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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Swarachakra
| title = Indic Language Input Tool
| genre = [[Virtual keyboard]]
| logo = 
| logo caption =
| screenshot = Swarachakra keyboard.png
| caption = Swarachakra keyboard with preview of conjuncts, along with chakra for the conjunct 'स्व'
| collapsible =
| author =
| developer = [[IDIN group]]
| released = {{start date|df=yes|2013|6|7}}
| discontinued =
| latest release version =
| latest release date = 
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date = 
| programming language =
| operating system = [[Android (operating system)|Android]]
| platform =
| size =
| language = [[Assamese language|Assamese]], [[Bengali language|Bangla]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Hindi language|Hindi]], [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Kannada]], [[Malayalam]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Oriya language|Oriya]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] ([[Gurmukhi]] script), [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]]
| license = [[Apache License]]
| website = {{URL|http://swarachakra.in}}
}}
'''Swarachakra''' (Devanagari: स्वरचक्र) is a free text input application developed by the IDIN group at [[Industrial Design Center]] (IDC), [[Indian Institute of Technology Bombay]] for [[Indic scripts]].<ref name="pressrel1">[http://www.loksatta.com/vruthanta-news/marathi-typing-easily-possible-on-android-phone-550133/ आता अँड्रॉइड फोनवर मराठी टायिपग सहज शक्य]</ref> Swarachakra's alphabetical keyboard layout performed better than the Inscript layout (a [[QWERTY]]-based design and government standard in India). Currently, it is available for [[Android (operating system)|Android]] devices<ref>[http://swarachakra-marathi.android.informer.com/ Swarachakra Marathi Keyboard - Android Informer.]</ref><ref name="pressrel">[http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/mobile/marathi-mobile/articleshow/31050924.cms मराठीसाठी चक्र फिरलं] Maharashtra Times.</ref> in twelve languages.

Work on other languages is in progress. This is one of the many projects taken up to develop interactive products for developing countries at IDC.

== Motivation ==
[[File:Languages on Indian Currency.jpg|thumb|right|15 official languages on 100 rupees Indian Currency note]]
India is a multilingual country with 1,635 languages (including dialects and sub dialects) while Indian currency notes display 15 major languages. Although smartphone penetration is increasing in India, text input in Indic scripts has been a challenge for many years. According to the 2005 India Human Development Survey, the surveyed households reported that 72 per cent of men did not speak any English, 28 per cent spoke some English, and five per cent spoke fluent English. Among women, the corresponding percentages were 83, 17, and 3. While Indian languages are preferred in other means of communication in India (e.g. oral and written communication, radio, TV, newspapers and magazines), English is still the most preferred language for text input.

The focus of this project is to increase the Indian text input on smartphones and tablets. A better text input mechanism will be helpful to people with little or no knowledge of English, and also for those who prefer not to use English.

== Challenges ==
[[File:Devanagari INSCRIPT Keyboard.JPG|thumb|Devanagari INSCRIPT Keyboard]]
Text entry in Indian Languages has many challenges. Devanagari, for example, requires 52-65 keys to input just the frequently used characters (25 consonants, 9 semi-vowels, 3 frequent conjuncts, 13 vowels, a halant and the 13 vowel modifiers), whereas 26 keys are sufficient to represent Latin script. The government standard Inscript uses 42 keys but takes away many punctuation marks, including commonly used ones such as question marks and quotation marks. Further, it clubs unrelated characters on same key such as म ण, ह ङ, ऍ १, र ३, ज्ञ ५, त्र ६, क्ष ७, श्र. This is believed to be why Inscript and most other qwerty-based text input mechanisms have not become popular up until now.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}}

