Title says it all. I’ll go first:
I don’t really have any on my computer (all I use that for is Vim, Firefox, and Git), but on my phone: Orbot (basically Tor as a VPN on your phone).
Edits: Added link, fixed formatting
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Everyone knows about VLC but I don’t think many people know it has a really good Android app! I use it as my primary music app and it’s great. Even has android auto support and a surprisingly sleek interface.
I’m assuming it doesn’t work with Jellyfin or Subsonic, does it?
I haven’t used those so I don’t think so. But it lets you add music from local networks, and you can add streams from a URL (even supports youtube links, which is a way to watch youtube without ads without pihole or a third party app).
I haven’t used VLC on my phone. I prefer MPV on both desktop and mobile (it’s the media player used in JMP), and it works with the jellyfin app just fine!
Jellyfin app (at least for Android) can play in external video players.
Off the top of my head
- Signal
- VeraCrypt
- LibreWolf
- BitWarden
Oh shoot! I forgot about Bitwarden, I feel like I use it so much that it just fades into the background now!
Veracrypt has been stale but at least they released a new beta last month
I still find it invaluable, for easy encryption of whole thumbdrives.
I’ve recently discovered Organic Maps that allows offline viewing of open street maps. I’ve been using it since maps.me has completely gone down the drain with premium subscriptions and paid download limits (for the same open street maps data lol).
I’ve started filling my neighborhood in openstreetmaps because I want to use Organic Maps
Check out StreetComplete. It shows you missing osm data close to you so you can add that information directly. Very good way to get highly detailed information into OSM, like accessibility for stairs (handrail, ramps, etc.) or opening hours for shops (including updating older data)
SyncThing - to sync my files between devices and avoid the big corporations cloud (use it for notes, Keepass database, photos, etc)
Logseq - super advanced note taking with tagging and relationships between notes (all store locally)
Authpass - opening my Keepass password database on my phone
GrapheneOS Camera - just to avoid the Google camera app as I have Google Photos disabled on my phone and needrd a good app that doesn’t break when going to view the gallery (since it tries to open Google Photos)
Simple Gallery - to view my photos on my phone
Signal - I have it but I have very few friends that use it unfortunately
AntennaPod - for podcasts, I’m thinking of self hosting a podcast tracker to sync my listening habits across my devices, we’ll see if that happens
Vinyl Music Player - to play my local mp3 files and playlists (I use MusicBee to manage what I sync to the phone as my mp3 library is quite large, and SyncThing to actually copy stuff over)
Signal - I have it but I have very few friends that use it unfortunately
It’s a shame they got rid of SMS support. That was basically my selling factor when trying to convince someone to install the app. Now, it’s next to impossible to get someone to install it…
SyncThing - to sync my files between devices and avoid the big corporations cloud (use it for notes, Keepass database, photos, etc)
Amen, sibling.
Logseq - super advanced note taking with tagging and relationships between notes (all store locally)
Quite nice, although I’m still struggling to integrate it with my workflow. I just haven’t taken the time to learn how to best use it.
Authpass - opening my Keepass password database on my phone
Do you trust it? Why?
I’m really cautious (nervous) about the program(s) I give access to my kbdx. On the desktop, I’ve actually code audited the tool I use; I can’t as easily do that on Android.
GrapheneOS Camera - just to avoid the Google camera app as I have Google Photos disabled on my phone and needrd a good app that doesn’t break when going to view the gallery (since it tries to open Google Photos)
I’ve been using OpenCamera for this, but recently started using PhotonCamera - it has a great UI.
Simple Gallery - to view my photos on my phone
That’s a good one. I ended up with Aves because it allows fairly complex filtering, and the UI is nice.
Signal - I have it but I have very few friends that use it unfortunately
A few years ago, I talked my wider family into using Wire, and now we’re all stuck on it. It keeps getting progressively worse with each release, and sooner or later I’m going to have to pick something to replace it. I don’t know what that will be, but it will be federated, and it won’t mandate IDs tied to a phone number.
Vinyl Music Player - to play my local mp3 files and playlists (I use MusicBee to manage what I sync to the phone as my mp3 library is quite large, and SyncThing to actually copy stuff over)
God, I seem to change music players every couple of months. I guess I’ve been using Metro for a while and haven’t found the thing that irritates me and sends me on a search for a new player, so maybe it’ll stick. That’s interesting about MusicBee, though - I’ve been looking for something like that, so thank you!
I’ll add to your list:
- PhotoBackup, which is a reliable and fantastic replacement for Photos syncing. This is then tied into PhotoPrism on the server, for web access and sharing. I had to cobble it together, mostly b/c of limitations in PhotoPrism, but it does replace the whole Goog Photos workflow.
- NewPipe, which is superior to the YT app in all ways, and is one of the best OSS all-around mobile apps.
- QKSMS, which I keep coming back to. I haven’t found anything better yet, in any case.
- DAVx⁵. Unseen, but does some heavy lifting. One of the apps I make sure to support; replaces 1/3 of the critical “core” Google Android services
- Wireguard, which Just Works, and is always on.
