My favorite apps on F-Droid | Hacker News Reader

My favorite apps on F-Droid

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280 pointsericdanielski157 comments

Snowden's Haven [1] is simply marvelous.

Essentially, it turns an Android phone into a very sophisticated alarm system with real time notifications and streaming. So you can e.g. protect a hotel room using an old burner Android phone.

I use it against some creepy UK landlords and agents, who have the strange habit of breaking into rented flats when I'm not in, and without any prior notice. Totally illegal, but very hard to collect evidence against. Furthermore, contracts usually contain (illegal) clauses preventing you from installing a real home-alarm system. (Edit: contracts usually also ban changing locks).

It's also much better than any cheap alarm system, and totally complementary too. If something starts beeping (e.g a fire alarm or a motion sensor), Haven will notice and message you.

[1] https://f-droid.org/wiki/index.php?title=org.havenapp.main&r...

Partially related, I had the same problem with the landlord and just changed the door lock keeping also the old one in a box. So until I live here I am the only one with the key, when I transfer I change back the door lock and the landlord is again the only one with the key.

In my state the Landlord can do nothing against this exactly because it is illegal for him to enter without my permission so it is also not necessary (and a forced request is illegal) to give a copy of the key of the new door lock to the Landlord.

Sadly most UK contracts include a clause where they explicitly ban you from changing locks without providing them with a key. If they discover you have changed locks, you will get evicted immediately.

It's pretty sad. In my home country, it's a very serious crime if your landlord breaks into your house for no reason. Actually, landlords generally do not keep a key to the property during tenancies precisely because of this.

I don't believe your experience is typical. I've signed dozens of rental agreements in the UK, mostly as a landlord but also as a tenant, and the agreements have been drafted by several different agents.

Not one of these had included a clause about changing locks.

And also the part about "you will get evicted immediately" is nonsense. The process to evict a tenant takes time: the landlord need to serve notice, then wait X days for a response, then apply to the court, who will then (assuming the landlord has followed the law to the letter) issue an judgement, and then the landlord still cannot have you forcibly removed until some period has passed and they have applied to the court for an enforcement order.

If you have had the experience you describe with more than one landlord in the UK, I'd suggest you look through a different agent next time.

I disagree. I have been renting in Oxbridge with the grand total of 7 different high street agents: Savills, Bidwells, Cheffins, Parkers, Alistair Redhouse and another I can't remember. They all included this clause. Only Savills and Alistair Redhouse were professional and caused no problems. Savills was actually a pleasure to deal with, but extremely expensive in terms of fees. The fees were clear from the beginning, though.

The others are, as far as I am concerned total scammers. I won 3/3 cases in the Ombudsman, so I say this for a reason. Cheffins went as far as taking all my deposit to cover some debt the landlord had with them. And of course they didn't tell me. Simply no reply, no deposit. Even the Property Ombudsman freaked out.

Wow. This is shocking.

I've only once rented a flat in Oxford. It was over 10 years ago, so I don't recall the details, but I do recall having to argue with the letting agent about changing some wording which was totally unreasonable.

Perhaps the situation is different in university towns, where lettings agents often dealing with naive tenants who have never signed a lease before.

I've rented for about seven years and never seen a clause like this. Advice is to change locks when you move in and put them back when you leave.

The landlord can't evict you because of this, and the only reason they'd know you've changed the locks because they've tried to enter the house when you're not there.

Well, change the entire door. I bet it doesn't have anything against changing the door.

> I had the same problem with the landlord and just changed the door lock keeping also the old one in a box.

Don't landlords need to be able to enter their property during an emergency?

No. If there's an emergency they can call 911.

Expect a bill for a new door.

And they have to just sit there idling and watch their house burn up/flood/etc. until 911 finally comes around?

uhhh what were they going to do? Unlock the door and stop the flood?

> uhhh what were they going to do? Unlock the door and stop the flood?