== History ==
Researchers at IDC have been working on alternatives to QWERTY-based keyboards for Indic text input since 2001. Earlier projects included the design of hardware devices such as Dynakey, Barakhadi, Keylekh<ref name="paper1">[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=985950 Keylekh: a keyboard for text entry in indic scripts]</ref> and e-Lekh. As mobile phones became smarter and more powerful, this group started working on text input alternatives for mobile phones in 2007 with Saral.<ref name="paper2">[http://www.cs.swan.ac.uk/globicomp2009/papers/Paper-11-SARAL-revised%20paper.pdf Saral: Devanagari text input system in mobile phones]</ref> Swarachakra and Disha were two designs developed in 2010 for touch-screen devices.<ref name="paper3">[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2037422 Design and evaluation of Devanagari virtual keyboards for touch screen mobile phones]</ref> In June 2013, Swarachakra was launched on Android devices. {{As of|2017|08}}, more than 20 lakh people have downloaded Swarachakra from Google play store. Swarachakra has received appreciation from local newspapers in India <ref name="pressrel1"/><ref name="pressrel" />
<ref>[http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/edit/column/marathi-mudra/-/articleshow/24559920.cms तंत्रज्ञानातील मराठीचा प्रसारक] Maharashtra Times.</ref><ref>[http://www.sandesh.com/article.aspx?newsid=2955067 આઈઆઈટીનાં છાત્ર કચ્છી યુવકની ટીમે બનાવ્યું 'સ્વરચક્ર' સોફ્ટવેર] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714124028/http://www.sandesh.com/article.aspx?newsid=2955067 |date=14 July 2014 }} Sandesh.</ref>
<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140707063219/http://www.iamin.in/en/mumbai-south/news/iit-bombay-students-create-app-make-hindi-typing-easy-38612 ‘स्वरचक्र’ ऐप से एंड्रॉइड पर राज करेंगी हिन्दुस्तानी भाषाएँ]</ref>
<ref>[http://m.timesofindia.com/city/goa/Now-an-app-that-helps-you-text-in-Konkani/articleshow/40531528.cms Now, an app that helps you text in Konkani]</ref>
<ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Goan-lads-part-of-Konkani-app-project/articleshow/41611967.cms Goan lads part of Konkani app project]</ref>
<ref>[http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/46012547.cms आशा उद्याच्या! मराठी टायपिंगचा फंडा]</ref>
<ref>[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2676702.2676705 Corpus of Marathi word frequencies from touch-screen devices using Swarachakra Android keyboard]</ref>
<ref>[http://www.andhrajyothy.com/Artical.aspx?SID=85783&SupID=25 ఇక అరచేతిలో తెలుగు...]</ref>
and international magazines<ref>[http://issuu.com/poolmagazine/docs/pool61_review/5?e=1914850/15109997 Convenient keyboard]</ref>
<ref>[http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/september-october-2015/interaction-design-for-indian-needs-lab-iit-bombay A day in a lab - Interaction design for Indian needs, IIT Bombay]</ref>
<ref>[http://www.loksatta.com/mumbai-news/marathi-typing-use-on-mobile-increased-10-times-more-1168487 मोबाइलवर संदेशवहन करणारी तरुणाई आता जोमाने मराठीत टाइप करू लागली आहे]</ref>
<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEqort53kGw Swarachakra - A Zero-Budget Touch Keyboard for Indian Languages | Anirudha Joshi | TEDxDharavi]</ref>

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://play.google.com/store/search?q=swarachakra&c=apps Swarachakra on Android playstore]
*[http://swarachakra.in Swarachakra Website]
*[https://twitter.com/swarchakra Swarachakra] on Twitter
*[https://www.facebook.com/swarchakra Swarachakra] on Facebook
*[http://www.loksatta.com/abhikalpa-news/typing-challenges-in-indian-language-1241049 भारतीय भाषा टंकलेखनातील आव्हाने]
*[http://www.loksatta.com/abhikalpa-news/iit-bombay-research-on-indian-languages-typing-technology-1246541 संगणकासाठी टंकलेखन यंत्रणांचे अभिकल्प]

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline}}

[[Category:Input methods]]
[[Category:Indic computing]]
[[Category:Input/output]]
[[Category:User interface techniques]]
[[Category:Mobile technology]]
[[Category:Keyboard layouts]]
[[Category:Android (operating system) software]]
[[Category:Free application software]]
[[Category:IIT Bombay]]

Swarachakra - Revision history

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