- M.A.L.P., for when I’m playing music on the house system
- openScale, a quite nice OSS weight tracker that supports a lot of off-brand smart scales, without phoning home
- KDE Connect, what for sending stuff to/from other computers amd phones. Works great, even without KDE (mconnect is an alternative desktop service)
- Etar, as my calendar app. Been using it so long, I’ve forgotten it’s not stock.
- ntfy replaces so much notification on my phone, and it does so reliably and well. Worth a shout out.
- SimpleTask, the best to todo.txt Android app. Another app that I’ve been using so long it seems almost stock.
- I’ve been using FlorisBoard for several months now. It has no text prediction, but has a ton of features I use. I try other keyboards every once in a while, but end up back on Floris. The only thing I miss is prediction, and with it better (any?) correction. Still, aside from DAVx⁵, it’s probably the most used app on my phone, so…
- Geometric Weather! Such a great weather app.
- Material Files replaces the stock file manager. Great program, and while remote FSes are limited to ftp, it does the job.
- Wormhole William is a good between-devices file transfer tool.
- Termux, of course. Are there any real competitors?
Thing is, I’m running OEM Android, b/c I have a flip phone and don’t want to lose the outside screen support by flashing. So I uninstall or disable nearly every built in app, and replace them with F-Droid apps (via Droid-ify). It’s not much, but it’s an honest living.
Edit MusicBee… oh, Windows. Oh, well. The search continues.
FlorisBoard for several months now. It has no text prediction
The good news is that feature is currently in development. There’s a beta build on GitHub that has it sort of implemented. There’s some details on the FlorisBoard matrix channel on getting it.
M.A.L.P., for when I’m playing music on the house system
Do you mind explaining your setup a bit more? I’ve currently got a few Sonos speakers but I don’t like being locked into their system and have always been interested in a more open setup.
I’ve seen Snapchat and I know of MPD (but don’t fully understand it, to be honest) but it seems there isn’t much information about these types of setups.
that feature is currently in development
I was following that! I’m excited to see how it works, when they release it.
Do you mind explaining your setup a bit more?
Sure!
I’d recommend LogitechMediaServer,. It’s got a ton of plugins, and despite the name is entirely maintained (more or less actively) by the community. Lots of features, easy to use, and even has themes to pretty-ify it.
That said, I had a few issues. Every once in a while, one of the clients would freak out and blast screeching static throughout the house. That may have been a client issue, or some combination of my setup, so I changed it out.
In any case, our house has whole-house audio wiring, so I have a 12-zone amp running it. To the zones are connected cheap ($50?) O-Droids running Linux. Each of these (there are 3) runs a client for the audio server. For LMS, that’s all there is - install LMS server and point it at your media, start the LMS clients and point them at the server, and the clients show up in the web interface of the server. Group them and play music to the group, and you get broadcast music streaming.
Because of that little issue, I’m running mpd as the server. It’s a bit more involved to get the broadcast. To get that, my mpd plays to a pipe, and then I use snapcast to pull that data and broadcast it to snapclient(s) running on the same ODroids. And then, if you want a nice web UI, you probably want to install something like MyMPD, although we get along fine with MALP on our Androids. Queue maintenance is easier with MyMPD.
In any case, it’s been more reliable in my house, but far more moving parts to get running. I’d really try LMS first. There are native Android clients for it as well, but the web UI is pretty nice.
I never really saw the need for Termux, but now that I selfhost at home and on a VPS, i couldn’t go without it!
Also, I just recently started switching as much as I can to a self-hosted ntfy instance from pushover. I’m really loving it so far!
I sponsored it on github because I see myself using it a lot. Plus, the dev deserves it. The documentation alone is great, let alone the software itself.
I really dislike typing on my phone, but termux has saved my bacon a couple of times when picom has frozen up on me, so it stays.
Ntfy is really nice software!
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Does it only work on a custom rom?
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ah, yeah, I tried disabling and replacing one app, I can’t remember which, but it caused weird problems…
I disabled and uninstalled using adb and it’s fine for me. I use the native gallery which I like.
Logseq
I’ll have to give this a shot, it looks super cool. Although, is it more of an Obsidian, Notion, or Evernote style?
I’d say it’s closest to Obsidian but not quite
Logseq is very similar to Obsidian, I made the switch earlier this year. If you’re a fan of how Notion does things but you’re more interested in privacy check out AnyType. I haven’t played with it too much yet but I dig it.
Alright, I like both Notion and Obsidian, so I’ll give both a try. Thank you!
Surprised no one’s mentioned NewPipe yet
Thank you for adding links, I didn’t think to. You pretty much have it spot-on, but also: no ads!
Yes! There’s also LibreTube also available on F-Droid
This was new to me. Thanks!
Everything search app is easily my most used on my Windows PC. Instant, as-you-type file search by name with detail sorting and wildcard support. I set a keyboard shortcut as well. It puts Explorer search to shame. As good as Spotlight, which I was missing from when I had a Mac in 2008.
LaunchyQT - modern fork of Launchy that actually gets development. App launcher, dead simple.
FanControl - Fan curve software with all the features I want including hybrid temp sources, sensible automatic settings, visual graphs with an intuitive interface.