"When your bathroom has flooded, the most important thing to do is to shut of your water as soon as possible. If you don’t know how to do it, it’s good to call a plumber and hopefully they can help you shut it off over the phone before they get to your house to assess damage. If the leak is coming from a toilet or sink, there is usually a knob near the pipes that you can turn to the right and shut off. You will also need to shut off the electricity of the flooded rooms with the main breaker. If you see sparks or smell gas vacate your house and call the fire department, only going back in until they tell you it is safe." https://texashomeandgarden.com/idea-center/bathroom/bathroom...

there is usually central knob outside apartment for whole building exactly for these cases, you can shutdown water or gas in while building for outside for this reason

Pretty much yes. The same thing they are supposed to do when any other apartment they don't live in floods.

You say this with the full understanding that this isn't a $200 laptop we're talking about that's at stake, correct? That that home can easily represent a decade or more's worth of work and salary for that landlord? You're demanding that they must just stand idly by and watch what is effectively years of their life go up in flames in front of their eyes while being prohibited from doing anything that could save themselves and everyone else a lot of grief, just because you demand it must be this way?

Yes, I say this with full understanding of the financials. But also with full understanding that a rented apartment is someones home and a stranger can't just barge into it at will. And the landlord is a stranger, just like any other person in the city or a street. If the tenant gives him the keys (like he would any other person/neighbour) it's fine, but for all other purposes he has no business walking into someone elses home.

(I know laws around that differ, but for example here in my little EU country the landlord cannot enter the rented appartment without explicit consent given ahead of the visit.)

> A rented apartment is someones home and a stranger can't just barge into it at will. And the landlord is a stranger, just like any other person in the city or a street. If the tenant gives him the keys (like he would any other person/neighbour) it's fine, but for all other purposes he has no business walking into someone elses home.

"Just barge into it at will"? In what world do emergencies inside the tenant's home conveniently pop up at the landlord's mere will?! And in what world is running into a house that you own to mitigate an emergency equivalent to "just barging into" some random building you never had and never will have any rights to?

If you believe the landlord fundamentally doesn't have the right to do this because the tenant's right trumps it no matter what, that's one thing, and it's something I can at least somewhat understand and debate legitimately regardless of my agreement or disagreement with it. But to just go ahead and completely and outrightly deny the existence of even a shred of nuance on the topic when there is such a clear night-and-day difference between your landlord coming in to mitigate an emergency in his own property and any random dude off the street just barging into your house at will is just... too wild to be honest. It's not something that can be taken seriously... all it does is completely sucks away any energy others might have to hear you out.

They should get insurance. It is very silly to suggest that they will act as a one man fire department.

Tell that to a relative of mine who had a tenant fall asleep drunk smoking in bed. Matress caught fire, smoke alarms went off, and she was able to rush in and get the passed out tenant off the matress then carry it outside. The fire department scolded her when they arrived 10 minutes later, but she undoubtedly kept the house and all the tenants belongings from going up in flames.

> They should get insurance.

They should probably also get Bay Area software engineer salary, but alas...

> It is very silly to suggest that they will act as a one man fire department.

No, it is not silly to suggest people who aren't 911 responders might be able to put out smaller fires... that's why homes have fire extinguishers nearby. (I hope yours is not an exception.)

Yes, landlords are limited in the reasons they may enter and renters do have rights but at the end of the day the landlord still owns the property. A tenant changing the locks has to be illegal under any sane jurisdiction.

> A tenant changing the locks has to be illegal under any sane jurisdiction.

Changing the locks as a tenant is completely legal in Germany for example.

Actually in my country the law "soft" encourage you to change the lock as soon as you get the rent contract.

The reason is simple: if someone breaks inside opening the door (maybe even just because they were good lock-pickers) the police has to investigate firstly on whoever has the key or could give a copy of them to others, so if the landlord can it is gonna be some rough months to him while they have to check if he sold/gave a copy of your key to anyone with bad intentions.

Some landlords even ask you to change it yourself asap (like my last one)

> breaking into rented flats

What? That's so...weird. Why tenants don't change the locks on the main doors as they move in? Is it also because of the contracts?

I can't speak for the UK, but my leases have definitely stipulated that you can't change the locks without notifying the landlord and providing them with a key.

