Draw a letter.
Find your contact.

Open Tuhikimi and draw any letters present in a contact's or app's name on the screen. The app recognises the letters and shows every result that contains them. You can keep drawing letters one by one to narrow the search down. Names that begin with what you drew are listed first, and the results you open most often move up over time.

Tuhikimi supports special character gestures drawn on the screen to speed up search and navigation:
• left to right: acts as space
• left to right on bottom screen area where the letters show up: clears the whole entry
• right to left: acts as backspace

In Te Reo Māori, Tuhi means "to draw" or "to write", and Kimi means "to search" or "to seek". Put together, Tuhikimi literally translates to "draw to search" - the exact mechanic and philosophy behind the app!
It is pronounced phonetically as too-hee-kee-mee (with short, clear vowel sounds).

Tuhikimi searches your contacts and apps using a "contains" filter, rather than just "starts with". This means drawing a letter will match any contact or app that has that letter anywhere in their name.
Also, if you draw a space gesture to split your search into multiple parts (like drawing "A", then space, then "B"), the app looks for names that contain both parts in any order.
Smart learning: When you tap a contact or app to open it, Tuhikimi remembers your choice so it can show up higher next time. It even learns from your shortcuts! If you search for "ABCD" and tap a contact, the app makes it rank higher not just for "ABCD", but also when you draw shorter versions like "ABC", "AB", or even just "A".

Your contacts and your handwriting never leave your phone: recognition runs on-device via Google ML Kit, and neither is uploaded, indexed remotely or shared with anyone, including us. Some Google services the app relies on do use the network - see what stays on your phone and what uses the internet.

Searching is completely free and unlimited - you can draw gestures and view matching contacts and apps as much as you want. Every install also gets 20 free actions, an action being opening an app or placing a call. Once those are used up, opening a result requires the subscription (Google Play may offer a free trial on it, depending on your account) or the one-time lifetime purchase.

The yearly subscription is the lowest entry price and renews each year. The lifetime purchase costs more up front and unlocks Tuhikimi for as long as the app remains on Google Play. Google Play shows the exact price in your own currency, and it varies by country.

Contacts (to search them), phone (to place calls), and network/internet access. That is it. The network is used to download and update the handwriting recognition model in your chosen language, to handle purchases through Google Play, and by Google ML Kit for its own diagnostics - see what stays on your phone and what uses the internet.

Handwriting recognition covers dozens of languages and scripts through Google ML Kit - English, Spanish, Hindi and Greek among them. You pick the recognition language in Settings and can switch it whenever you like; right-to-left scripts are not offered, because the canvas and the gestures assume left-to-right writing.
That is a separate setting from the app's interface language, which is English or Polish. You can run the Polish interface while drawing in Greek, or the other way round.

Tuhikimi uses Google ML Kit’s precise digital ink language models. In Settings, you can download specific packs for your native languages (like Polish, German, Spanish, or Greek). Once active, you can draw your native diacritical characters (like "Ł", "ß", or "ü") directly on the screen, so you can look for "Łukasz" or "München" without the long-press keys and layout switching of standard keyboards. Recognition is a best guess rather than a guarantee, so Tuhikimi shows several candidates and keeps matching diacritic-insensitively - a misread accent never empties the list.

Handwriting recognition and searches across the categories you have enabled - contacts, installed apps, and settings shortcuts such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth - run on your phone. You can turn each category on or off in Settings → Behavior. We never receive your handwriting or your contact list, and the app itself collects no analytics.
The internet is used by Google services: downloading and updating language models (about 20MB the first time), and handling and verifying purchases. Google ML Kit may also send Google technical and diagnostic data - device and app information, per-installation identifiers, performance metrics, and the languages you have configured - as set out in our App Privacy Policy. On-device recognition does not mean every component works without network access.
The Tuhikimi website is separate from the Android app. It uses Plausible for cookie-free analytics, and the contact form is handled by Formspark; both are described in our Website Privacy Policy.
If the app crashes, you can choose to send us a report by email. It contains technical details such as your device model and Android version, never your contacts, and you can turn it off in Settings.

Yes. To help users navigate during high-stress alerts or in low-light transit, Tuhikimi supports crisp haptic ticks on gesture completions (space, backspace, scroll). You can also customize the gesture handwriting brush from a sharp 3px line up to a wide 15px dynamic neon glow in Settings.

Google Gesture Search inspired the idea of finding contacts by drawing letters. Tuhikimi is an independently developed app from Smarter Lab and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.

No, Tuhikimi is not a launcher and was never designed or intended to be one. It is a quick search tool designed to help you find contacts and launch applications instantly, complementing your existing launcher rather than replacing it.