this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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Technology

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As in title, preferably open-source, but doesn't have to, I will start:

KOReader - Amazing reader app, and being able to use the same app across various devices, even non-android ones, is pure bliss. Japanese support is pretty good too, which makes me happy. Though.. Sadly no vertical text support :c

Syncthing-fork - Being able to keep a library of books, and some files, and easily keep the shared folder across various devices, is mega comfy. Tachiyomi - Cute manga reader.

NewPipe - Really pleasant youtube client, that i sometimes use to listen to things in the background.

Kaku - An useful Japanese OCR app, that works.. quite decently for when I encounter kanji that I do not recognize, and is not text.

EinkBro - A web browser, that on e-ink devices, is quite comfy. Has few... quirks, but works well on e-ink

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

StreetComplete. It's an easy way to improve openstreetmap wherever you are. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your link is broken, the address it leads to is "url". [link text](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/) would be the correct way.

Here is the working link

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Ooh, cute app, thanks :3

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Merlin - It's a birding app and can identify birds by picture or by their song.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Oh how cool though, I didn't realize they had anything out there that can identify birds by song like that. Is it pretty accurate?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I use BirdNET, I had more luck identifying birds by song than with Merlin. But both are impressive.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Its really good in North America given that it is from Cornell. Gets probably a bird or two wrong out of hundreds

When I'm in India, its a kinda of a swing and a miss, but they're constantly improving it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I've found auditory ID quite reliable, photo ID is pretty good and questionnaire ID not very.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

NetGuard Pro - Allows you to see and control traffic from all apps, so you can prevent data flows to 3rd party hosts like the ones from Google or Facebook. The pro edition is paid and necessary, but it's all open source, just not gratis

Aegis Authenticator - open source 2FA authenticator

LibreTube - alternative, privacy-respecting, open source YouTube frontend using the Piped API

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Oooh, I will check out Aegis and LibreTube, thanks :3

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Aegis is fantastic

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use Carnet for simple note taking and Catima as a digital wallet. Wavelet can be used to apply AutoEq to headphones. The presets are generally really good and make smaller and cheaper earphones sound a lot better than they do by default.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
  • 1 for wavelet. They make my Bluetooth headphones so much better. Because it sets a standard EQ it actually makes all my headphones consistent with eachother.
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Moshidon for a Mastodon client

Droid-ify as a much better fdroid client

Another Notes to plan world domination

InnerTune as a great YouTube music ripping app

Feeder for RSS feeds

Xtra as a Twitch client

Tutanota for email/contacts/calendar

Fennec (or Mull) for a demozilla'd stable Firefox with all tracking/analytics/proprietary stuff removed

Mostly stock AOSP apps from my custom GrapheneOS rom.

Every one of those apps are on fdroid, except the built in stock apps obviously

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

YouTube ReVanced - YouTube with adblocking, SponsorBlock, and Return YouTube Dislike built-in. There is also ReVanced for YT Music.

NetGuard - Firewall that doesn't need root. Works on system apps too so you can help curb the amount of spying done by system apps and apps that don't need an internet connection to function.

Connect - Most functional Lemmy app I could find (and I literally tried them all). Still not as smooth of an experience as Relay, but /u/DBrady has announced no plans to port it to Lemmy so Connect will have to do.

Stremio - Any show or movie you want from any streaming platform (Netflix, Hulu/D+, HBO, Apple TV, etc.), all in one place. The app runs on TVs too. Requires plugins to work, but costs as little as $3/mo or even free, depending on what plugins you use. You'll never need to subscribe to any other streaming platform.

Splitwise - Easily split bills with your SO/roommate(s). Stop arguing over expenses.

Google Rewards - Answer surveys, get Google Play credit. Paid apps are now free!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've also tried all the Lemmy apps I could find, and must say I'm still the most fond of Voyager. Almost every single time I launch, there's a new update, and new features are showing up extremely fast. Now that there's customizable swipe gestures for all use cases, it's become so awesome to use. I even had an issue with comments getting deleted if I swiped too far while composing, opened a ticket on GitHub, and dev had it fixed within a day. They've just started submitting app versions to to both the Apple and Android store, if you don't want to use the web app.

I second Google Rewards, I also haven't paid for an app for quite some time now. A small note - if it asks if you've visited a specific store recently, the reward is a lot bigger if you say yes, say you bought something, and how you paid. Even if you didn't 😁 There's always (at least) one plausible option, a store you were near, and then a few that look to be fillers. I personally only pick the plausible ones, just in case it's some sort of test. They also rolled out uploading receipts where I'm located recently, and must admit I don't mind Google knowing what I purchased at whatever supermarket.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

My problem with Voyager is that it's a web app. It's extremely laggy/unresponsive and the keyboard doesn't work. Firefox doesn't play nice with web apps and I refuse to use any other mobile browser cause I need UBlock Origin and NoScript.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sync for Lemmy will be available soon. It's much nicer than Connect.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

It's available now! I'm commenting this from Sync.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • microG
  • Liftoff
  • Jerboa
  • Infinity
  • AuroraStore
  • NewPipe
  • Tachiyomi
  • Binary Eye
  • Currencies
  • Unit Converter
  • K-9 Mail
  • Etar
  • DAVx5
  • OsmAnd
  • PersonalDNSfilter
  • DNSCrypt
  • KDE Connect
  • OpenBoard
  • NeoBackup
  • App Manager
  • Aegis
  • ImagePipe
  • Insular
  • VLC
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Are you me, I have every single app on this list.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

KDE Connect

"Shared clipboard: copy and paste between your devices."

