this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
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Favorite FOSS Android Apps for a De-Googled Phone (dubvee.org)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/opensource
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Just setup a new de-Googled phone and figured I'd share some of the good FOSS apps I'm using. Please feel free to chime in with any you'd recommend (or better options than what I have listed)

  • Weather: Breezy Weather. Note that the version in F-Droid is the "freenet" version and only has one source (Open-Meteo I believe). The "standard" release is available on Github and has additional sources like AccuWeather, OpenWeather, etc. Absolutely gorgeous app as well as widgets.
  • Maps: Organic Maps What Google Maps should be. Absolutely gorgeous, functional, and works 100% offline.
  • Google Play Store: Aurora Store. Sometimes you need an app that's only available in the official Play store. Aurora store lets you download apps without having Play services installed or requiring a Google account. Even if you do have Play services and Play store available, Aurora is just so much more usable since it's not a flaming dumpster fire of "suggestions", "recommendations", and ads.
  • Email: K-9 Mail. Basically Thunderbird Mobile. Enough said.
  • Calendar: Etar Fast and efficient, syncs easily with my DAVx5 synced calendars from Nextcloud
  • Tasks: OpenTasks. Create, edit, update, and complete tasks. Can sync to a CalDAV server via DAVx5.
  • Contact/Calendar/Task Sync: DavX5 WebDAV sync utility that I use to sync my calendar, contacts, and tasks from Nextcloud to my phone.
  • Matrix: SchildiChat. So much better than Element for Android. Was having constant issues with encryption keys failing to sync in Element that hasn't (yet?) been a problem with SchildiChat.
  • Launcher: FastDraw: This is more of a preference, but I really like this launcher for its simplicity and ease of organization. Don't recommend this if you use a lot of widgets as it only supports one at a time (feature, not bug).
  • Authenticator: Aegis
  • SIP/VOIP: Linphone I really wish the desktop version of Linphone had this kind of polish.
  • MPD Client: M.A.L.P Absolutely gorgeous and intuitive MPD client. I pair it with Snapcast to control my whole-house audio.
  • Quick Share: Snapdrop/Pairdrop I don't use the app (rather, I have my self-hosted one pinned as a PWA), but this is great for sending one-off files or text between devices.
  • Music: Tie between Apollo and Mucke. The default LineageOS (AOSP?) music player is nice, but the phone I setup wasn't supported with LineageOS and didn't have a good music player included. Additionally, those two scale well on the small screen of the device I'm using where others would crop off the controls at varying points.
  • Web Apps: NativeAlpha. Uses the Android System WebView to wrap any website into a standalone "app". While most mobile browsers will let you do that with the "Add to home screen" button, only ones with a manifest.json will work as apps; the rest are just shortcuts. Also includes other niceties such as adding adblock, controlling cookies, defaulting to a desktop version, and modifying the user agent string (among other options).
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I have Material Files and just forgot to include it in my list. That one's great.

Will have to check out Fossify Phone and SMS Messenger. I'm currently using the AOSP stock apps for both of those. Stock dialer is fine, but the stock messenger leaves a bit to be desired.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Some suggestions:

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

For music, assuming it's local playback of files, I go with auxio because I've given up on finding an open source music app for android that has the ability to make live lists instead of just normal playlists.

K-9 Mail is pretty decent from my use of it. Definitely better than the default gmail, which I can only disable data/internet access to because fuck being able to uninstall unessential apps, am I right?

Also, just looked up what an MPD is because I'm an idiot, but I might have to look into this.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I feel like I was late to the MPD party and regret not setting it up sooner. The music plays and is organized on the server and you can control it over the network with an MPD client. So if the server is hooked to a sound system, you can remote control it.

That's all well and good, but MPD also supports outputting to a local file FIFO (basically a virtual output) and Snapcast can use that as a source. Snapcast is a multi-room, network audio service that syncs the streams for all the clients (basically FOSS Sonos). Together, they run my whole-house audio. They're also supported in HomeAssistant so you can add controls for the player and individual speakers in your dashboards.

MPD also supports partitions (virtual players / zones), but I've had trouble getting those working reliably. I'll have to re-try that since it's been a year or so since I last tried, and it was a fairly new feature then.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

AntennaPod

Bitwarden

Connectbot

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Excellent list! Does DavX5 support scheduled exports and backups? Here are some additions primarily from F-droid and Izzy:

  • Quote Unquote: Excellent motivational/creative quotes app with a set of widgets.

