What are your recommended FOSS Android apps?
What are your recommended FOSS Android apps?
Hey, there!
To get things going here and also because I'm interested in what kind of fun stuff you're running on your phones, I'll post a list of apps that I'm using daily or that are part of my Android experience.
To start it all off, I'd like to emphasize that I try to run FOSS apps almost exclusively and I also don't use Google Play Services whatsoever (not even MicroG). I do run some very few closed source applications in a separate profile with Insular, but I plain out refuse to run them if they flat out require Google Play Services.
Feel free to tell me what YOU are running in the comments!
My installed Apps
- AdAway | Blocks ads by utilizing root access or by acting as a local VPN**
- Aegis | Provides 2-factor authentication codes, includes a repository of icons for your services
- Aurora Services | Required for background installations with Aurora Store****
- Aurora Store | Alternative client for the Google Play Store**
- AVNC | Remote desktop client
- CIFS Documents Provider | Access shares (SMB Windows Shares, for example) through file manager
- ConnectBot | Access SSH servers
- DAVx⁵ | CalDAV / CardDAV client (synchronizes calenders, contacts and tasks)*
- flutterhole | Adjust Pi-Hole settings quickly and inspect stats
- Fox's Magisk Module Manager | Can install Magisk modules from several repos and let's you manage them***
- Geometric Weather | Weather app (with widgets)
- Infinity for Reddit | Feature-rich Reddit client (future uncertain due to Reddit's API-pocalypse, however, you can compile Infinity with your own API, as described here)
- Insular | Creates a separate (work) profile where you can install "big brother" apps**
- Jerboa for Lemmy | Lemmy client*
- Joplin | Note-taking application with sharing capabilities*
- K-9 Mail | Modern e-mail client with multiple inboxes, etc.*
- KDE Connect | Control your computer from your smartphone and vice-versa (also share files, notifications, clipboard, etc.)
- Kore | Remote for the Kodi media center
- KurobaEx | 4chan client
- LibreSpeed | Tests connection speed*
- LibreTube | Client for Piped, a private YouTube frontend with SponsorBlock support*
- Magisk | Systemless root solution***
- mLauncher | Text-based launcher that looks good and keeps things simple
- MuPDF mini | Opens PDFs quickly and renders them perfectly, nothing else
- Mull | Firefox-based browser, deblobbed and hardened for privacy
- Nekogram X | Client for Telegram with more features
- Neo Backup | Powerful backup and restore solution**
- Neo Store | Alternative client for F-Droid**
- Noice | Create and play back profiles of overlapping noises to drown out environmental noises (use version 1.3.3, version 2.x requires internet access and an optional subscription)
- ProtonVPN | Client for the popular ProtonVPN service
- Raiden Tweaks | Configuration tool for the Raiden Tweaks Magisk module****
- Simple Gallery Pro | Nice gallery app for viewing pictures and videos
- SlimSocial for Facebook | Wrapper for Facebook's website, so you can interact with people that refuse to use any kind of messenger, but are still present on Facebook
- SuperFreezZ | Freeze applications that you're not using***
- Tasks | To-do app with recurring tasks support*
- Translate You | Translates texts between languages*
- Tusky | Client for Mastodon / Pleroma and forks*
- VLC | Powerful media player
- Wallme-Wallpaper | Provides a set of nice-looking wallpapers
- WateryDroid | Reminds you to drink water
- WireGuard | Client for the popular and powerful VPN solution WireGuard*
- Yet another Call Blocker | Uses a community blockist to block fraudalent callers
- Öffi (Offi on F-Droid) | Powerful app for checking public transportation schedules and more (Mostly Europe and some other places)
Apps not available on F-Droid
These are apps that aren't available on F-Droid, due to either containing non-free dependencies or other reasons.
- Bitwarden(GPL-3.0) | Powerful cloud password manager with auto-fill capabilities*
- boum(MPL-2.0) | Client for listening to music on Jellyfin*
- Brave(MPL-2.0) | Web browser based on Chromium with privacy in mind (I use it when Mull breaks something)
- Record You(GPL-3.0) | Record your voice or your screen
Honorable Mentions
These are apps that I wholeheartedly recommend, but don't use any more, because I replaced them with something else.
- NewPipe for SponsorBlock(GPL-3.0) | Private YouTube client with SponsorBlock support
- Open Camera | Feature rich camera with Camera API v2 support, usually the best FOSS camera on 3rd party ROMs
*CAN be used as a client for self-hosted services
**Offers additional features if root access is present
***Requires root access to be present
****Part of a Magisk module
Edit: Added some links and changed Infinity's description
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Amazing list. I would also recommend Obtainium for keeping up the updates directly from sources like Github.
Thank you, Obtanium is a great piece of software, too.
For those that are going to use it, though... Keep in mind that only applications that are on F-Droid are sure to be free of proprietary libraries, etc. I personally tend to stretch the rules a bit, so that's fine with me. But there are some Richard-Stallman-esque people who truly only want FOSS on their phone and I get that.
Also, if you installed something from F-Droid (or sometimes from somewhere else) and then try to update the same app through obtanium, it'll refuse to work, unless you uninstall the already installed version first. Same goes for updating F-Droid apps through Aurora Store (or Play Store).