That's really allowed? In my country it is your right to change the locks, If the landlord keeps a key and you have proof of that, then he even has to pay for the new lock.

In Australia (with a standard rental agreement in NSW) you can change the locks (though I think you need to ask the landlord for permission if it's not an emergency) and you have to provide a copy of new keys to your landlord within 7 days. Landlords aren't allowed to enter your home unless its an emergency or they are planning on selling the home and have given you ample warning (and you've agreed). I believe this is just one of those things that is significantly different between different countries.

All of that being said, I don't understand why changing the locks makes a difference. It's very easy to ask a locksmith to open the door for you, especially if your name is on the title (not to mention that most house locks are trivial to pick anyway). Whether or not the landlord has a key is mostly immaterial, what matters is whether it is legal for them to use it (because picking the lock would arguably have similar legality).

I certainly don't change the locks and I'm surprised that people have such adversarial relations with their landlords.

My landlady has the keys, organizes the cleaning lady to come (and gives her the keys), I'm pretty sure she even once dusted and washed the dishes in the sink herself when she was watching over some crew cleaning the ducts.

The whole benefit of renting is not being burdened with owner's problems. Hard to achieve when they can't access the apartment.

> Why tenants don't change the locks on the main doors as they move in? Is it also because of the contracts?

In some countries it's not allowed to change it without permission from the landlord, and in others it is allowed but you need to immediately give them a copy of the key anyway.

But I believe that in most countries it is the case that the landlord cannot invade your privacy, even if they have a key (I know this is the case in Australia). So them having a key is mostly irrelevant (since lockpicking is a skill you can pick up in a weekend -- and picking the lock of a tenant's door is about as legal as using a key that the tenant was forced to give you).

Why would they? 99.9% of cases you have no need to. And it costs money.

The page you've linked says "This app is disabled and does not appear in the repo". So it's not really available at F-Droid. Do you know why?

Haven might not be in the main F-droid repo(?), but you can add theirs to install it. It’s also on the google play store and the source is available to build it yourself.

https://guardianproject.github.io/haven/

Based on the wiki it's because the last build of it failed for whatever reason.

So it's actually part of the guardian project, which is a separate repository of also open-source apps and you can enable the guardian repository inside of f-droid and then it will be installable.

There are many F-Droid repositories aside from main F-Droid. Please see here: https://forum.f-droid.org/t/known-repositories/721

https://guardianproject.info/ one is particularly interesting. Haven is a Guardian Project app.

> This app is disabled and does not appear in the repo

Seems they're changing things https://guardianproject.github.io/haven/

Using the F-Droid app:

Settings > Repositories > Enable "Guardian Project Official Releases"

Then search for "Haven" and install the app.

NewPipe: a YouTube client, as mentioned in the thread, that allows you to play videos in the background, in a small popout over something else, adjust the playback speed, and also download videos for later. Great for lectures.

AdAway: it makes the ads go away by adjusting your hosts file (may require root) so it works both for in-app ads and web ads. I first installed it out of spite when Google failed my LineageOS on SafetyNet and blocked Android Pay even though it wasn't rooted but it made using the system so much more enjoyable I would now root it regardless.

FBReader: a pretty decent ebook reader although the complexity makes it feel like a 2006 Linux app.

NewPipe is kind of janky, but so much better than the official client. It seems to have the features that youtube wants you to pay for, just by not deliberately crippling the software.

The only thing it's really missing is comments, but some people consider this a feature. (Honestly though, on high quality small channels the comments will often be worth reading, so I do miss it sometimes.)

Easy to get to the comments if you want: Three dot menu -> Open in browser.

Background play (without ads) is perhaps the only feature I use newPipe for

If you want easy system-wide ad-blocking without root, take a look into Blokada. Also in F-Droid. Implements a vpn through which the traffic is routed, and this way the DNS blacklists can be enforced. Note that, due to android limitations, you can only use only one vpn connection at a time.

It's a shame you can't chain VPNs on android. I ended up running openvpn and pi-hole on a server, all my mobile devices go through that.

