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Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

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Re: Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

#11

I have been using eOS for years without any of the Simple Mobile apps. I have checked them out on occasion and I wouldn't call them "bad" but I have always been able to find more capable open source apps that fit my needs better. Just one example, I've used Material Files for years and it has quite a few features not found in Simple File Manager.

There are so many file managers:), but not enough quality, functioning dialers and messaging apps. Many "simple" ones exist with lack of essential features. Even SMT lacks some essentials, like for example to be able to reply with a message to a call (when busy).

Re: Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

#12
post #6

I didn't know SMT had been lost to an adware company… That's really sad. I'm a big time user of most of the apps in this project! Many of them are very good Android apps even compared to paid alternatives. I'm especially pissed by this move because I used this project quite a lot in the free software development course that I teach. Many students want to gain experience in mobile development, and helping them make th…

[deleted]

Re: Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

#13

I have been using eOS for years without any of the Simple Mobile apps. I have checked them out on occasion and I wouldn't call them "bad" but I have always been able to find more capable open source apps that fit my needs better. Just one example, I've used Material Files for years and it has quite a few features not found in Simple File Manager.

What did you find for a gallery? I never found an open one I liked other than simple gallery.

Re: Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

#14

I have been using eOS for years without any of the Simple Mobile apps. I have checked them out on occasion and I wouldn't call them "bad" but I have always been able to find more capable open source apps that fit my needs better. Just one example, I've used Material Files for years and it has quite a few features not found in Simple File Manager.

> Why? […] I have always been able to find more capable open source apps…

Because a lot of people use those apps and are familiar with them. While it isn't difficult to replace them it could be quite faffy evaluating alternatives, making sure they work the same (or better), are reliable, aren't hiding gotchas like also being stalk-ware, etc.

Re: Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

#15

I have been using eOS for years without any of the Simple Mobile apps. I have checked them out on occasion and I wouldn't call them "bad" but I have always been able to find more capable open source apps that fit my needs better. Just one example, I've used Material Files for years and it has quite a few features not found in Simple File Manager.

What did you find for a gallery? I never found an open one I liked other than simple gallery.

I love Aves, I switched to it from simple gallery https://github.com/deckerst/aves

Re: Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

#16

I have been using eOS for years without any of the Simple Mobile apps. I have checked them out on occasion and I wouldn't call them "bad" but I have always been able to find more capable open source apps that fit my needs better. Just one example, I've used Material Files for years and it has quite a few features not found in Simple File Manager.

What did you find for a gallery? I never found an open one I liked other than simple gallery.

Note that the fork Fossify Gallery is already available on F-Droid. The rest of the apps aren't yet.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fossify.gallery/

Thanks to this debacle, I'll actually be trying it out.

What I have used out of Simple Mobile Tools is the Dialer. It allowed me to make my old phone usable for calls again. The phone, which runs an outdated release of LineageOS and doesn't receive updates, developed a problem. The screen would turn off when dialing or on a call. This prevented one from even hanging up. I experimentally installed Simple Dialer to see if the dialer app was the cause. (Because Simple Dialer was on F-Droid, and I had heard about Simple Mobile Tools.) It didn't help on its own. Then I went through the settings and saw one that disabled the proximity sensor during calls. I tried turning on the setting, and that did it.

This apparently used to be an option in the AOSP phone app: https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/80227/phone.... Simple Dialer has been forked as https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Phone.

Re: Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

#17

I have been using eOS for years without any of the Simple Mobile apps. I have checked them out on occasion and I wouldn't call them "bad" but I have always been able to find more capable open source apps that fit my needs better. Just one example, I've used Material Files for years and it has quite a few features not found in Simple File Manager.

What did you find for a gallery? I never found an open one I liked other than simple gallery.

There's now liberated version of the SMT gallery up in Fdroid. I already switched Calendar, Gallery and File Manager.

Re: Fossify – Open-source fork of Simple Mobile Tools

#19
post #18

Everyone has a price...

Yes. The positive is that the code is left behind. I am sympathetic with (and sorry for) those who will not learn fast enough about the acquisition and will have their private data sucked out. That's why I posted it here, after I learned about it only today.
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