4 ms·

I personally tend to own two Phones. One all-day carry GrapheneOS device (Pixel 8) and an older WiFi and at home only iPhone for all payment and ensurance stuff

I personally tend to own two Phones. One all-day carry GrapheneOS device (Pixel 8) and an older WiFi and at home only iPhone for all payment and ensurance stuff. This is inconvenient in some ways, but at least it is sort of privacy as good as it gets while still being able to run official apps when I need them at home. To de-google the phone, I use F-Droid as primary App store, Aurora as fallback for non-f-droid Apps and as a last resort Obtainium to install Apps that are not in these stores. The only google App I really "need" (kind of) is the Camera App, which is sandboxed via GrapheneOS Storage Spaces and without Network permission (why would a camera need internet?). To backup my phone, I use the integrated GrapheneOS Solution (seedvault!?) for storage and apps, immich for Photos and MyPhoneExplorer for Contacts. Sometimes it is a bit hard to find good apps for specific purposes, so for everyone interested, here is a list of Apps that I personally use or have used. Newpipe - Youtube Client Audiobookshelf - Audiobooks Voice (PaulWoitaschek) - Local Audiobook Player Substreamer - Music DSub - Music (alternative) VLC - Video-Player Organic Maps - Google Maps alternative (not as good) PDF Doc Scanner - Open Source Document Scanner Wireguard - VPN Immich - Photo Backup / Viewer LocalSend - File Transfer K9 Mail / FairMail - Email Client KOReader - Ebooks Binary Eye - QRCodes and Barcodes Pure Todo - Self hosted PWA PHP Todo List Signal - Messenger Open Camera - Open Source Camera App

