Here is a list of my favorite Android apps, all FOSS with the exception of one.
In no particular order:
1. App stores:
F-Droid
Aurora Store
2. Browsers:
Bromite
Mull
DucDuckGo
TOR Alpha
3. Media:
AIMP
Newpipe
RadioDroid
AntennaPod
4. Mail and 2FA
K-9 Mail
Aegis
5. Weather app
Forcastie
6. Firewall etc.
Netguard
Orbot
7. Messaging and chat:
Element
Signal
My favorit app ever is probably Nova Launcher Prime. It’s the first thing I install when I get a new phone.
FOSS apps I use:
FDroid
Bromite
KDE Connect
Simple Gallery Pro
Simple File Manager Pro
Simple Calender Pro
OpenBoard
Notally
NewPipe
Antenna Pod
Slide for Reddit
Collabora Office
Articons Dark / Light - A pretty nice set of icons based on strokes Bitwarden - Password manager that is cross platform Florisboard - Keyboard that is still in development, but already useful Vinyl - Music Player Netguard - Per app access control to the internet, some people do not know this but the F-droid version also allows adblocking using a hosts file QR Scanner - QR scanner, I like this for the clean interface Insular - Uses android’s work profile to isolate and/or freeze apps. Similar to Shelter and Island (of which Insular is a fork)
Wow, I have over forty apps on my phone, If I were to list them all, the day would go down. Without claiming completeness: Sygic, VLC, Total Commander, GPS Test, Vivaldi, Firefox, Chrome, Here We Go, Waze, etc, etc.
Organic Maps - maps & satnav (satnav requires Google TTS)
OsmAnd+ - maps & satnav (satnav doesn’t require Google TTS)
Pixel Dungeon - rouge-like dungeon crawler game
Pluvia - weather forecast
Podverse - podcasts
Shattered Pixel Dungeon - rogue-like dungeon crawler game (fork of Pixel Dungeon)
Shelter - setup & access Android work profile
Signal - chat app (FOSS, but distributed via Google Play Store or Signal website)
Simplenote - notes (FOSS, but distributed via Google Play Store or GitHub)
Sky Map - ever looked up at night and wondered what you’re looking at?
StreetComplete - channel your inner OCD into improving Open Street Map
Suntimes - see when sunrise & sunset are
Syncthing - file synchronisation
Telegram FOSS - chat app
Twidere X - Twitter client
UnCiv - FOSS version of Civilization (game)
Vinyl - music player
VLC - video player, etc
Wikipedia - Wikipedia client
Non-FOSS (Distributed via Google Play Store)
Garmin Connect - activity tracker, smart watch integration, Garmin Pay, etc. (makes the loss of Google Wallet less of an issue when switching to CalyxOS or GrapheneOS)
Those are some nice list of apps you have shared.
I already use some of them. Some I only know by name and others are completely new to me.
I feel like a kid in a Luna Park! I gotta try them all!
Yeah me too! I bookmarked this thread earlier and I’ve been checking stuff out via F-Droid & Google Play throughout the day when I’ve had time. I just bought a new phone on Monday and I always customize everything I lay my hands on anyway. Personally I don’t mind being in the Google/Android ecosystem too much, but it’s good to explore the FOSS stuff as well because there are way too many permissions issues on some of the Play Store apps.
The permissions are only one side of the coin. Many contain lots of different trackers.
If you are interested, you could search for some of your apps at https://exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/ to see which trackers they contain and what are their permissions. There is also one app with the same name on F-Droid that you could run on your device which produce a report of all your apps. If you do use the app, I am sure you will be in for a surprise.
Yeah I’ve had a look at the Exodus website. Basically I’ve got most things as locked down as they can be, and my default browser is Firefox with DDG and various extensions. I know from a total privacy viewpoint that is far from watertight but it’s a policy I have run with for years and on the whole I’m pretty happy with a kind of middle-ground compromise. Anything I have which is very personal or a security risk is not in the cloud anyway. For example anything financial (passwords etc) is only in my head. That stuff never gets on any network. Any other stuff, well I’ve got nothing to hide!