FOSSify your Android Applications

I try to use Open Source software as much as I can, for multiple reasons:

• privacy concerns.
• no vendor lock-in.
• longevity: Open Source software can be forked, new contributors can come, I can have a look at the code myself, ...

However, I feel like most people do not care as much for Open Source when it comes to their phones. This article aims to provide solid Open Source alternatives for various application categories. This list doesn't intend to be exhaustive in any way, it's just my personal curation of apps I tested and I can recommend. For a really complete list you can check out:

• https://github.com/offa/android-foss

Before we start, I have to mention the great Fossify project: "a group of privacy-focused, open-source, and ad-free mobile apps". It provides a wide variety of everyday apps: File manager, Gallery, Calendar, etc:

• https://github.com/FossifyOrg

For a bit of history, Fossify started as a fork of "Simple Mobile Tools" after it was acquired by ZipoApps, basically an adware company that started adding ads to the apps, completely defeating the purpose of the whole project:

• https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/General-Discussion/issues/241

Open Source App Stores

Not all Open Source applications are directly available from the Play Store, or you may be using an Android device without Google Play Services (LineageOS, GrapheneOS, /e/OS, ...)

There are alternative stores to find and install Open Source apps.

F-Droid is the go-to place to find a catalogue of all the FOSS applications available for Android:

• https://f-droid.org/en/

There are many F-Droid clients available, I personally use droidify:

• https://github.com/Droid-ify/client
• https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Store

Accrescent is a promising new app store for Android that I did try for a while, but the catalogue is unfortunately very small:

• https://accrescent.app/
• https://github.com/accrescent/accrescent

Obtainium is an interesting new player that I did not try yet. It allows you to automate the process of downloading Android app updates straight from the source (Github releases most of the time):

• https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium

Photo Gallery

Aves Gallery:

• https://github.com/deckerst/aves

Features I like:

• ability to easily create albums of related photos, which create a dedicated folder on the device.
• ability to scroll through all photos pretty quickly.
• better than Google Photos, no constant pop ups asking me to synchronize my photos to the cloud, just a gallery that works.

Honorable mentions:

• https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Gallery
• https://github.com/IacobIonut01/Gallery

Keyboard

Florisboard:

• https://github.com/florisboard/florisboard

Simple, to the point keyboard.

Beware: the smart suggestion feature is not implemented yet. This may be a deal-breaker for some, I honestly don't care as much as I thought I would.

Honorable mentions:

• https://github.com/dessalines/thumb-key : the thumb layout looks really interesting!
• https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Keyboard
• https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard

PDF Reader

MJ PDF:

• https://gitlab.com/mudlej_android/mj_pdf_reader

Pretty much perfect: fast, minimalist PDF reader than does everything I can expect.

Honorable mentions:

• https://github.com/GrapheneOS/PdfViewer
• https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/mupdf-android-viewer

File Manager

Amaze:

• https://github.com/TeamAmaze/AmazeFileManager

One of the first app I install on a phone, most default Android distributions have a terrible file manage.

It makes it easy to navigate files, cut and paste.

Honorable mentions:

• https://github.com/zhanghai/MaterialFiles
• https://github.com/FossifyOrg/File-Manager

Weather

Breezy Weather:

• https://github.com/breezy-weather/breezy-weather

Good UI, good stats, pretty reliable data, what more can we ask?

Honorable mentions:

• overmorrow: https://github.com/bmaroti9/Overmorrow
• clima: https://codeberg.org/Lacerte/clima

Maps

Organic Maps:

• https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps

Pretty awesome offline maps app, powered by OpenStreetMap data. Great to find running/hiking trails, gets the job done for simple navigation as well. The better alternative to MAPS.ME.

Honorable mentions:

• https://github.com/kylecorry31/Trail-Sense : looks really neat for hikes!

Conclusion

There are some amazing Open Source apps out there, and I'm grateful to all authors of the apps I listed here. Don't hesitate to try these apps for yourself and see if you can replace some of your proprietary applications.

Open Source is great and all, but that doesn't mean you should leech off without ever giving back. Consider:

• donating to the Open Source projects you use the most.
• giving a star to show your appreciation.
• contributing to the Open Source ecosystem.
• creating detailed, well explained issues when you encounter a bug, not just "it doesn't work, please fix".

Of course, you could go much further than just installing Open Source apps:

• You could switch to an Open Source Android distribution in lieu of your nasty default vendor-bloated one. I personally use GrapheneOS on a Pixel, it's a great experience.
• You could get rid of Google Play Services or switch to something like microG (https://github.com/microg/GmsCore)