nickorlow 8mo ago
Grayjay is another good YouTube (and other streaming platform) client made by the company that owns Immich
- sandreas 8mo ago
  Uh this looks nice. Thank you.
72deluxe 8mo ago
I like Organic Maps because it isn't full of the social things. Every time I open Google Maps it shows that card at the bottom with "what's popular in your area", full of pictures of people's breakfasts and other nonsense. Organic Maps is free of this noise. Also, the desktop client on Linux is quite useful. Alternatives for Windows etc. are Cruiser Maps, a Java application (and also available as an Android app).
- sandreas 8mo ago
  All map apps I tested so far were kind of usable but nowhere near Apple or Google maps. Especially for longer trips I often got lost and had to re-navigate by different reasons (voice announcement too late, no lane instructions, etc.). However, I listed it because it is a "usable" alternative that works offline.
  - notpushkin 8mo ago
    Idk, pedestrian navigation has been pretty decent for me so far. (There’s been one case of it showing a path in Tbilisi that would require me to jump from a 3 m wall, but it was exactly once.) I suppose it depends on which city you’re in and how well mapped it is on the OSM. Where it’s lacking is POIs – there’s way more stuff on Google Maps, and if I’m looking for some place in particular, I usually go straight to Google, then copy the location over to CoMaps.¹ I then try to add it to OSM when I have the time. Still again, there’s no reviews or photos (in the app; OSM does support photo linking). Public transit is another problem. It’s usually okay for metro (MRT/LRT/etc), but I wouldn’t trust it with buses just yet. ¹ – yes, there’s been another fork: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoMaps#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoMaps#History
  - 72deluxe 8mo ago
    I used OrganicMaps for navigation from the UK through France, Germany, Switzerland, back into France and then Spain last year on a 2 week enjoyable camper van trip. It can take a while for routing changes if you ignore it and decide to drive elsewhere, and I don't really use the voice alerts (I just have it on my phone on the dashboard via a magnet), but all in all it worked really well. Although I would like speed limits shown in MPH in the UK, OrganicMaps' KMH limits were useful on the Continent.
- itissid 8mo ago
  Google maps discover feature is a dumpster fire for fomo driven brain fog
- lejalv 8mo ago
  > I like Organic Maps Does anybody know of a project that offers public transport routing? Ideally with real time information, but I can live with only using schedules or even just average passage interval. The other general sticking point for me is the reviews, but I could invite more serendipity to my restaurant search.
walthamstow 8mo ago
Voice audiobook player is so nice and simple, a pleasure to use
- sandreas 8mo ago
  I recently PR'ed some improvements within the search (series and part are now searchable). I also made a custom fork with some quality of life improvements, like series and part visible on screen, headset remote click patterns (tap for play/pause, double-tap for next, etc.). Currently I'm working on a totally DIY build offline audio (book) player with the footprint a bit bigger than the iPod Nano 7g that maybe never will be finished, but ATM it is fun to work on... (see https://github.com/sandreas/rust-slint-riscv64-musl-demo https://github.com/sandreas/rust-slint-riscv64-musl-demo for the testing repo and https://github.com/nanowave-player/nanowave-ui https://github.com/nanowave-player/nanowave-ui for the latest code I'm working on)
bramhaag 8mo ago
Some other FOSS apps I use daily: Aegis - 2FA (https://github.com/beemdevelopment/Aegis https://github.com/beemdevelopment/Aegis) Breezy Weather - A very good looking weather app (https://github.com/breezy-weather/breezy-weather https://github.com/breezy-weather/breezy-weather) OnlyOffice Documents - MS Office suite replacement (https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/documents-app-android https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/documents-app-android) Fossify Calendar (https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar) Fossify Messages (https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Messages https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Messages) Aves - Local gallery with great organization (https://github.com/deckerst/aves https://github.com/deckerst/aves) Termux - Terminal emulator (https://github.com/termux/termux-app/ https://github.com/termux/termux-app/) Unexpected Keyboard - A unique keyboard that pairs nicely with Termux (https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard) WG Tunnel - WireGuard client (https://github.com/wgtunnel/wgtunnel https://github.com/wgtunnel/wgtunnel) These are all easily installed through Obtainium: https://obtainium.imranr.dev/ https://obtainium.imranr.dev/
- Gormo 8mo ago