What the what?!? That's so cool!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

+1 for Tachiyomi.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Listing only things that haven't been listed

  • Seal: video downloader that lives in the "share" menu
  • Aegis: TOTP/Google Authenticator clone that's open source
  • personalDNSfilter: an in device vpn that lets you block websites (mostly ads) (blocks in app ads too for quite a few apps!)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

personalDNSfilter

Now that's a great idea. I've been using NextDNS which works quite well and I stay in its free usage cap, but still being self-reliant is better. I'll check that one out.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you absolutely must get something from Google Play, I suggest Aurora Store, which acts as an alternative frontend for Google Play, so you don't have to have GApps installed.

If you have use for command line programs, Termux, a terminal emulator, is a great option, and it also works with root.

For reading eBooks, I also have a recommendation, Librera Reader (but I'll check the OP's recommendation too).

Material Files and Simple File Manager are great file browsing tools. But if you need a file browser for root specifically, I recommend Material Files specifically.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Good list, but termux isn't a terminal emulator. It's so much more. It's like a virtual machine running cli linux with it's own repos and all. You can have python, gcc, vim, emacs, zsh... you name it. As long as it is tui, it is probably on termux!

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

moonlight-android - opensource android application to connect to your NVIDIA gamestream functionality provided by most modern NVIDIA graphic cards

I use it often for streaming my computer from my bed to play tactic/mouse heavy games, but latency wise it's very good if using hardware encoding. Less friction than a parsec and/or steam link setup.

Additionally (though I haven't tried it) there is a server software to emulate the NVIDIA(tm) gamestream functionality for AMD/Intel/etc, giving you an open source and low friction way to setup remote game streaming and/or desktop use https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Torque. It allows you to connect to your car's OBD2 port via a cheap Bluetooth adapter. From the app, you can read and clear diagnostic codes, setup custom gauges, and log data. It was very helpful when my alternator was dying and when my car was overheating. I don't have voltage or coolant temp gauges.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

jtx board - Journals, notes, tasks

OpenTracks - Sports tracker

Öffi - Public transport navigator

ViMusic - Listen to music from YouTube

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Plus one to ViMusic. High quality music with a beautiful interface and customisable buffer for music you heard previously. What's there not to like?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

jtx board seems nice.. I will check it out, thanks :3

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Since you clearly have an eink android device, what other eink-friendly apps do you recommend? Would love to hear of any.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some I haven't seen listed yet:

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I stopped using Nova Launcher when it was aquired by an analytics company, since launchers usually have access to a lot of permissions, and I don't trust a company dealing in analytics to operate in good faith with that access. I have used Lawnchair 2 and recently switched over to Neo Launcher.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Joplin is one of the most important apps I use daily on my Android phone. The desktop version for Linux, an Appimage, synchronizes with the shared database used by the Android app. One can use common cloud services or pay a small fee (now about 18 euros/year) for a specific cloud synchronization service (1Gb).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

List made using List My Apps

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
  • just weather
  • Joplin
  • Open Sync
  • OpenTasks
  • Lock Screen
  • K-9 Mail
  • OsmAnd
  • AntennaPod
  • Nextcloud
  • SMS Backup+
  • VLC
  • KeePassDX
  • OpenKeychain
  • Signal
  • ConnectBot
  • Wi-Fi Automatic
  • DAAP
  • primitive ftpd
  • My App List
  • Firefox
  • Wi-Fi Analyzer
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've started using LibreTube, its a lot like NewPipe, but I much prefer the UI. Check it out! (Its in F-Droid, of course)

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

X-plore file manager.

Local, SD card, FTP, SFTP, FTPS, DLNA, Dropbox, Google Drive, and about a dozen other cloud storages all in the same place with multiple windows you can switch between so you can easily open two folders in wildly different locations and move files between them as if it was all one big filesystem.

Also let's you host FTP or a webapp from your phone for transfers between other lan devices.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Last.fm to track my listening habits, pretty entertaining

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Autosync for Google Drive - Syncs folders in Google Drive to your phone. I use it for music files.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

AIMP - best local audio player Stuff - good simple to-do widget Hyperlocal Weather - good for cloud cover, not much else Proton VPN & Proton Mail - VPN is the best free one, mail is secure and well made

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Revanced, it's the successor to vanced and just as good. I tried newpipe but I didn't like that I couldn't log in among other issues.

DraStic. I like playing older pokemon game roms on it.

Kanji tree, a great way to practice kanji.

Island, let's me use different accounts on apps that don't allow account switching. For example, it lets me access both my regular amazon account for kindle and my Japanese account that I use to buy manga and books in Japanese occasionally, without having to log in and out all the time. It basically clones apps and let's you open the clone version as a separate app, so you can have the same app open twice with different accounts.

AI enlarger. Just an app that does a good job enlarging images. I usually use it for art so idk how good it is for photos, but I imagine it's pretty good. It does an amazing job with art. Better than most other image enlarging programs or apps I've tried, except for one paid one that I tested with the free points you get for signing up, which was still about the same in quality.

Kiwi browser, works like chrome but let's you use extensions on mobile. I usually prefer Firefox but there are some sites or activities where I really want to be able to use certain extensions and Firefox doesn't have the ability to use the equivalents on the mobile browser. I think Kiwi provides privacy options that help with chrome's privacy issues though, but don't quote me on that.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Listing the ones that haven't been listed

  • MPV
  • Ankidroid
  • KDE Connect
  • LocalSend
  • Mint calculator
  • QR & Barcode scanner
  • suntimes alarms
  • The simple mobiles apps
  • anysoft keyboard
  • komikku
  • sobriety
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