  • NetGuard: Local firewall you can use to deny apps internet access. Good for privacy and limiting data usage

  • SD Maid 2/SE: Basically BleachBit Mobile--useful for managing storage.

  • ExifEraser: detect and remove metadata from images.

  • PipePipe: FOSS Android app to let you brose YouTube, NicoNico and BiliBili.

  • FFUpdater: ensure you have the latest version of Firefox, along with certain other web browsers. Useful if you want the beta version of...

  • Mull: Privacy-oriented, up-to-date fork of Firefox.

  • BitWarden: Highly secure, open-source password manager and information organizer.

  • Neo Backup: Open-source tool to backup your apps and data.

  • NeverTooManyBooks: Keep track of your books and comics

  • Irregular Expressions: Virtual keyboard for writing expressive messages in various text styles.

  • Calculator++

  • VLC Media Player

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

+1 for PipePipe. As a vocaloid/UTAU/etcetera fan, it's nice to be able to view songs that aren't on yt without having to switch to a web browser to look them up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Does DavX5 support scheduled exports and backups?

I don't see an option for that, so probably not. TBH, since I run the backend it syncs with (Nextcloud in my case), I handle backups and exports there. I believe there are other apps (don't have a recommendation on hand) that will allow you to backup/export your contacts and calendars regardless of where they're synced from (not sure about tasks).

Great additions, too. I apparently missed VLC when I put this list together. Definitely recommend that on any device.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Always these lists XD

Make an account on alternativeto.net and share that knowledge. The platform is full of FOSS-ignoring normies

[–] webbureaucrat 2 points 2 months ago

I live on Termux. I love being able to write software in my own custom emacs configuration from my phone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)
  • Weather: KleineWetterVorschau (Germany), even syncs with Gadgetbridge
  • Keyboard: FlorisBoard Beta, they add a ton of cool stuff and it is the only one customizable enough to be usable
  • Maps: nothing beats OSMAnd but the rendering is slow and the UI is uninspired (there is no focus on nice features)
  • Calendar: Fossify Calendar + DAVx5
  • Share: Localsend, wormhole. If snapdrop is easier to use, very nice. But Localsend is very reliable over local hotspot too.
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah, I used to use OSMAnd but Organic Maps is my new love. Breezy Weather has gadget bridge support, but I haven't tested it yet. Will checkout Fossify Calendar for sure. Etar is pretty basic, but gets the job done.

Haven't heard of Localsend or Wormhole but will check those out.

I patched my self-hosted version of Snapdrop to work better behind my Authelia proxy:

  • Uses the display name passed from Authelia rather than randomly assigning one (will fall back to random names if using it unauthenticated on local network)
  • Since it's behind Authelia, I have it open to the internet (behind SSO with 2FA) and patched the server process to remove the restriction that both devices be on the same LAN. Let's me send over 4G to another device or my PC easily.
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Keyboards:

  • 8Vim if you're in the mood for a very well made and very difficult keyboard. I've used it for a while and I still suck at it, but I'm not getting bored.
  • also FUTO (the company that makes Grayjay if you're familiar) released a keyboard, and it's quite good.
    More importantly it incorporate an on device voice recognition. I use it for French and English and I'm very happy with it. You can install it as a standalone.
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I'll try to play with those a bit when I do my next regular smartphone build. I've got a OP Nord N200 on order as my next project.

The one I just did was a flip-phone form factor, so I went with Traditional T9 (which I'm kind of loving but that may just be the fact that I have physical keys again lol)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Build, as in assembling hardware?

Other well made and fun keyboard is the one from Dessalines: https://github.com/dessalines/thumb-key

I loved T9. In a way I still use it to launch apps on my phone (Appdialer). I wish there was an open source version of that app.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Build, as in assembling hardware?

Oh, no, lol (but I wish!) More like a Linux build. Sometimes I build from source (for fun or necessity), sometimes I use someone else's build. Breathes new life into my old devices that would otherwise be rotting in a drawer. Like, a while back, I updated my old ca. 2016 Moto G4 from Android 6 to 11.

I have old phones lying around in about every room of the house, usually as Home Assistant remotes and VOIP handsets. All of them relatively up to date with custom ROM builds.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

ah, gotcha. yeah, smartphones are amazing devices, feels bad letting them gathering dust.

I daily drove Ubuntu Touch for a few months. It was quite usable!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)