Open Android Apps

Some android apps that can be replaced with garbage.

Android is full of proprietary garbage. Most of the applications we use are closed source and cannot be trusted. But there are open source alternatives to most of the proprietary apps that we use daily.

List of proprietary apps and their alternatives :

Play Store -> F-Droid

F-Droid is the repository of open source applications from where you can install open source only apps. It contains most if the apps present in this list. Check

Essential Apps -> Simple Mobile Tools

Simple Mobile Tools is a suite of open source essential apps such as :

• Gallery
• Calendar
• Contacts
• Notes
• File Manager
• Draw
• Music Player
• Flashlight
• SMS Messanger
• Voice Recorder
• Dialer
• Calculator
• Clock
• App Launcher
• Camera

As the name suggests they are simple and don't have extensive functionality compared to other apps. But they will make your job done in no time. Check

Files -> Material Files

Material Files is a file manager with a material design and can do everything that the Google Files can do and more. Check

Chrome -> Fennec F-Droid

Fennec F-Droid is a fork of Firefox with the unnecessary data collection removed making it even better than the original open source Firefox. Check

Google Maps -> OsmAnd~

OsmAnd~ is an open alternative to Google Maps and is very powerful on what it does. It can keep offline maps too. There are extensions available for different maps like satellite, biking etc. Check

Twitter -> Fritter - Twidere

You can access the contents of public Twitter accounts from Fritter. But you cannot use it to login, post and comment on tweets. Check Twidere on the other hand can log in to your Twitter account and you can do everything that you can do on the Twitter app. Check

YouTube -> NewPipe - LBRY (Odysee)

NewPipe is a YouTube frontend which allows you to watch YouTube content without the need of having an account to subscribe to channels as well as can play videos on popup mode which is only available on the premium YouTube app. Check On the other hand, LBRY/Odyssey is a completely new platform like YouTube where you can find similar video contents. It uses cryptocurrency to pay the creators. Check

Reddit -> Slide - Lemmur

Slide is an open source reddit client which let's you browse reddit however you want, it is customizable and doesn't have any ads too. Check Lemmur is a android client for "lemmy" which is a completely new platform similar to reddit but is federated. Check

Evernote -> Joplin

Joplin is an open source note taking app which is a very good alternative to Evernote. It has features like Notebooks, Tags as well as Tasks like in Evernote. It can be synced on different cloud platform like Nextcloud, Onedrive, Dropbox etc as well as it's own server. Check

Gboard -> Anysoft Keyboard

Anysoft Keyboard is an open source keyboard app that can replace the Gboard app but doesn't have indic language support yet. Check

Gmail -> K9 Mail - Proton Mail

K9 Mail is an open source email client application to sign in to different email accounts. Check Proton Mail is a different email service which focuses on the privacy of the user. It also has an open source email app for Android. Check

Google Drive/ Photos -> Nextcloud

Nextcloud is an open source federated file hosting platform and can also be used for self-hosting. Check

VPNs -> Proton VPN

Proton VPN is an open source VPN service which give you three paces fo free with limited speed. It doesn't contain ads like othe free VPN applications. Check

Messaging -> Signal - Element

Signal is an open source centralized messaging platform having encrypted messaging. Check Element is an open source, decentralized and federated messaging service client of [Matrix] with encryption as well as many more features. Check

Launcher -> Lawnchair

Lawnchair is an open source highly customizable launcher for Android. It has many features like custom icon packs, resizing the icons, changing homescreen and appdrawer layout. Check

Google PDF Viewer -> Document Viewer

Document Viewer is an application which helps to open documents of different format like PDF, DjVu, XPS etc. Check

Your Phone Companion -> KDE Connect

KDE Connect is an open source application that helps to connect your phone to your computer to share files, use phone as a mouse, execute commands etc. Check

ShareIt -> Trebleshot

Trebleshot is a file sharing application which can replicate the function of shareit. Check

Zoom -> Jitsi

Jitsi is an open source video conferencing platform like zoom where you can create rooms, share your screen, share videos and conduct a conference with peoples. Check