Cost / License
- Free
- Open Source
Application typeApplication types
Platforms
- F-Droid
- Android




An alarm and clock app.
Worth mentioning :
Fossify Clock




Everytime I setup a phone for a friend or myself I usually remove stock apps using adb or UniversalAndroidDebloaterNextGeneration and replace them with theses apps listed here. I added also a couple of nice to have apps that people might wants on their device.
Almost all of them are free as in free beer and many are open source (around 80%)
I tried to feature more applications and less services but there are several services still in this list, however I find them great and/or accessible (freemium most of the time).
FOSS = Free(as in freedom) and Open Source Software




An alarm and clock app.
Worth mentioning :
Fossify Clock




A lightweight and modern alarm and clock app
Fast, secure browser with built-in ad block, privacy controls, and global tracking protections. Optimizes data, speed, and battery life.





A browser that blocks ads and trackers.
Don't activate BAT crypto bullshit stuff and disable sponsored background images
IronFox is a fork of DivestOS's Mull Browser based on Firefox. Our goal is to continue the legacy of Mull to provide a secure, hardened and privacy-oriented browser for daily use.




If you are firefox person this is a continuation fork of Mull (RIP), which was the best firefox fork for Android with tons of privacy improvments. With support for mobile extension such as
uBlock Origin
Still doesn't support per-site isolation like every Android Firefox flavor
Worth mentioning :
Fennec F-Droid (fully libre (free as in freedom) firefox build for android)
Firefox Focus (private browsing only)
Feeder is a fully free/libre feed reader. It supports all common feed formats, including JSONFeed. It doesn't track you. It doesn't require any setup. It doesn't even need you to create an account!




A great FOSS RSS Reader
Worth mentioning :
Read You
Capy Reader
Twine is a modern, open-source RSS reader designed to put you back in the driver’s seat. Twine combines a beautiful, distraction-free interface with powerful tools to help you stay informed on your own terms.





Another great foss RSS Reader
Your privacy-aware, open-source calendar with intuitive design and multi-platform syncing.




A foss calendar app.
Worth mentioning:
Etar
Right Calendar app is a versatile scheduling tool that offers unparalleled flexibility to its users. One of its standout features is that it is built on an open-source platform. This not only ensures transparency but also allows for constant updates and bug fixes from a...




Another foss calendar app, inspired by Apple Calendar
A privacy-first calendar that works offline and looks beautiful. Connect to iCloud — or don't. Your schedule, your choice.




A great Calendar app with built in CalDav sync for iCloud and more (Nextcloud, infomaniak, etc...)
🎉 A beautiful Kotlin app to remember birthdays and events without having to open Facebook, set alarms or rely on Google Calendar.




I don't like to have birthdays in my calendar so I use this cute app.




To count the days before an event
Worth mentioning :
Left (Android) with a dot based design instead of numbers.
Lightweight calculator app for Android featuring scientific mode, multiple themes including Material You, calculation history, and minimal permissions for privacy.




A super lightweight foss calculator app.




Another super lightweight and MaterialYou designed foss calculator app
Introducing Fossify Calculator – your versatile and efficient tool for all your calculation needs. Enjoy a stylish, modern design paired with powerful functionality, perfect for both simple calculations and more complex tasks like currency conversion.




A foss calculator app
Worth mentioning :
NumberHub




A great FOSS PDF reader with essential feature (no editing)
Read, edit, convert, merge, and sign PDF files across devices, for completely free and without signing up.





The best free (as in free beer) PDF editor for Android (also one of the best free option on Desktop) and a really good PDF reader too
Highly versatile PDF and XPS solution offering customizable rendering and viewing with features like digital signatures, redactions, and annotations.





A simple and minimalist FOSS PDF reader (no editing)
Worth mentioning :
Secure PDF Viewer
Openlib is an open source app to download and read books from shadow library (Anna’s Archive). The App Has Built In Reader to Read Books.




Free e-book downloader and reader that gets files from popular Shadow Libraries such as
Anna’s Archive
Worth mentioning :
Myne (eBook) download books from
Project Gutenberg





A really great free (as in free beer) eBook reader with no ads
Librera Reader is a highly customizable and feature-rich application for reading books in PDF, EPUB, MOBI, DjVu, FB2, TXT, RTF, AZW, AZW3, HTML, CBZ, CBR formats on Android devices.





A powerful foss e-book reader with Text-To-Speech (TTS) support (setup
SherpaTTS in your phone settings)
Material3 eBook reader - Book's Story. Built with Jetpack Compose. Free & Open Source & Ad Free. 4 supported file formats (.txt, .pdf, .epub, .fb2), 2 supported languages. Lots of customization.





A simpler yet awesome foss e-book reader for people that want modern design and don't need TTS
Read book files in EPUB, PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, DJVU, FB2, MOBI and CHM formats. Supports chapters, bookmarks, page style. Saves the current reading position. Automatic detection and display of the list of all supported documents on your device.