Newpipe and Redreader for reddit are my 2 favourite apps on Fdroid. Amaze file manager is also pretty sleek for an Fdroid app. Dns66 is great for adblocking when you are not rooted. Termux is a must have for those who need a terminal. Osm+ is a decent maps option and Mupdf is a fast and minimal reader for pdf files.

Fdroid is great for open source apps especially when you are trying to avoid shady behavior by apps, but since Android itself is full of shady behavior and dark patterns it's at best a bandage on a severely wounded patient.

Slide for reddit is another reddit client. Fully open source under GPLv3, nice looks and hi designed very well such that you never have to reach for keys at the bottom. Wholeheartedly recommended.

I had Termux and Amaze both installed before I even knew they were open source and on fdroid.

The last time i tried Amaze i found the large logo in the sidebar irksome (especially as there was no way to hide the sidebar on a tablet), and it seemed to have trouble generating thumbnails when opening at a directory stuffed with photos or videos (it would generate a few, then stop, then pick up again once you scrolled, skipping 2-3 near where it last stopped etc).

Look into SkyTube http://skytube-app.com/

Thanks a lot for newpipe, I loathe the YouTube app and its ads + tracking, so glad to have an alternative now!

Seconding adaway.

There's also the creatively named Book Reader app that's based on FBReader but that I've found very intuitive.

The "Simple Mobile Tools" family of apps by Tibor Kaputa (distinctive for their orange icons) are available on F-Droid and are superb. A great fusion of minimalism and functionality, they've never let me down.

https://github.com/simplemobiletools

https://simplemobiletools.github.io/

+1 for Simple Mobile Tools. My newest phone didn't contain much vendor installed apps, so I was looking for nice and preferably open source replacements for the basic apps like gallery, and simple mobile tools solved all my problem.

also a ton more functional(options) than the stock equivalent and even appearance. though for music i like vanilla player it's UI may be dated looking but lots of functions that i like.

Good list. I'm also a HUGE fan of Antennapod [0], a podcast player app. It's simple, easy to use, and has built-in speed adjustment, so I can listen to some lower-information density channels at 2x speed.

[0] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.danoeh.antennapod/

If only it didn't regularly wipe all the data due to database corruption [1], with no ways of recovering and automatic backups. Until this fatal bug is fixed, I strongly advise against using this otherwise fine application.

[1] https://github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaPod/issues/2463

I'm in the same boat - I've switched back to PocketCasts. It's sad, because not only is AntennaPod open source, but I think it's more featureful than many of the alternatives. But it's become unusable due to this bug.

I've gone over to SoundWaves, which is also on F-Droid.

I had a look, but I don't understand how it deals with 'new' podcasts. The play queue seems arbitrary and uneditable. But maybe I'm missing something. (Otherwise it does look nice.)

When Maps.me went open source, there was a clamour to get it onto F-Droid, but there were issues, perhaps including access to the company's data servers, and the topic eventually petered out.

Then (IIRC back in February or so), somebody forked it, and (from comments) apparently pointed it to a separate data website (not sure how they pay for it if that's the case).

At any rate: "Maps": https://f-droid.org/app/com.github.axet.maps

Compred to OSMAnd: It's much simpler to use. Smoother scrolling around the map, and nice 3d perspective. It has some stalling problems that OSMAnd doesn't have, but is otherwise smoother I think. Sometimes searching for streets seems to not be as good as OSMAnd. Missing a lot of OSMAnd features but that is what makes it simpler.

I've just tried Maps but one big issue is that it can't be directed to a cache of already-downloaded OSM maps. In fact I can't get past the initial download screen to do any configuration. I already have an 8GB card full of map data, I don't want to redownload.

Osmand at least will open normally, just with a blank map area and I cam fidget about with it.

Maps also has an unhelpful name for tryimg to search for bugs or howtos. Mapz or Mapapp would have been better.

Sigh, I wish osmand was available for iOS. A friend is using, and constantly frustrated with, maps.me (only reasonable option for a low-data-usage plan on iOS I'm aware of, recommendations for others welcome, requirements: no tracking, non-evil, fully offline).

Why do you suppose they'd be less frustrated with OSMAnd?

