605 private links
... and good alternatives, where available. To the best of my knowledge, and no guarantees obviously. All the apps listed here are distributed with libre licences (except where otherwise stated), but some may rely on non-libre backends.
Productivity
- DAVx5 - the easiest way to synchronize your Nextcloud contacts/calendar/tasks with corresponding Android apps. GPLv3. Available on F-Droid.
- K-9 Mail, or these days it is perhaps just as well to use Thunderbird for Android.
- Nextcloud
- Nextcloud Notes
- Tasks.org - a great tasks app that synchronizes with your Nextcloud tasks.
Chat, messaging
- Signal messenger. The app is FOSS, but relies on a proprietary and centralized service.
- Nextcloud Talk
- Beeper
Keyboard
- Unexpected Keyboard, F-Droid - keyboard with a smart swipe-inside-each-key UX that exposes a massive amount of special characters in a smart way.
- HeliBoard, F-Droid
- https://github.com/futo-org/android-keyboard
- Thumb-Key - cool keyboard meant for thumb typing and swiping inside each key.
Audio & video
- Audio Recorder, F-Droid. Easy to integrate with Nextcloud's "Auto Uploads" functionality, in my experience. But the default quality settings (bitrate, etc.) are quite low and I suggest raising them.
- Jellyfin, F-Droid - mobile client for Jellyfin media server.
- NewPipe, F-Droid - I recommend you install it on F-Droid using their repo to get updates faster (but note that this means you trust their repo to push updates to your phone).
- Tempo - music client for Subsonic-compatible servers.
- VLC
Misc
- Binary Eye, F-Droid - a competent QR code scanner.
- FreeOTP+, F-Droid - 2FA authenticator.
- Kvaesitso launcher - it looks great by default and can be customized in lots of useful ways.
- Librera Reader, F-Droid.
- OpenKeychain - in combination with Password Store to sync
passto Android. - OsmAnd - OpenStreetmap for Android.
- Tailscale - app is FOSS, but the underlying service is proprietary, but can replaced with Headscale (but unfortunately I cannot recommend it - tried it once and never figured it out).
- Transdroid - Bittorrent client that lets your monitor and control your server.
- Transportr - public transport timetables. Works well in Stockholm.
- Tusky - Mastodon client that works well with multiple accounts across different instances.
- Wallabag
Thanks mnalis for posting the fix on the Github issue thread. I had spent time fruitlessly trying the Nextcloud app settings, permissions settings, and other stuff, but nothing had any effect - auto upload would not trigger.
Under Android Settings / User & accounts / Nextcloud / Sync the options File sync was OFF! I toggled it ON and the thing started uploading photos immediately.
Let's say you have a tablet or reserve phone without a phone number (i.e., SIM-card) that you would nonetheless like to have Signal installed on. Turns out it's possible.
BUT NOTE THAT SIGNAL WILL DE-REGISTER YOUR ORIGINAL DEVICE ONCE YOU REGISTER THE NEW ONE!
There is still no way to have Signal on more than one device, and you can't link Signal on one device to another device. Too bad, would have been nice, especially with database encrypted at rest (which Molly allows).
- Connect your secondary device to the Internet
- Install Molly-FOSS or Molly or Signal on the secondary device, and initiate Signal's registration process (enter your phone number)
- You will get a code via sms on your primary Signal device
- Enter the code on the secondary device using the numeric keyboard (this worked just fine in my case)
- Enter your Signal PIN
- With that, Molly-FOSS/Molly/Signal should start and show you your groups
While we're at it, why not install Molly or even Molly-FOSS instead of the official Signal app? The benefit of using Molly-FOSS is that we can install it on a device not using Google (the drawback is that push notifications will consume a little more battery).
- What originally sent me exploring Signal app forks was this issue
- https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android
- https://molly.im/fdroid/
- https://reddit.com/r/CalyxOS/comments/ptll4t/molly/
- Another Signal fork
When considering automation apps for Android, Tasker immediately comes to mind. And although it has name recognition, it's source code is proprietary and the app requires the Google Play store on the device (beyond a 7-day trial version).
So, what FOSS automation apps are there out there?
- Easer by Rui Zhao. Source on Github (449 stars, 1295 commits), F-Droid. Note that there is also a beta version of this app.
- Automation by Jens Schröder. Source on developer's Gitea instance (88 commits), F-Droid.
Other non-free automation apps for Android (not recommended)
- Tasker
- Automate by LlamaLab
- AutomateIt
- MacroDroid
- RuleBot by KF Software House (Hong Kong)
Shelter is a Free and Open-Source (FOSS) app that leverages the "Work Profile" feature of Android to provide an isolated space that you can install or clone apps into.
Independent app stores (with their own repository of apps)
- F-Droid. The gold standard of FOSS app stores.
- UpToDown, mostly Google Play's apps it seems, but also accepts submissions from developers. Run by Spanish company, not FOSS, but can be used without user registration.