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I have just switched to Android - what are some good F-droid apps to install? (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by sbeak@sopuli.xyz to c/androidapps@lemmy.world
28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

UPDATE:

I have installed both the music apps I described below and Retro (fork of Metro) and prefer the UI of Lotus. I am currently typing this with Summit, which feels like an Android version of mLem in terms of UI (in a good way) while being very customisable too! I have also installed a few of the other apps mentioned, like Syncthing-Fork and Offline Translator. FUTO Voice Input is useful too. Thanks everyone!

original post:

First off, I have already installed and am happy with (I don't need any suggestions for these):

  • Fennec (browser)
  • Heliboard (keyboard, it's awesome!)
  • Aves (image gallery)
  • AntennaPod (podcasts)
  • DAVx^5^ + Etar (calendar)
    • Fossify Calendar looks nice, but is less functional in my opinion (you can't see the full name of events in month view!)
  • Joplin (notes)
  • CalcYou (calculator)
  • Breezy Weather
  • CoMaps
  • Thunderbird (email)
  • Material Files (file manager)
  • Chrono (alarms, timers, etc.)
  • ConnectYou (contacts)
  • Fossify Messages (SMS)
    • also considering Quik SMS, does it have any advantages over Fossify?
  • Moshidon (Mastodon)
  • RSS feed reader (Feeder + CapyReader, one of the two probably, both are great)
  • Image Toolbox
  • My self-hosted stuff (Nextcloud and Immich)
  • KeePassDX (password manager)
  • Ente Auth (2FA)
  • KDE Connect

I currently need:

  • music player (Metro and Vanilla Music are both unmaintained, so those are out. I've also found Auxio, CuteMusic, Lotus, and Phocid as options. Are there any other good ones? I want local playback, not stuff using YT Music)
  • Lemmy client (Jerboa crashes when trying to log in for some reason, I've heard Thunder might be good?)
  • are there any other apps I should look at?

Another thing, is there a guide to what all the settings in Heliboard do? It's kind of overwhelming. One thing I have changed is the "bottom padding" to make the space bar a bit up, since I accidentally press "c" and "v" way too often when trying to hit space. Also, being able to enable the number row is pretty cool!

EDIT: I have KDE Connect as well!

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[-] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 17 points 1 week ago

For Lemmy clients: Thunder is indeed very good, I haven't lookad further since I installed it.
Others:

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

I will look at Kvaesitso, seems pretty cool! Termux is also a good one.

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 week ago

Offline Translator is cool, but the description didnt do it justice. Its a combined OCR + translator app. So you can just take a pic of some random text or sign somewhere and it will translate and overlay the text on the image.

[-] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 2 points 6 days ago

You are right, it is quite amazing. And very fast too, on my Pixel 4a (2020)

[-] gratux 2 points 1 week ago

FYI, KDE Connect can also pair with other mobile devices

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 week ago

Syncthing

[-] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Isn't the Android port dead? Or did someone take it up?

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago

There's a version called syncthing-fork that is (I believe) still being maintained. Or at least as recently as a month ago when it last updated through f-droid.

[-] Tehhund@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

A hero forked it and is keeping the fork up to date: https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/wiki

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

yep that will be useful for syncing things

[-] frozenpopsicle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Shelter is an app that allows you to isolate other apps based on work policy (made by you). Don't trust an app? Throw it in jail. This allows a separate installation and user account for apps. You also can freeze the apps in the shelter preventing then from doin' stuff. All with no root.

What kind of phone? If you don't wanna be specific. I ask because Pixels can get GrapheneOS which I am obsessed with.

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

My phone is not a pixel (so no grapheneos). Shelter could be useful for apps like Whatsapp, right?

[-] frozenpopsicle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yes, but if you are freezing the apps then no notifications. I personally can't live without some google apps yet, such as food, banking and job-related apps. When using shelter you clone these apps into the work area. They then are completely separate new apps that can't see the rest of your phone. So that's what I use it for keeping invasive apps like Doordash (Location Whore) or Google Photos (Every Permission Known to Mankind) completely isolated from the files on my phone. I don't know how much of that is possible for stock Android. But if you put a messaging app in there and it's set to freeze you won't hear responses. My understanding is it still works for stock.

Have you heard of Shizuku or Canta? These together allow you to disable some of the bloatware on stock phones.

[-] flamingos@feddit.uk 6 points 1 week ago

Seconding Thunder (currently writing this in it).

Some apps I like:

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

Nice, I will check those out!

[-] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

If you liked Metro Music player, you should check out Retro, which I think is a fork.

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

Oh, that might be good!

[-] doc@fedia.io 4 points 1 week ago

Aegis - TOTP authenticator Audile - recognize music Aurora Store - play store alternative frontend Auto-auto Rotate - remember rotate settings by app DNSnet - lightweight VPN blocklist, ie ad blocker Radiodroid - radio streaming Futo Voice Input - pair with Heliboard for voice diction. Several models to choose from. RoMote - have a roku? Now your phone is a remote control. SmartScan - local LLM to classify and search all your photos.

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

Voice dictation could be useful!

[-] frozenpopsicle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

Thanks! Love finding new stuff.

[-] rescue_toaster@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

Kvaesitso is my launcher of choice.

For lemmy apps, it's not on fdroid, but summit is definitely my favorite.

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

Ok, I will look at summit then! I'll try both it and Thunder and see which I like the best...

[-] frozenpopsicle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago

Obtainium is a favorite of mine. It installs apps from source. So you find apps you like from izzy or fdroid and copy their source link. Now all your FOSS apps (including Obtainium itself, mhmm, add Obtainium to itself) are now cutting edge. Updated fast to pseudo-versions. There's a page for hard to add apps here.

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

Wait, how does that work? (adding obtainium to itself)

[-] frozenpopsicle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

It says it has an update for itself. So you click your notification and it opens Obtainium. It downloads a newer version of its source, builds it for your phone, changes its path to the new one and exits abruptly. When you restart Obtainium it's the new version with all the same settings. Magic!

[-] Tehhund@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Voyager is my favorite Lemmy app: https://getvoyager.app/

For RSS I like Miniflux, it's a self-hosted server so it keeps your read/unread status synced across devices. https://miniflux.app/. The developer also has an instance that they host for super cheap: $15/year: https://reader.miniflux.app/

Do you SSH to anything? ConnectBot is an excellent SSH client.

[-] JayGray91@piefed.social 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

For a Lemmy client, I like Summit. But if anything, it's because I'm on piefed and it's the most I like so far for it. Showing where else a post is crossposted is almost as handy as how piefed consolidate comments of cross posts all into one view. And I like the swipe actions.

Edit: didn't see rescue_toaster also recommended Summit, and I forgot it's not on f-droid

[-] bluemoon@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

StartPage instead of firefox

Browser for a non-js webviewer. just so fast. the fastest.

Freads for mastodon rss bluesky

Blorb for piefed lemmy

Tubular for youtube peertube

MPV for music. click gear icon top right & 'play in background' to play stuff in background.

this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2025
57 points (100.0% liked)

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