Because they've used it on another device and it was okay. Sure it has its own warts but it basically works and seems to have better routing.

osmand is available for iOS (or at least now it is):

http://osmand.net/blog?id=osmand-ios

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/osmand-maps/id934850257?mt=8

>requirements: no tracking, non-evil, fully offline

is Here Maps available on Apple App Store?

OpenLauncher is a nice home screen replacement. I would be fine with the standard one if Google would just let us hide the damn search bar.

I use Simple Contacts so I can keep my contacts out of the cloud and away from other apps. Good 'ol manual entry/editing and .vcf importing/exporting when needed, which is maybe twice a year for me. No named caller ID or call/text history though, have to use my brain for that. Maybe there's a way to make that work without sacrificing the benefits, but it hasn't been a problem for me yet, so I haven't looked into it.

For weather, I just add a DDG search for "weather [zip]" to my home screen. No need to turn on location for something that changes very little and is trivial to look up when it does.

For launchers, I like [KISS](https://kisslauncher.com/) a lot. A GPL3-licensed launcher with a sort of different paradigm. Very customisable.

I've played with that. I like the smallness but it actually adds either extra steps or cognitive overhead for me. It doesn't get simpler than turning on the screen (I don't have a lock screen) and tapping the icon I need. Everything I need easily fits on a single screen so I don't gain much from search.

OpenLuncher gets me what I want but it's big and can waste a bit of battery I've noticed. I'd like a launcher just as small and efficient as KISS but has a single page home screen (no need for widget support) and a full app list menu with a search bar.

KISS has a favourites bar and you can set up the largest list to sort by frequency of use, so most of the time I can do something similar.

That might do what i want if it can be made to not sort. I hate things moving around on me. Ill give it another look, the battery thing has been bothering me lately.

I'm very picky about what I install on my phone. I find screenshots really aid me in whether I'll like the app or not. F-Droid is completely lacking in screenshots for most of the apps listed. I know this is mainly the app authors fault (this is also a problem with all FOSS software in general I find). If they made more of an effort to even upload one screenshot to F-Droid or the Git pages then I'd be more inclined to try their applications.

https://fossdroid.com/

DNS66 is pretty much always running on my phone for a more pleasant web browsing experience (ad blocking)

DNS66 establishes a VPN interface, and redirects DNS server traffic to it. The VPN interface filters the traffic, only allowing queries for hosts that are not blacklisted.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.jak_linux.dns66/

Nice list, pretty comprehensive in my opinion. I personally do not have the Google apps on my android phone and the only two applications that I use that are not in the list are:

- a pdf viewer: I like Document Viewer especially to navigate in ebooks.

- a GPS application: I like OsmAnd that has a very usable UI, lots of features and allows you to download the map of a region for offline use.

OsmAnd - tried this on 3 devices, none could download/render anything at all on any network connected. Looks like a heavy thing anyway

OsmAnd has a counterintuive UI, it have been the case that you didn't have the right map layers enabled.

You also need to download the maps ahead of time.

AFAIK, Osmand~ supports live tiles too.

OsmAnd is a marvel - I plan all my holiday needs with it: preloading points of interest and doing all the routing with it.

It packs this much functionality in one place, all available offline. Once you get past the counterintuitive UI, you start to like it.

It covers public transport, opening hours, all kinds of PoIs, distance measurement tools, hill shading, contour maps and customizable map views, being able to measure routes in advance (calculate route from any point x to y).

it's impressive the amount of things that osmAnd but it ends up being a bit cluttered at times.

try "maps" for something more basic (white logo with black M). it's a fork of mapbox's "map.me" app just without any ads

I use OsmAnd all the time for off line directions (don't have data on my phone). Works great!

Document Viewer ils great for pdf ans epub

I also like:

- Devinettes: Sphinx puzzles (rhymes with a simple answer) some are infuriatingly difficult.

- Call Recorder: Pretty straight forward, lets you record your calls.

- Kanadrill and KaQui: For learning the japanese alphabets.

- Habits: Really good way to keep track of things you are trying to learn / unlearn.

