When we buy a new mobile phone, we expect certain applications that improve our quality of life, features that handle everyday tasks that we consider minimally necessary. A gallery, web browser, navigation, and calendar apps are all software features you’d expect from a respectable Android smartphone. It would be confusing without them. Google’s ecosystem provides convenient representations of the examples above, all pre-installed and ready to use at launch. But thanks to the Play Store’s healthy open-source app library, users don’t have to settle for all of Google’s basic services.
Using open source services may sacrifice some initial convenience, but it gives users the ability to dive under the hood, improve their experience, and participate in the app’s community. It also means less personal data is fed into Google’s algorithms. With real-time development updates and a direct channel to designers to provide feedback, open source always brings people together around great service. We’ve gathered some of our favorite open source alternatives to the Google services you’ve been using for years, in all their community-driven glory.
What is open source software?
Take back some of your privacy with open source software
1 Fossify Gallery
Proud member of Historic Folk
Fossify Gallery is a great open source gallery app with sorting, editing, and navigation skills that far exceed those of Google Photos. It’s a member of his Fossify app group, a fork of the open source library formerly known as Simple App Tools. They are It’s now premium. A great gallery app allows users to easily manage their images, videos, and GIF files with a wealth of editing tools provided through an intuitive interface. Fossify Gallery is unparalleled in its organizational capabilities, allowing users to switch between specific image folders and folder formats with little to no interruption. There’s no cloud storage, but that goes hand in hand with Fossify’s focus on privacy.
As an open source project, Fossify Gallery is committed to allowing fans to participate in the development of the project, creating a way for them to check out other members of the fork and provide feedback to the developers. User bug reports and suggestions are one of the main ways we improve the app. The Fossify library is generally great and I highly recommend checking it out on GitHub, but the Fossify Gallery is especially well maintained. It’s definitely an improvement over the bland afterthought that is Google Photos.
2 osmand
Get an overview of the land
OsmAnd is a sophisticated open source alternative to Google Maps that approaches map reading and travel planning practices with the clarity you need. The Google Maps app is great, but the visual design can be a bit cluttered and unintuitive, making it easy to get oriented while traveling. OsmAnd’s map screen is attractive and crisp, with bright colors and clear lines that remind you of a subway map. Similar to Google Maps, users can navigate within the map representation and mark points of interest with flags that are saved in a menu for later review. Users can filter what they want to see on the OsmAnd map. This is useful when looking for locations such as pharmacies in densely populated areas.
There is a speed trap warning feature, but the app prompts users to immediately check if it’s legal in their country. The map screen itself is fully customizable, allowing users to toggle widget opacity, 2D to 3D button design, and tap distance functionality. Settings can be applied and saved by travel category, such as walking or public transport, or copied and pasted to another account. If you use Google Maps regularly but want something streamlined that checks all the same boxes, we recommend OsmAnd.
3 p cloud
Keep your files safe
One of the best things about open source projects is their commitment to user file security. pCloud embraces this with a wealth of features designed to give users peace of mind. As an alternative to Google Drive, pCloud offers a similarly tidy and efficient cloud storage service that is more considerate of user privacy. This app allows users to upload different file formats to a secure server with separate menus dedicated to her PDF, mp3, png, jpeg. pCloud also allows two or more users to share files over a cloud connection. This means you can quickly and easily access files created by your friends or borrowed from them with the push of a button.
Users can set locks on apps, so there are multiple layers of security clearance between potential intruders and valuable data. Although Google Drive is not strictly an open book, data protection regulations based on pClouds Sweden make it a good choice for sensitive data.
Four Tor browser
Genuine open source web browser
Tor is an open source web browser that works similarly to Google Chrome, albeit with a different suitability. The app is actually a modified version of Mozilla Firefox, which disables the default browser settings that websites usually exploit to track visitors, thereby minimizing the sharing of user data to an absolute minimum. Special measures are being taken to contain it. The Tor browser is well known for its usefulness in navigating the dark web, which Google Chrome cannot do. We recommend using extreme caution when going this route, as this particular part of the Internet is unregulated and there are malicious organizations that may take advantage of you inadvertently.
Tor is great on the PC, and the Android version is no different, functioning exactly like a regular browser, but with the great privacy settings mentioned above. If you’re tired of websites mining your data while you browse, try Tor.
Five F-droid
One-stop open source app store
F-Droid is an open source app marketplace that seeks liberated services from everywhere and platforms wholesale forks of other services and open source apps. The Play Store is a great platform for finding the best open source apps, but many people are building their success outside of Google’s services. Similar to the Play Store, F-Droid offers a huge library of Android apps organized into categories that group genres and uses. The app has an impressive settings menu, with options to enable or disable automatic Wi-Fi and data downloads, toggle adaptive dark mode, and manage settings that connect F-Droid to the Tor browser. There is also.
The Play Store doesn’t win any awards for intuitive design, but F-Droid goes above and beyond with its combination of creative libraries and ease of navigation.
Google won’t allow that
For some developers, the Play Store can feel like a hopeless venture. It’s almost impossible to stand out because it’s dominated by big companies and popular apps. By operating independently, open source apps can put users first without fear of corporate oversight. Users also have the opportunity to participate in projects that they support in non-monetary ways, but this would be very unconventional. For Google apps. The proliferation of mass-product library forks is a clear sign that open source software is here to stay and will survive in some form. While Google’s core apps will likely continue to exist, the privacy-friendly, free nature of open source software may seem better suited to Google’s limited offerings.
What is the Android Open Source Project?
The foundations that helped make Android what it is today
We recommend trying out some open source apps. Because these apps prioritize you, keep your data safe, and hide your movements. As you’ve read, it’s possible to find open source apps that manage your life better than any Google service.
