8Vim Keyboard
Published by Ravi Agarwal
A small screen keyboard inspired by VIM and 8Pen
Highlights
- Provides a gesture-driven text input method as an Android keyboard.
- Uses a circular sector layout in the manner of 8Pen instead of tapped keys.
- Borrows movement and editing concepts from the VIM editor.
- Designed to occupy a small area of the screen.
- Licensed under Apache-2.0.
About this application
8Vim Keyboard is an input method for Android that replaces the conventional grid of letter keys with a gesture-based layout. Its design draws on two earlier ideas: the modal, movement-oriented editing of the VIM text editor, and the circular sector arrangement used by 8Pen, where characters are selected by tracing a path through zones rather than tapping discrete targets.
The result is a keyboard aimed at small display areas, since a gesture region occupies less space than a full QWERTY arrangement and does not require precise finger placement on narrow keys. This approach carries a learning cost: the letter positions must be memorised before typing speed becomes comparable to a layout the user already knows.
The keyboard is published for Android by Ravi Agarwal under the Apache-2.0 licence, which permits reuse and modification of the source, including in derivative works.
Where to get it
Android
- OpenOpens in a new tabApp storeF-Droid
From the publisher
Package identifier:
inc.flide.vi8v0.17.56.5 MBreleased 07/01/2024
SHA-256 from the manifest published by F-Droid, compared on 08/04/2026
ea69ca6762e150c048ce2fbec2a8198dad3ca4623425941a0e9e673776242b40
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