- NewPipe: Sooooooo good.

Fennec F-Droid, which is Firefox minus some of Mozilla's tracking.

K-9 mail, which is an IMAP client.

ZaNavi, which uses Open Street Map. (Messes up the upper left screen area where system icons appear.)

Mozilla Nip Provider, which provides location services without Google.

fennec has all of Mozilla's tracking. they only remove the Google ones. e.g. the gappclient binary blobs that would have been included for chrome cast support.

and the location services only work on rooted phones, because google choose to deny user alternatives completely on this space. location is their expensive targeting data for ads.

You can run non-Google location services and remove almost all the Google services on a non-rooted phone. Just never register for Google, starting with a new phone, and remove most of the Google stuff. You give up voice input, though.

I am sorry but you are very wrong.

the description for the only one on fdroid even says so.

Is there anything specifically I have to do to use the Mozilla Nip Provider? (Besides installing it, of course.)

How do you get k9 to synchronize mail in the background? It seems to be broken and there were no working solution everywhere I looked. I have to go into the app and manually trigger inboxes to refresh. Even with background sync enabled.

Set folder poll to every 10 minutes.

Not in the list, but Blokada (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.blokada.alarm/) is a must-have. It sets up a VPN and blocks ads and tracking. Rooting the phone is NOT required. FWIW, as per its inbuilt metric, it has been blocking about 1000 trackers per day for me. Also, the code is open source (https://github.com/blokadaorg/blokada)

More specifically, it sets up a VPN on localhost wherein the blocking is handled.

KDE connect is awesome. You don't actually need to use KDE as your desktop as it will work on any Linux, with just a few KDE/Qt libraries. It even works on Windows, although not all plugins are able to work.

> but they are much less likely to contain/be malware or spyware

Is there any base for this claim? Play store has at least a system like Play Protect. Likely it's not ideal, but at least does some filtering. Does fdroid provide anything better, or is it just that it's not as popular so spyware authors are not interested?

Most apps only require the minimum amount of permissions to work, that's a start.

But that's the author's choice. In malware/spyware scenario the author is malicious and not interested in minimal permissions.

The major huge difference is that because most apps request minimal permissions, the one that requests a lot (or an odd one) stands out against the background of the rest.

Whereas g-store apps, because they almost always request too many to begin with, train users that 17 different permissions for a 'flashlight' app is normal (made up example), and the malware does not stand out as 'odd' in that environment.

I would agree that in general open source software is less likely to contain such things, since anyone who inspects the source would find the bad stuff.

Especially since F-Droid packages are mostly built from source on F-Droid infrastructure, and all source tarballs are kept forever. That way, even if something slips through, it can be tracked down.

https://f-droid.org/en/docs/FAQ_-_General/#whats-the-differe...

Depends on your definition of malware and spywayre. My definition is nothing like Google's.

I'm the main Red Moon dev. Haven't been very active the past ~9 months, but I'm planning to get back to it soon. Happy to get any feedback / answer questions, etc.

thank you for your work i use it almost daily, just don't like it doesn't affect also status bar (LOS15.1), i can understand reasoning but there should still be option to darken also status bar unless it's android limitation

On my device (Galaxy S7, Android 7.0), it does affect the status bar. Same for one of Night Screen's dimming methods, which claims not to affect the status bar.

At some point, I'd actually like to reach out to the developers of the (several) screen filter apps on F-droid to see if they're interested in collaboration/merging. It seems silly to have so many of us working on the same kinds of issues, independently.

Thank you for your work! Any chance of making it available to Android 4.0 users? (there are a lot of us, for different reasons, don't want to derail the conversation)

Currently I'm using Twilight, which isn't free or in F-Droid, and I'd love to switch to Red Moon!

I'm planning to in the next release. There might be a few visual bugs, particularly with RTL languages, but that's no reason to wait; better to just fix them as they're found.

Existing issue: https://github.com/LibreShift/red-moon/issues/152

That's great to hear, many many thanks!

Hey, just a heads-up to inform that I installed the debug version from here[1] and it's working p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y in my good old Android 4.0.4 device (Spanish locale). Kudos.

