Nightly signing key. They replace each other when installed.

Verification

1016 release tests passed for each APK variant; 1018 debug tests passed. Hardware acceptance covered Titan 2 and Titan 2 Elite. Pixel 7a acceptance covered software layouts, Cyrillic profiles, additional letters, multi-row long-press selection, bold suggestions and the note editor.

Both APKs are PIV-signed with the Nightly certificate and verified with APK Signature Scheme v3. The SSH-token-signed Git tag records release artifact checksums. See SHA256SUMS, release-manifest.json, the source archive and the two SBOMs below.

Build

• Version: 26.10-nightly.09.203552Z
• Version code: 1791578152
• Source commit: d07811aacbd184b4f05ab34cc415d85f66cb0887
• Signed tag: nightly/v26.10-nightly.09.203552Z
• Dictionaries and layouts: https://github.com/pkb-rocks/plektra-dict/releases/tag/v1

Plektra Nightly v26.10-nightly.08.211000Z

Plektra Nightly · 26.10-nightly.08.211000Z

• Cloud dictation with OpenRouter and OpenAI. The active keyboard language is sent as a language hint. OpenRouter refreshes its model and endpoint catalog and requires Zero Data Retention routing.
• OpenAI realtime transcription inserts text while recording. Partial transcripts are replaced by the final result; typing or changing fields cancels the session.
• Voice settings provide model selection, encrypted API keys, usage information and a configurable end-of-speech pause. The default is three seconds. The microphone shows silence countdown and processing states; long press opens Voice settings.
• Import Pastiera backup ZIPs in Advanced settings, including preferences from 0.85 and 0.86. Legacy keys are translated, unsupported entries are skipped, and corrupt imports are rejected before applying settings. Import failures restore the previous settings and user files.
• Correct the smooth test-field cursor after line breaks and scrolling. Improve themed launcher icon visibility and keep oversized corner icons within their fields.
• Add variant-aware update selection. This transition release includes the full APK so existing installations can update before a reduced APK is offered.

Installation

Package: rocks.pkb.plektra.nightly. The full APK includes the accessibility service. Provider credentials are configured separately in Voice settings and are excluded from backups.

Verification

959 release unit tests passed. Pastiera 0.85 and 0.86 fixture imports passed end-to-end through the Android file picker on Pixel 7a, including repeat import and corrupt-file rejection. Real historical user archives remain a manual migration check.

Build

• Version: 26.10-nightly.08.211000Z
• Version code: 1791493800
• Source commit: 93b73d8e3bce499cf051bb7d289564994e8a7911
• Tag: nightly/v26.10-nightly.08.211000Z
• Dictionaries and layouts: https://github.com/pkb-rocks/plektra-dict/releases/tag/v1

Plektra Nightly v26.10-nightly.07.214711Z

First Plektra Nightly · 26.10

Plektra is a physical-keyboard IME with its own app identity, release channels and customization settings. This first Nightly brings together the current work for the Titan 2 and Titan 2 Elite.

• Keyboard bar: choose suggestions, variations/menu controls and modifier indicators independently. Configure Normal and Slim profiles, reorder the content rows or combine them into one row. Empty content collapses; explicitly opened SYM, emoji and clipboard panels remain available.
• Consistent outer surfaces: display corners and LED contours use shared geometry across the bar, expanded panels and software keyboard. The actual outer key owns its contour, including the SYM Close slot and secondary key labels.
• Rendering: prepared shapes, LED paths, hit regions and content placements are reused. Color and modifier changes avoid rebuilding unchanged geometry; pixel-by-pixel placement searches are removed.
• Themes and settings: the selected theme and previews reflect the effective system theme. Modifier indicators and display geometry have their own settings destinations.
• Typing fixes: accent-only dictionary variants take priority for correction; replacement safety checks actual edit distance. Snippet suggestions update IME visibility when shown or cleared.
• Titan 2 Elite gestures: the default flick threshold is 250px, with an explanation of the native Scroll assistant prerequisite. Saved thresholds remain in effect.
• Main screen: selectable flowing strings and physical-key backgrounds react to typing. The launcher-home visibility setting controls the bar when Niagara exposes an invisible input field.

Installation

The canonical package is rocks.pkb.plektra.nightly. Plektra Nightly can coexist with Plektra Stable and Pastiera. Configure its keyboard profile and languages after installation; automatic migration from Pastiera is planned for the stable release.

The published Nightly APK uses the separate hardware-backed Nightly signing key. See release channels and signing and getting started.

Build

• Version: 26.10-nightly.07.214711Z
• Version code: 1791409631
• Source commit: fa8e276a05e2034821b4f5ce77b9abdb73b3193a
• Tag: nightly/v26.10-nightly.07.214711Z