  Some others that I use: * NextCloud -- client for personal NextCloud server; this app is used primarily for file sync, with other features accessed with other apps. (https://nextcloud.com/features/?filter=Clients#android-client https://nextcloud.com/features/?filter=Clients#android-clien...) * KeePassDX -- password manager, shares DB with KeePassXC on desktop, which is synced via NextCloud. Also functions as a TOTP authenticator. (https://www.keepassdx.com/ https://www.keepassdx.com/) * DAVx5 -- CalDAV and CardDAV client; keeps mobile calendar and contact list synced with private NextCloud server. (https://www.davx5.com/ https://www.davx5.com/) * AntennaPod -- excellent FOSS podcatcher. (https://antennapod.org/ https://antennapod.org/) * KDE Connect -- desktop sync tool; allows file/clipboard/keyboard/audio/etc. sharing between phone and a Linux desktop. (https://kdeconnect.kde.org/ https://kdeconnect.kde.org/) * Kore -- remote control app for a Kodi instance running on your LAN. (https://kodi.wiki/view/Kore https://kodi.wiki/view/Kore) And I don't see F-Droid itself mentioned -- it's the most popular repository of FOSS software for Android, with an accompanying app: https://f-droid.org https://f-droid.org.
  - 8mo ago
goda90 8mo ago
What would sandboxing an app like Google Maps look like? There are definitely situations where a sub-par map app would be detrimental. Obviously it's going to send data to Google, but do I have to sign into an account or will it have some other way of identifying my phone if I used a one-off account just for it?
- dlcarrier 8mo ago
  It doesn't need to be logged on to a Google account, and it supports locally storing map data and generating routes, so you could turn on network access, download local maps, block network access, then use it for navigation without it calling home.
  - goda90 8mo ago
    There's also value in live traffic and road closure information.
    - dlcarrier 8mo ago
      That's a more difficult one, because that traffic data itself is aggregated from location sharing.
- tranq_cassowary 8mo ago
  Google Maps is sandboxed even on the stock Pixel OS. Sandboxing is part of the AOSP. GrapheneOS hardens the sandbox a bit, but it's not the most significant feature of the project. What isn't sandboxed on Android OSes that license Google Mobile Services (GMS) is Google Play (Play Store, Play Services and for older installs also Play Services Framework). On GrapheneOS Google Play is sandboxed as well, so it's treated as any other regular app, it's doesn't get priviliged exceptions. Sandboxing isn't what would prevent an app from sending data. Sandboxing restricts what an app can access on your device because access is gated behind permissions and apps also can't peek into other apps. So it won't just be able to grab and send out data you don't give it access to, which is the most important of course. You can install Google Maps and use a dedicated Google account for it with limited personal info. You can avoid giving your real name and also giving a phone number if you make your Google account from within the app and on a trusted network (not a VPN adress but public WiFi or cellular). It won't be able to identify your phone using hardware identifiers because non-system apps don't have access to those, the only regular app that might be able to acces such hardware identifiers is an app which is set as the default SMS app. See: https://grapheneos.org/faq#hardware-identifiers https://grapheneos.org/faq#hardware-identifiers
epistasis 8mo ago
Thanks for this, it's so helpful for people trying out a new platform. I'd love to have something like this for Linux desktops as well. Maybe a website that has app-lists, where people can then potentially add info about their use cases and reasoning for their choices. Could be a great subreddit! I tried Omarchy specifically because installed an opionated selection of apps to covered most bases, and it got me started in Arch fairly quickly. I've now completely swapped out all the components so I no longer use Omarchy at all, but it was a great way to get back into desktop Linux after being away for 20 years.
- sandreas 8mo ago
  Maybe you might want to try out my zarch[1] repo, which is a Linux on ZFSBootMenu installer script for ArchLinux with configurable profiles - basically a folder with some package listings. The t480s profile is my personal Notebook config, which is not fully up to date but probably a pretty good start. You can also only take a look at the archpkg.txt and the aurpkg.txt to see the packages that I'm using. 1: https://github.com/sandreas/zarch https://github.com/sandreas/zarch
Handrail 8mo ago
I like your recommendations mostly, just wanted to point out that Organic Maps has had a falling out with the Open Source community that built it, so I wouldn't use that anymore. The community fork is called 'CoMaps' now.
- sandreas 8mo ago
  Great... I consider this for my next App listing. Unfortunately there is no edit option at the moment. Since I don't use Organic Maps any more, I just remembered it being the most usable alternative. Comaps seems to have a lot of benefits though.
- jcul 8mo ago
  Isn't organic maps itself a community fork of maps.me?
amatecha 8mo ago
Due to [0] and [1] I'm using the new fork "CoMaps" now, feature comparison: https://www.comaps.app/support/how-do-the-features-differ-from-those-of-organic-maps/ https://www.comaps.app/support/how-do-the-features-differ-fr... It's pretty excellent! The improved integration with OpenStreetMaps to provide edits/additions is great. I made my first contribution to OSM via CoMaps. [0] https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/ https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/ [1] https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-25/2/ https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-25/2/