[1] https://github.com/LibreShift/red-moon/issues/152#issuecomme...

I'm a very happy red moon user. My main problem is that sometimes it is on or turns on by accident when I am outside and I don't manage to turn it off because I cannot see the screen. I would love to have a way to turn it off without needing to be able to see the screen, although I can't really think of a way that could be done...

Does anyone have a good free software solution for backups on Android they'd like to tell about?

Personally I really go too long between off-device backups. Something for automated backups to a PC would be valuable, and I suspect I'm not the only person who should be using it.

You can use rsync over usb as described here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/343502/how-to-rsync-to-andro...

If you're going to do that you may as well tether the phone to your PC and use rsync with ssh via termux [1]

On 3 phones, I've never had MTP work well enough to trust it with backups.

1: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.termux

Syncthing is available in F-Droid and is excellent for automatically backing up whatever :)

I use SSHelper [0] on the Android device and use rsync to backup what I need. I've setup a cron on my laptop so whenever the phone is near it, it will automatically backup.

[0] https://arachnoid.com/android/SSHelper/index.html

I use and love Diary, one of the few text editors that store the text as flat files on the SD card, to be synced to the PC by another app like Syncthing.

I must mention Orgzly, which is a pretty UI over OrgMode files. Also stores the flat files as text on the disk.

I use Markor for the same reason. Flat files are just the most convenient way to handle your data.

Amaze: File Manager

andOTP: One-time Passwords

AntennaPod: Podcasts

Etar: Calendar

Libre Office Viewer: Document Viewer

Materialistic: Hacker News client

RedReader: Reddit (great for text)

Slide: Reddit (great for images)

SlimSocial: Facebook (I have had a lot of issues with FaceSlim. I would like to part with Facebook all together but it's still too heavily used by the people I keep in contact with.)

Swiftnotes: Notes

Tasks: Todo list/tasks

WiFiAnalyzer: Analyse nearby WiFi networks

I've had NewPipe in the past but had found it quite unusable. Based on the recommendations of this thread I'll be installing it once again.

AntennaPod is fantastic, but buggy in ways that I haven't managed to coalesce into a good bug report yet:

* Playback while streaming stops, but the network connection hasn't dropped

* AntennaPod via Bluetooth crashes (!) the head unit in a Mazda CX5. No, I don't know how that's possible, either.

Ah that's not good to hear.

I was using Podcast Addict prior to AntennaPod and it had the same issues as your first point. I now experience the same behaviour with AntennaPod and had wrote it off as a "podcasting" glitch or at least an issue with the streams I was listening to.

Hopefully they address these issues in the future but they're definitely not deal breaker issuss for me to want to switch to some closed source alternative.

etar it's missing very basic things like setting the font size or repeated reminders (what's the use of calendar if you miss reminder?)

Modern etar (as in the version that is most current in FDroid) has the ability to setup recurring events (every day, every two weeks, etc.) Is that what you mean by "repeated reminders"?

Font setting, no it does not directly have font setting inside the app. Instead it follows the phone global size set under the accessibility area of the global settings app.

no, repeated reminder will pop up in set time and if there is no input it pop up again in five minutes and then again and again

in Business calendar i use 5 times 5 minutes but you can set whatever frequency and amount of repeated reminders, seem almost no calendar apps have this killer feature

Why f-droid doesn't have screenshots? It's making selecting proper app very hard

It supports screenshots (see for example [1]), it's just that most uploaders haven't added them.

[1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.k3b.android.androFotoFind...

That's also a fairly recent addition.

I agree. It's a real pain to have to search up each app to see even just a single screenshot.

In my experience, some of the app descriptions can be quite cryptic or vague, not really giving enough detail to be sure that a given app does the one thing you care about.

Adding even just a single screenshot to the app listings would make it so much more user-friendly, it would really encourage less techy user to use F-droid too.

There is always fossdroid.com that was set up to offer just that.

Apps I like that weren't on the list:

Drum on: for setting up percussion loops so you can play your instrument along with it.

