FAQ

FAQ

Is this a keylogger?

PolterType has to see keystrokes to do its job — that is the category. What makes it trustworthy is verifiable: it is fully open source (MIT); the word buffer is RAM-only and short-lived; logs never contain typed words (they are redacted at compile time in release builds); and the app makes exactly one network call of its own — the update check, which sends no identifier, whose URL is printed in Settings so you can verify it, and which one checkbox turns off. Zero telemetry. The optional AI detector is the only other thing that can open a socket, and it stays inert until you name an endpoint yourself. Since 0.24.0 there is one setting that reaches further than the keyboard — selection conversion reads your clipboard — and it is off until you turn it on; see below.

Can it fix text I have already typed?

Yes, since 0.24.0, and it is off by default. Tick Also convert selected text on the Hotkeys pane ([selection] enabled = true) and the force-switch key will also convert whatever you have selected — a whole sentence in the wrong layout, or a word the detector left alone.

It looks at the selection only when there is no just-typed word to fix, so the usual gesture is unchanged and no copy is sent on a normal force-switch. Reading a selection means copying it, which is why the setting exists at all: that is a longer reach than the rest of the app has, and nobody should acquire it by upgrading. Your clipboard is put back afterwards.

The toggle greys itself out where the session cannot do it, with the reason in place of the setting — it probes rather than consulting a list of desktop names. Today that means GNOME and Cinnamon on Wayland, which give a windowless app no way to read the clipboard without taking keyboard focus, and macOS, where the app cannot yet press the copy shortcut. Two limits everywhere else: a clipboard holding an image or files is replaced rather than restored, and nothing distinguishes a password field.

Why does my OS warn me during installation?

The installers are currently unsigned — SmartScreen and Gatekeeper warn about any unsigned binary. The workarounds are in Installation; code signing is planned.

Will it mangle my code?

Two engine-level guards run in every app on every OS: the identifier guard (won't touch snake_case, camelCase, letter+digit tokens) and the plausibility keep (won't "fix" kubectl, nginx, or a surname into Cyrillic noise just because it isn't in a dictionary). If that's not enough for one particular app, add it to the per-app skip list (Configuration-Cookbook).

Does it work on Wayland?

Yes — via evdev/uinput. Layout switching works on Hyprland, KDE Plasma, GNOME and sway; labwc — and with it Budgie's and Xfce's Wayland sessions — is not supported. A one-time setup script grants device access, and Linux-Setup has the full table. Extras are compositor-dependent: the tooltip needs layer-shell or XWayland, and per-app features need the focus tracker (complete on Windows, macOS, Hyprland and X11; on other Wayland it answers only for apps with an accessibility bridge).

What languages are supported?

Fifteen ship with the app: English, Ukrainian, Russian, German, Spanish, French, Polish, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, Bulgarian, Italian and both Portuguese variants. PolterType loads only the ones your OS has enabled. Anything else you add yourself as a data file, no rebuild needed: Adding-a-Language.

Can I have the interface in my own language?

That is a separate list from the layouts above. The settings window, the tray menu, the notifications and the suggestion tooltip ship in English, German, Spanish, French and Ukrainian — pick one under Settings → General → Appearance and it applies straight away, without restarting the app. Anything else is one TOML file and no rebuild: docs/TRANSLATING_THE_UI.md walks through it, and a file you drop into <config-dir>/poltertype/i18n/ is offered in the picker beside the shipped ones.

How do updates work?

A daily check against GitHub Releases, a checksum-verified download, and a staged install that only applies when you quit or click "Restart to update" — never mid-typing. It is not telemetry, and [updates] enabled = false switches all of it off. The release manifest carries a detached ed25519 signature, checked against a key compiled into the app before any URL in it is read; since 0.17.2 an unsigned manifest is refused rather than warned about. The installers are a separate matter and are still unsigned — that is what Gatekeeper and SmartScreen warn about.

Punto Switcher used to do this — how is PolterType different?

Open source, cross-platform (including Linux/Wayland and macOS), no telemetry, and no account with anyone. The trade-off: it is a young project by a small team — the honest per-platform status always lives in the README.

Since 0.21.0 the fix gesture can be the one your hands already know: bind the force-switch to Shift+Shift (two taps) or to two modifiers held together — see Configuration-Cookbook. Converting a selection is not implemented yet.