nickorlow 8mo ago

Grayjay is another good YouTube (and other streaming platform) client made by the company that owns Immich

sandreas 8mo ago
Uh this looks nice. Thank you.

72deluxe 8mo ago

I like Organic Maps because it isn't full of the social things. Every time I open Google Maps it shows that card at the bottom with "what's popular in your area", full of pictures of people's breakfasts and other nonsense. Organic Maps is free of this noise. Also, the desktop client on Linux is quite useful. Alternatives for Windows etc. are Cruiser Maps, a Java application (and also available as an Android app).

sandreas 8mo ago
All map apps I tested so far were kind of usable but nowhere near Apple or Google maps. Especially for longer trips I often got lost and had to re-navigate by different reasons (voice announcement too late, no lane instructions, etc.). However, I listed it because it is a "usable" alternative that works offline.
- notpushkin 8mo ago
  Idk, pedestrian navigation has been pretty decent for me so far. (There’s been one case of it showing a path in Tbilisi that would require me to jump from a 3 m wall, but it was exactly once.) I suppose it depends on which city you’re in and how well mapped it is on the OSM. Where it’s lacking is POIs – there’s way more stuff on Google Maps, and if I’m looking for some place in particular, I usually go straight to Google, then copy the location over to CoMaps.¹ I then try to add it to OSM when I have the time. Still again, there’s no reviews or photos (in the app; OSM does support photo linking). Public transit is another problem. It’s usually okay for metro (MRT/LRT/etc), but I wouldn’t trust it with buses just yet. ¹ – yes, there’s been another fork: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoMaps#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoMaps#History
- 72deluxe 8mo ago
  I used OrganicMaps for navigation from the UK through France, Germany, Switzerland, back into France and then Spain last year on a 2 week enjoyable camper van trip. It can take a while for routing changes if you ignore it and decide to drive elsewhere, and I don't really use the voice alerts (I just have it on my phone on the dashboard via a magnet), but all in all it worked really well. Although I would like speed limits shown in MPH in the UK, OrganicMaps' KMH limits were useful on the Continent.
itissid 8mo ago
Google maps discover feature is a dumpster fire for fomo driven brain fog
lejalv 8mo ago
> I like Organic Maps Does anybody know of a project that offers public transport routing? Ideally with real time information, but I can live with only using schedules or even just average passage interval. The other general sticking point for me is the reviews, but I could invite more serendipity to my restaurant search.

walthamstow 8mo ago

Voice audiobook player is so nice and simple, a pleasure to use

sandreas 8mo ago
I recently PR'ed some improvements within the search (series and part are now searchable). I also made a custom fork with some quality of life improvements, like series and part visible on screen, headset remote click patterns (tap for play/pause, double-tap for next, etc.). Currently I'm working on a totally DIY build offline audio (book) player with the footprint a bit bigger than the iPod Nano 7g that maybe never will be finished, but ATM it is fun to work on... (see https://github.com/sandreas/rust-slint-riscv64-musl-demo https://github.com/sandreas/rust-slint-riscv64-musl-demo for the testing repo and https://github.com/nanowave-player/nanowave-ui https://github.com/nanowave-player/nanowave-ui for the latest code I'm working on)

bramhaag 8mo ago

Some other FOSS apps I use daily: Aegis - 2FA (https://github.com/beemdevelopment/Aegis https://github.com/beemdevelopment/Aegis) Breezy Weather - A very good looking weather app (https://github.com/breezy-weather/breezy-weather https://github.com/breezy-weather/breezy-weather) OnlyOffice Documents - MS Office suite replacement (https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/documents-app-android https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/documents-app-android) Fossify Calendar (https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar) Fossify Messages (https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Messages https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Messages) Aves - Local gallery with great organization (https://github.com/deckerst/aves https://github.com/deckerst/aves) Termux - Terminal emulator (https://github.com/termux/termux-app/ https://github.com/termux/termux-app/) Unexpected Keyboard - A unique keyboard that pairs nicely with Termux (https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard) WG Tunnel - WireGuard client (https://github.com/wgtunnel/wgtunnel https://github.com/wgtunnel/wgtunnel) These are all easily installed through Obtainium: https://obtainium.imranr.dev/ https://obtainium.imranr.dev/

Gormo 8mo ago
Some others that I use: * NextCloud -- client for personal NextCloud server; this app is used primarily for file sync, with other features accessed with other apps. (https://nextcloud.com/features/?filter=Clients#android-client https://nextcloud.com/features/?filter=Clients#android-clien...) * KeePassDX -- password manager, shares DB with KeePassXC on desktop, which is synced via NextCloud. Also functions as a TOTP authenticator. (https://www.keepassdx.com/ https://www.keepassdx.com/) * DAVx5 -- CalDAV and CardDAV client; keeps mobile calendar and contact list synced with private NextCloud server. (https://www.davx5.com/ https://www.davx5.com/) * AntennaPod -- excellent FOSS podcatcher. (https://antennapod.org/ https://antennapod.org/) * KDE Connect -- desktop sync tool; allows file/clipboard/keyboard/audio/etc. sharing between phone and a Linux desktop. (https://kdeconnect.kde.org/ https://kdeconnect.kde.org/) * Kore -- remote control app for a Kodi instance running on your LAN. (https://kodi.wiki/view/Kore https://kodi.wiki/view/Kore) And I don't see F-Droid itself mentioned -- it's the most popular repository of FOSS software for Android, with an accompanying app: https://f-droid.org https://f-droid.org.
- 8mo ago

goda90 8mo ago

What would sandboxing an app like Google Maps look like? There are definitely situations where a sub-par map app would be detrimental. Obviously it's going to send data to Google, but do I have to sign into an account or will it have some other way of identifying my phone if I used a one-off account just for it?