Newpipe: youtube client

Slide: reddit client

Yeah newpipe is great, you can watch in a tiny window or just listen to the audio of a video.

For the privacy aware people I would add:

- Nextcloud

- Conversations

- Davdroid

I've heard of Nexcloud. What's the difference between it and Syncthing?

syncthing is like dropbox. Nextcloud is remote storage you can access, with tons of plugins to do additional things with it too, like video chat for example.

Nextcloud is more like Dropbox imho. It has a web interface, but there are also sync clients and you need a webserver to host your stuff.

Nextcloud is not like Dropbox out of the box (no pun intended). While Syncthing is pretty much what Dropbox's core service used to be.

Nextcloud uses a server, Syncthing is p2p

I am using Password Store (Manage your passwords) - https://f-droid.org/app/com.zeapo.pwdstore which is a port of the pass tool to android. It is a little dufficult to configure (and also needs openkeychain to store your key) but after that it works flawlessly!

My favorites are:

Ghost Commander - two panel file manager with text editor Call Recorder - records calls

Termux - terminal emulator with packages

Hacker's Keyboard - full keyboard, good for terminal and remote

Sky Map - astronomy app, formerly google's

Voice - audiobook player

Markor - markdown editor and todo.txt task list

Loop Habit Tracker - reminder and tracker for building habits

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.ghostsq.comm...

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.github.axet....

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.termux

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.pocketworkst...

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.google.andro...

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=de.ph1b.audioboo...

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=net.gsantner.mar...

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.isoron.uhabi...

Any solution for imposing a relatively high barrier to get to the 'smart' functionality of the phone?

I'd like to have texting, camera, phone, maps, and music, with everything else requiring a decent effort to access. That way email and browser and other extra functions are available but inconvenient, so I'll either rethink what I'm doing or use a laptop in the many cases where it's far more appropriate.

It seemed like this should be doable with users, but I haven't seen a good way.

I made a post for this yesterday,but didn't get any good advice, so I'm trying again here.

You should look at Siempo which is available in Play Store. It made things so inaccessible for me sometimes that I stopped using it, and I think your might like it for the exact same reason.

Have you tried app-based locks? If after unlocking the homescreen you have to unlock yet another app, you might not touch your phone. Security increase is a bonus.

Try AFWall+.

I use this so I have a smartphone on wifi, and what amounts to a flip phone when I'm on data (just calls and texts...no email, no slack, no insta, etc etc). It supports modes too, so you can have "Nav" where Lyft and Maps have connectivity if you're getting around.

Very nice.

I am quite surprised AFWall+ was only mentioned once in this thread. Have been a happy user since KitKat for same reasons... Peace of mind on my customized terms.

F-droid is a tremendous resource for Android developers and users who want to distribute or install ethical open source apps that operate outside the bounds of Google Play's TOS. Two such apps that I strongly recommend are NewPipe and getChromium.

*Full disclosure: I made getChromium.

I always add https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/repo to the repos in F-Droid - adds a lot of apps that aren't on the main repo for various reasons.

I didn't see anyone mention fasthub, it's the best github so I could find so far

My Expenses: http://www.myexpenses.mobi/en/ - Personal finance manager. I find it very uses-friendly & been using it almost for a year.

Yalp Store available on F-Droid is my definitive backdoor into G's Play Store. I use it all the time on family or shared phones to install useful apps but without need to login with gmail/google account.

We had a thread of F-Droid apps a while back on Lobsters:

https://lobste.rs/s/8xtyxo/f_droid_app_recommendation_thread

Lots of apps in it. I had no idea so many were using F-Droid.

NewPipe is the best. By the way, is there any app that can mask the IP of my hotspot either through a VPN?

I like FTP Server. It's really convenient for transferring files from my computer.

ObscuraCam sounds super cool, is there an iphone equivalent?

Apple store terms of service are incompatible with the GPL, you would need to publish under a different license on their store specifically.

f-droid, and by extension "unknown sources" is what makes Android my pick.

Port Authority: A port scanner app there. That's kind of cool. I'd like to say OpenStreetMaps...but unfortunately..well. Everyone knows.

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