A great freemium proprietary e-book reader with TTS
Worth mentioning :
Moon+ Reader





To download and read mangas and webtoons (free).
Worth mentioning:
Kahon 100% FOSS fork
Enterprise-ready on-premise suite with advanced word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation tools, maximizing interoperability and file compatibility.




A FOSS Office suite for your Android device
A free, lightweight office suite offering high compatibility with files and multi-platform support. Includes features for text, presentations, spreadsheets, and PDFs.





A proprietary Office suite for your Android
Worth mentioning :
Microsoft 365 Copilot
View and modify documents created using LibreOffice or
Apache OpenOffice on the go using the Document Reader & Document Editor!.




A more basic FOSS Office suite (viewer)
Worth mentioning :
LibreOffice Viewer
Android document scanner creating enhanced, clean PDFs with open-source code, no ads, tracking, watermarks, or cloud—fully offline, private, and simple.




A foss unboated local document scanner for your android device.
The OSS Document Scanner is a free and Open Source app to transform your mobile device into a powerful document scanner.





Another great foss document scanner for your android device.
Cross-platform email client providing POP/IMAP support, robust filtering, multiple accounts, and chat. Extendable via add-ons with RSS/Atom, etc.





An email client from Mozilla (the mobile version is a fork of
K-9 Mail )
Privacy-focused, open-source email app offering encryption, unlimited accounts, customizable features, unified inbox, and low data usage.




Another FOSS email client.
Secure email app for Mac, iPhone, Android and Windows with AI Copilot, PGP encryption, read receipts and one unified inbox.





A great proprietary e-mail client for mobile.
Worth mentioning :
Spark Mail Worse privacy policy
Open source solution to protect your personal email address. Generous free plan with uncapped bandwidth and infinite sends/replies, self-hostable, lot of powerful features, open roadmap, you can count on SimpleLogin to guard your email inbox.





Alias service so you don't have to give your real address anymore
Open-source service offering unlimited anonymous email aliases, encrypted forwarding, spam protection, and anonymous replies to keep your identity private.





Another alias service so you don't have to give your real address anymore
Privacy-focused GPS app with offline maps and community development, featuring real-time navigation, no location tracking, and open-source software.




A great map app that isn't the best but works offline is open source and respect your geolocation data.
Community is forking to
CoMaps
Navigation app using OpenStreetMap data with offline maps for 233 countries, real-time traffic, transit info, multiple modes, privacy, and detailed routes.





A proprietray map app with strong privacy policy.
Worth mentioning :
TomTom Not as private at all
Waze Privacy invasive (owned by Google)
Google Maps Privacy invasive
Navigation app with offline and online OSM maps, turn-by-turn voice guidance, cycling and driving modes, GPX tracking, POI search, and monthly updates.




A feature-complete foss map app with tons of customization for map-nerds and power user
Help to improve the OpenStreetMap with StreetComplete by completing quests which consists of simple questions about the world around you.




A gamified OSM contribution app to quickly complete OSM data in your area
Symphony is a lightweight, elegant music player that enhances your offline music experience.




A super lightweight local music player.
Worth mentioning :
PixelPlayer Material You Expressive
Fossify Music Player
Advanced music player with equalizer, customizable UI, Hi-Res Output, playlist management, lyrics display, and supports diverse audio formats.





The best paid proprietary local music player on Android. Has a free demo.
Worth mentioning :
Musicolet freemium
If you don't have Spotify or Deezer here are good free options
Material 3 music player for Android with ad-free YouTube Music streaming, offline caching, personalized quick picks, synced lyrics, audio effects, and library management.




A lightweight foss YouTube Music client
Free cross-platform music client for desktop and mobile enabling manual playback, YouTube streaming, playlist creation, time-synced lyrics, and no ads.





A cloud based crossplateform music player (free Spotify with YouTube).
Comments
Very nice list, though I still manage to find some suggestions lol
Id add Handy News Reader, an open source RSS reader with certain features that many RSS readers lack, big one for example is labeled saved articles and can even create pseudo feeds from websites.
If you make a category for social messaging, id add Element (matrix)
Hi, thank you. I try to keep this list more app based and not focusing too much on services that's why except for SMS Messengers there is no social messaging apps like Signal or Matrix. Thanks for recommanding me Handy News Reader but I don't think it's really better than the RSS agregator listed on here. Feel free to "fork" this list and personnalize it to your opinions !
I suggest adding Image Toolbox, it's a great addition to Gallery by Ionut Iacob with its lacking features. Also if you don't have a PC for Universal Android Debloater there's Canta, however it requires Shizuku to work.
Forgot to mention MJ PDF, far more versatile than its alternatives.
MJ PDF is now listed and so is Image Toolbox (And Canta) and a bunch more apps, thanks for your recommandations !
I would include Magic Earth for Maps
and FUTO GrayJay for youtube/video streaming alternative
Hey I have rework this list and added theses with a bunch of other apps, it is way more complete now !