AutoHotKey - Hotkey scripting language that I can use even as someone who barely codes.
Transcribe! - Not open-source but it’s a reasonably priced audio and video slow down app for transcribing.
Spotlight, which I was missing from when I had a Mac in 2008
Amazing that Spotlight is that old!
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I cycle to work. This takes like 60-70 minutes, there is a ferry ride. The app MoopMoop is like google maps and a weather app in one. It show the rain on your route.
InnerTune. Basically all you could need for free music streaming. Beautiful FOSS client that rips from YouTube music.
This looks really good. The only thing missing is the ability to follow YouTube playlists. I have a couple of shared playlists, so that’s a must for me.
I see around all the time on here.
Just wanted to say hi.
Hi!
👋👁️🫦👁️👋
Threema
Where Signal is secure - Threema is private and secure (e2e encrypted, uses PFS but doesn’t need your phone number for sign ups. You can be 100% anonymous should you wish)
Threema
Yeah, but how many people use it (half-joking, I’m a Matrix user myself and understand the pain)?
Was a genuine challenge. I ended up purchasing a copy for my whole family so everyone can use it.
I thought it was regarded as a dick move to put a lot of traffic through tor?
I hear such mixed messages about this and would love for somebody to educate me. Do we:
-
Avoid using tor to free it up for those who actually need it
-
Use tor whenever, and normalise it so that somebody using tor isn’t immediately considered to be a journalist/dissident/person with something to hide.
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Yeah, you really aren’t supposed to… I rarely use Orbot to be honest, it’s just super useful if I do need to use it, like on a network that blocks a whole bunch of things and you want to catch up on Matrix messages or whatever. Also, if you’re worried about your phone updating or making a bunch of useless requests, you can turn on low data mode/mark your current connection as metered.
SearXNG.
It’s like having a search engine customised to my needs.
Automatically filters out SEO junk sites, and redirects links automatically (e.g. reddit.com -> old.reddit.com)
Wait… How do you make SearXNG redirect to old.reddit?
Change your
settings.ymlto have thisenabled_plugins: - 'Hostname replace' # see hostname_replace configuration belowAnd then define the rules like this:
hostname_replace: # My redirects '(.*\.)?reddit\.com$': 'old.reddit.com' # My filters 'slant\.co': false 'dailymail\.co\.uk': falseAwesome! Thank you
You’re welcome. :)
Wow this feature alone makes me want to try using it
It runs inside a docker container, so you could even have it locally (if you don’t want to host it on a VPS).
SearXNG
Gosh, I love SearXNG, and how you can fit it to work into your workflow!
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Krita, a free and open-source art app
Elisa, a FOSS music player
Birday, an open-source app to remember birthdays and other events
Note to Self (Play Store), a note-taking app with a chat-like format, data is stored locally
Note to Self
Wow! That’s actually amazing! My only concern is do you remember to use it, or do you still find yourself opening messages, Matrix, or whatever?
I forget what it’s called, but I have one I got off F-Droid that just does a spectrogram of the microphone input. It’s cool seeing the world yet another way.
Oooh, that sounds cool! If you remember the name please tell us!
I’ve taken the extraordinary step of walking a few feet to my phone, and it looks like it’s just called “Audio Spectrum Analyzer”.
One thing you pick up on quickly is that speech is mostly undertones, and the actual information carrying part is subtle variation in the higher parts of the sound. Singing is noticeably different, and manner of speech is also very visible.
- KeepassXC [password locker]
- SyncThing [keep some dirs synced between computers]
- Thunderbird [Check 4 email accounts simultaneously]
- PikaBackup [Relatively easy disk backup utility]
- FSearch [Fast searcher of all files on my computer. Like Search Everything for Windows but worse in many ways]
- AudioBookshelf [Podcast server]
I use all of those pretty regularly. Honorable mention on iOS is a program called Is It Snappy? which helps me measure input lag. It doesn’t collect any data or run ads (rare trait on a phone app). I actually made a purchasing decision with the help of this thing to correctly conclude that the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller had a noticeable input delay (enough to make me return it). The funny thing about that was if I just looked up spreadsheets others have done I would have seen that same conclusion there, too, without having to go through the effort of buying it myself :P.
PikaBackup
Out of curiosity, its there a reason not to just SyncThing your
~/Documents, or is it more of a Time Machine for Gnome kinda deal?FSearch
Oh wow, that looks nice, epically that RegEx support (actually serious, I am a huge fan of RegEx).
Nintendo Switch Pro Controller had a noticeable input delay (enough to make me return it)
Nintendo do be like that… have you found a good alternative, or just the Joycons?
PikaBackup is more of a Time Machine style backup system. Not just for Gnome, it simply is made with the GTK.
Ultimately, I went with a Sony DualSense for my latest gaming controller. It has low latency when wired and the buttons are not clacky. Solid construction. I also have an 8BitDo Pro 2, which has one thing I especially like – hardware turbo buttons. The rest of the controller is merely OK, and IMO not worth the extremely high praise it otherwise receives. Serviceable controller.