dlcarrier 8mo ago
It doesn't need to be logged on to a Google account, and it supports locally storing map data and generating routes, so you could turn on network access, download local maps, block network access, then use it for navigation without it calling home.
- goda90 8mo ago
  There's also value in live traffic and road closure information.
  - dlcarrier 8mo ago
    That's a more difficult one, because that traffic data itself is aggregated from location sharing.
tranq_cassowary 8mo ago
Google Maps is sandboxed even on the stock Pixel OS. Sandboxing is part of the AOSP. GrapheneOS hardens the sandbox a bit, but it's not the most significant feature of the project. What isn't sandboxed on Android OSes that license Google Mobile Services (GMS) is Google Play (Play Store, Play Services and for older installs also Play Services Framework). On GrapheneOS Google Play is sandboxed as well, so it's treated as any other regular app, it's doesn't get priviliged exceptions. Sandboxing isn't what would prevent an app from sending data. Sandboxing restricts what an app can access on your device because access is gated behind permissions and apps also can't peek into other apps. So it won't just be able to grab and send out data you don't give it access to, which is the most important of course. You can install Google Maps and use a dedicated Google account for it with limited personal info. You can avoid giving your real name and also giving a phone number if you make your Google account from within the app and on a trusted network (not a VPN adress but public WiFi or cellular). It won't be able to identify your phone using hardware identifiers because non-system apps don't have access to those, the only regular app that might be able to acces such hardware identifiers is an app which is set as the default SMS app. See: https://grapheneos.org/faq#hardware-identifiers https://grapheneos.org/faq#hardware-identifiers

epistasis 8mo ago

Thanks for this, it's so helpful for people trying out a new platform. I'd love to have something like this for Linux desktops as well. Maybe a website that has app-lists, where people can then potentially add info about their use cases and reasoning for their choices. Could be a great subreddit! I tried Omarchy specifically because installed an opionated selection of apps to covered most bases, and it got me started in Arch fairly quickly. I've now completely swapped out all the components so I no longer use Omarchy at all, but it was a great way to get back into desktop Linux after being away for 20 years.

sandreas 8mo ago
Maybe you might want to try out my zarch[1] repo, which is a Linux on ZFSBootMenu installer script for ArchLinux with configurable profiles - basically a folder with some package listings. The t480s profile is my personal Notebook config, which is not fully up to date but probably a pretty good start. You can also only take a look at the archpkg.txt and the aurpkg.txt to see the packages that I'm using. 1: https://github.com/sandreas/zarch https://github.com/sandreas/zarch

Handrail 8mo ago

I like your recommendations mostly, just wanted to point out that Organic Maps has had a falling out with the Open Source community that built it, so I wouldn't use that anymore. The community fork is called 'CoMaps' now.

sandreas 8mo ago
Great... I consider this for my next App listing. Unfortunately there is no edit option at the moment. Since I don't use Organic Maps any more, I just remembered it being the most usable alternative. Comaps seems to have a lot of benefits though.
jcul 8mo ago
Isn't organic maps itself a community fork of maps.me?

amatecha 8mo ago

Due to [0] and [1] I'm using the new fork "CoMaps" now, feature comparison: https://www.comaps.app/support/how-do-the-features-differ-from-those-of-organic-maps/ https://www.comaps.app/support/how-do-the-features-differ-fr... It's pretty excellent! The improved integration with OpenStreetMaps to provide edits/additions is great. I made my first contribution to OSM via CoMaps. [0] https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/ https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/ [1] https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-25/2/ https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-25/2/