xenmaster's minimalist android apps
This is a list of all the apps I use on Android. Most of the apps here are open source and many are replacements for stock Android offerings. Almost all are available on F-Droid.
I don't use any social networking apps so you won't find them here - sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are available via browsers! Same thing with shopping sites, Amazon can be accessed via web-browser.
offline fdroid apps
These are the most commonly used apps on my phone. The vast majority are part of the Simple series of apps, which replace most of the stock android apps which have way too many permissions enabled. You have to pay for these apps if you get them from google play but are free if you get them from f-droid. However, I highly recommend you donate money to the developer if you find them useful.
Like this appA simple textfield for adding quick notes.
- Note-taking Tool
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
Like this appSimple Gallery is a highly customizable offline gallery. Organize & edit your photos, recover deleted files with the recycle bin, protect & hide files and view a huge variety of different photo & video formats including RAW, SVG and much more.
- Photo Manager
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
Like this appSimple File Manager is a super quick & professional file and folder manager for Android devices.
- File Manager
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
Like this appA simple calendar with optional CalDAV synchronization. You can easily create recurring events and setup reminders, it can also display week numbers.
- Calendar App
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Android
- Android Tablet
Like this appA simple light app for creating and managing your contacts from any source. The contacts can be stored on your device only, but also synchronized via Google, or other accounts.
- Contact Manager
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
Like this appA calculator with the basic functions and a customizable widget.
- Calculator
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
Like this appIt implements Time-based One-time Passwords (TOTP) and HMAC-Based One-Time Passwords (HOTP). Simply scan the QR code and login with the generated 6-digit code.
- Authenticator
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
Like this appAndroid password manager supporting KeePass 1.x and 2.x formats, without needing internet permission for added safety.
- Password Manager
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
Like this appMuPDF is a highly versatile, customizable PDF and XPS interpreter solution that can be used across a wide range of applications as a PDF renderer, viewer, or toolkit.
- PDF Reader
- Free • Open Source
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- F-Droid
- Xfce
online fdroid apps
Some important notes about this section:
- Netguard is the most important entry on here - you can use it to block your other apps (including stock android apps) from connecting to the internet via wifi or cellular network without even requiring root!
- NewPipe is a great app, but updates cause it to break more often than I would like.
- Yalp and Aurora store are both great ways to get gplay apps without getting into Google Play and having to sign up your phone with Google. However, these apps usually return errors when connecting to download APKs. The Yalp version on Github does not have this issue. Not the easiest way to install and update apps (both are on F-Droid too), but you are guaranteed to have a better experience.
Like this appOpen-source privacy browser that blocks trackers, enforces encryption, and provides Privacy Grade ratings, focusing on control and user data security.
- Web Browser
- Freemium • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- F-Droid
Like this appspaRSS DecSync is a fork of spaRSS which adds synchronization using DecSync. To start synchronizing, all you have to do is synchronize the directory DecSync located in the primary external storage, using for example Syncthing.
- Free • Open Source
- Android
Like this appLightweight and open-source app for YouTube, PeerTube, SoundCloud, and more. No Google Account needed, supports 4K and background audio streaming with downloads.
- YouTube Downloader
- Free • Open Source
- Linux
- Android
- SoundCloud
- YouTube Music
- Flathub
- Bandcamp
- YouTube
- F-Droid
- Flatpak
- PeerTube
Like this appYalp Store lets you download apps from Google Play Store as apk files. It can search for updates of installed apps and lets you search for other apps. Yalp saves downloaded apks to your default download folder.
- App Store
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
Like this appAurora Store is an unofficial, FOSS client to Google's Play Store with an elegant design. Not only does Aurora Store download, update, and search for apps like the Play Store, it also empowers the user with new features.
- App Store
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
Like this appOrfox is the most privacy-enhancing web browser on Android, for visiting any website, even if it's normally censored, monitored, or on the hidden web.
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- Android
Like this appOrbot is a freely licensed open-source application developed for the Android platform. It acts as a front-end to the Tor binary application, and also provides an HTTP Proxy for connecting web browsers and other HTTP client applications into the Tor SOCKS interface.
- VPN Service
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
Like this appOptimize your WiFi network using WiFi Analyzer by examining surrounding WiFi networks, measuring their signal strength as well as identifying crowded channels.
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
Like this appA network file-sharing application that makes sending a file to another machine on the local network as easy as dragging-and-dropping.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
google-play apps
Signal is available on their respective websites as APKs, but using Yalp or Aurora to get the APK from google play is a far better option.
Current supported android versions have call-blocking, but only Mr. Number has the biggest bank of spam numbers to filter out so I choose to use this.
**edit: removed wire and mr. number. Had too many technical issues where messages sent through Wire never get delivered. Mr. Number has since required payment to continue using its more useful services and from the numerous reviews, even the paid version does not work very well.
Like this appAn encrypted messaging app focused on privacy, supporting texts, calls, photos, videos, files, and group chats, with no ads or trackers.
- Instant Messenger
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- iPad
- Flathub
- Ubuntu
- Debian
Like this appSwiss-based VPN that ensures online privacy with a high-speed network, advanced encryption, and no-logs policy, offering a free version. Supports multiple platforms and unblocks content worldwide.
- VPN Service
- Freemium • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- Chrome OS
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Google Chrome
- Flathub
- F-Droid
- Android TV
- Flatpak
- Fire TV
- Mozilla Firefox
Native Apps
In addition to all these apps, I still use the following stock android functionality
- Messenger: This is just incidental - people who message me get me on Messenger.
- Dialer: Stock dialer hasn't caused any problems yet, but may look into replacing it soon.
- Camera: There's FOSS apps for cameras, but none that work as well as the original.
- Flashlight: This is not an app, but a controller to turn on and off the flashlight. Works better than any of the other options out there.
- Nightlight: I used to use Redmoon for this, but now the native functionality to reduce blue-light works well enough.
Open Camera
just try it ^^