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A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

simplemobiletools.com

31–40 of 173 posts

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#31
post #11

I use the calendar one. Since it went not free, the free version doesn't generate notifications or alerts anymore. I almost missed appointments or meetings because of this. This is planned obsolescence at best. I seriously despise everything about this.

You only have to pay if you want to get it from the Play Store. They make the pro version available for free on F-Droid.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#32
I use the Gallery and File Manager apps. They are also among the very few apps I have ever willingly paid for, primarily to thank the dev for making a well-functioning product with great UI/UX.

If the author is reading this comment, thanks for your work.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#33
post #3

Can someone familiar with these make the case for why I should be using them (or at least one specific app in the suite)?

They are on F-Droid, which is an alternative Android app repo for open source apps (in fact I think the team builds the apps from source themselves). In addition to their requirements, they audit apps [1] and have been audited themselves [2]. The repo also lists any concerns (eg if the app has tracking) in the description, though the vast majority have no issues. And afaik there has not been a single case of malware (even though similarly sized repos have had them [1]). F-Droid is by far the best place to get FOSS privacy-respecting apps.

However due to the stringent requirements, you can imagine that the selection is smaller. For simple everyday things like a phone dialer, contacts app, gallery app, calendar, etc, Simple Mobile Tools will show up near the top of the list on F-Droid. A lot of alternatives are just old and unmaintained. Simple Mobile Tools gets the job done and has a decent UI, so you can uninstall whatever sketchy bloatware your phone came with and use these instead.

TLDR: if you care about FOSS and privacy, these are often your best option.

[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/3cjj2e/how_secure_...

[2]: https://f-droid.org/en/2018/09/04/second-security-audit-resu...

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Play app purchases are tied to your account, not your phone. You don't need to try purchase when you get a new phone.

Can I migrate them to my work phone? In any case, I don't use "Google Play".

Then where did you get them that you paid for them?

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Play app purchases are tied to your account, not your phone. You don't need to try purchase when you get a new phone.

Can I migrate them to my work phone? In any case, I don't use "Google Play".

Yes, they are open source and free on f-droid.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#36
post #29

Why do all calendar apps put months next to each other, instead of using a continuous vertically scrollable view with them on top of each other? It's maddening! Actually Google got this right at one point - but then they reverted to the stupid way!!

Because down/up swipes are usually used to switch apps, or go to settings/menu's, so right/left swipes are a lot easier to switch months/days/weeks

Right/left swipes are used for back. They're a lot more problematic than up/down because screens are narrow and tall, so it's easier to confuse the back gesture.

Anyway that's clearly not the reason - Google switched back and forth years before navigation gestures were a thing.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Play app purchases are tied to your account, not your phone. You don't need to try purchase when you get a new phone.

Can I migrate them to my work phone? In any case, I don't use "Google Play".

[deleted]

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#38
I made a free shopping list app its not open source as ive lost the source...I made this about 10 years ago. Play store basically shadow bans completely free apps from small developers without adverts as far as i can tell. This is the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flabbyfish...

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#40
post #18
post #3

Can someone familiar with these make the case for why I should be using them (or at least one specific app in the suite)?

I use the gallery. It is simply a foldered list of my images - sorted by most recent. It doesn't try to upsell me anything. It doesn't have a tonne of features I'll never use. It is much faster than my phone manufacturer's gallery.

Adding to this, it lets you zoom in further than most stock gallery apps, and doesn't do that annoying bounce-back thing.
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