Many of you often wonder what applications I use in a daily basis. As you might expect, I mostly use free and open source software (FOSS). While this is a highly opinionated topic, especially, to those who already use FOSS applications, here is the list of applications that I frequently use in alphabetical order:
- Aard 2 (GitHub | F-Droid) - A unique dictionary viewer with advanced features such as bookmarks and history. If you can build Android apps, you can try my fork which has a better UI
- Aegis Authenticator (GitHub | F-Droid) - A free, secure and open source app to manage your 2-step verification tokens for your online services
- App Manager (GitHub | F-Droid) - You don’t need a description :)
- Audio Recorder (GitHub | F-Droid) - Miniature yet beautiful audio recorder you’ll ever see
- Aurora Store (GitLab | F-Droid) - Aurora Store is an alternative to Google’s Play Store
- Automation (Server47 | F-Droid) - Automate stuff on your device by creating rules, a simple alternative to Tasker
- Barcode Scanner (GitLab | F-Droid) - Read and generate QR & barcodes, and find additional information using various online API such as Open Food Facts or Open Library.
- Battery Charge Limiter (GitHub) - Control when to start and stop charging your battery, requires root
- Bitwarden (GitHub | Bitwarden F-Droid) - Bitwarden is a password manager that works both online and offline, self-hostable, requires an account
- Calculator++ (GitHub | F-Droid) - (Abandoned but works) Scientific calculator with sleek interface and powerful capabilities
- Camera (GitHub) - Modern camera app focused on privacy and security with QR & barcode scanning, by GrapheneOS
- Cromite (GitHub | Cromite F-Droid) - A fork of Chromium web browser with support for ad blocking and enhanced privacy, fork of unmaintained Bromite
- DAVx⁵ (GitHub | F-Droid) - CalDAV/CardDAV Synchronization and Client
- Droid-ify (GitHub | F-Droid) - A quick, simple and intuitive material-designed F-Droid client (some people prefer NeoStore)
- F-Droid Build Status (Codeberg | F-Droid) - Displays and monitors build status from F-Droid
- Feeder (GitLab | F-Droid) - An awesome Libre and Open Source RSS feed reader
- Forkgram (GitHub | F-Droid) - A fork of the official Telegram for Android application with extended features
- Geometric Weather (GitHub | F-Droid) - A lightweight, powerful, open-source Material Design weather app
- Insular (GitLab | F-Droid) - Isolate your Big Brother apps in a separate work profile, fork of Island
- K-9 Mail (GitHub | F-Droid) - An open source email client that works with basically every email provider (many people prefer FairEmail)
- MiXplorer (Closed source) - The most complete file manager on Android (not necessarily the most neat though) (simple FOSS alternative is Material Files)
- Moon+ Reader (Closed source) - One of the best eBook readers on Android (FOSS alternative is KOReader)
- Mullvad VPN (GitHub | F-Droid) - Protect your online privacy with a fast, trustworthy, and easy-to-use VPN
- OpenKeychain (GitHub | F-Droid) - Easy encryption/decryption using OpenPGP, used by K-9 Mail, App Manager, …
- Openreads (GitHub | F-Droid) - Your private and open source books tracker, organizer and reading list
- Organic Maps (GitHub | F-Droid) - Open-source, community-driven maps for travelers, tourists, cyclists & hikers (OpenStreetMap)
- personalDNSfilter (GitHub | F-Droid) - DNS request based Host Blocker over local VPN using a Blocklist
- Poweramp (Closed source) - One of the best music players on Android (a simple FOSS alternative is Music Player GO)
- Quillpad (GitHub | F-Droid) - Markdown notes, task lists, Nextcloud sync and more. A fork of the unmaintained Quillnote app
- Simple Gallery (GitHub | F-Droid) - The best FOSS photo gallery app you can find (which is the worst if you consider closed source though)
- SkyView (Closed source) - A beautiful and intuitive stargazing app that uses your camera to precisely spot and identify celestial objects in sky, day or night (a simple FOSS alternative is Sky Map)
- Syncthing (GitHub | F-Droid) - Open, trustworthy and decentralized file synchronization
- Termux (GitHub | F-Droid) - Terminal emulator with packages
- Trail Sense (GitHub | F-Droid) - Use your phone’s sensors to assist with (not just) wilderness treks (like App Manager, this will help you get rid of a lot of apps)
- URLCheck (GitHub | F-droid) - Allows you to analyze (or share) urls before opening them (a very good app if I say so)
I use Lineage OS 18.1. Hence, for calendar, contacts, keyboard, launcher and phone, I use the default applications.
Edit History
- On July 1, 2023, Aard 2 and Feeder apps were added replacing Read You.
- On September 23, 2023, Cromite and Barcode Scanner apps were added replacing Bromite and Binary Eye respectively.