Look ma, no proprietary apps!
from monovergent@lemmy.ml to privacy@lemmy.ml on 25 Sep 22:16
https://lemmy.ml/post/36668292

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#privacy

threaded - newest

RheumatoidArthritis@mander.xyz on 25 Sep 22:51 next collapse

Quite impressive choice of apps, usually when I look at screenshots of privacy enthusiasts they look more or less like my own phone, and with you I share 3, maybe 4 apps only

FriedRice@lemmy.ml on 25 Sep 23:00 next collapse

Thank you. Most of thoese i even dont know. Can you make a list?

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 25 Sep 23:46 collapse

Of course

  • Accrescent: Store run (edit: advocated) by the GrapheneOS team for third-party apps
  • Aegis: 2FA TOTP code generator
  • AirGuard: Scans for persistent AirTags in the vicinity, notifies if I may be victim to AirTag tracking
  • AntennaPod: Podcast manager, also supports importing local folders of podcasts
  • AudioMonitor: Measure sound level
  • Binary Eye: Support for many types of 1D and 2D barcodes
  • ByeDPI: routes internet traffic through the DNS port to bypass certain types of filtering
  • Canvass: doodle app, useful for mid-conversation diagrams and clarifying things visually in the absence of pen and paper
  • ClassiCube: Minecraft Classic clone
  • Conversations: XMPP client
  • Editor: raw text editor
  • Elementary: periodic table
  • SimpleEmail: minimalist e-mail app that does not automatically fetch linked images. Refereshes in the background every 15 minutes and sends notifications without need for Play Services or equivalent
  • FakeStandby: for edge cases when I want something to keep running in the foreground, but don’t want to keep the screen on
  • Feeder: RSS client
  • Fintunes: Jellyfin client optimized for music
  • FlorisBoard: customizable keyboard
  • Fruity Game: Suika but with MS-Paint art style
  • Graph 89: Graphing calculator emulator
  • Invizible: Tor and DNS client
  • Kiwix: Offline Wikipedia (you can download just the parts useful to you, e.g. medical articles without storage-hungry media files)
  • Lemuroid: GBA emulator
  • LocalSend: instant P2P filesharing over WLAN
  • Markor: notes app with markdown
  • Material Files: files app with SMB share support and various handy features
  • Molly: Alternative Signal client
  • Fossify Messages: I use it over the default messages app since it is easy to block numbers by pattern
  • Notally: notes app with nice checklists
  • Open Camera: as easy to use as the regular camera, but with a bunch more features below the surface
  • OpenContacts: saves contacts as individual .vcf files to a directory for easy backup and allows dropping unknown callers without bothering me with a notification
  • Organic Maps to be replaced with CoMaps later
  • OSS Document Scanner: best FOSS scanning app I’ve found so far. Includes auto-cropping (given enough contrast) and adjustable B&W filter to eliminate off-white background colors.
  • phyphox: view output of sensors like the barometer, magnetometer, accelerometer, etc.
  • PipePipe: NewPipe but better (except for the occasional memory leakage)
  • QDict & QuickDic: offline dictionaries and bilingual wordbooks
  • RadioDroid: IP radio client. Can tune in to international news, music, sports broadcasts
  • RHVoice: TTS app
  • RiMusic: NewPipe, but for Spotify, etc. YT Music
  • SecScanQR: QR scanner and generator with history, useful to save QR addresses for later use since I don’t want to fill out forms or read documents on my phone
  • SuperTuxKart: the only [edit: other] game on my phone
  • Symphony: Music app with a slick UI
  • Trail Sense: Compass with various goodies useful for outdoor activities
  • Breezy Weather: weather app and homescreen widget with a slick UI
  • MicroMathematics: Math engine, but I never learned how to use it
solrize@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 01:40 next collapse

Spotify

You had me going til that one.

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 01:45 collapse

My bad, misremembered that RiMusic fetches from Youtube music instead of Spotify

nathan@piefed.alphapuggle.dev on 26 Sep 04:35 next collapse

Btw Accrescent isn’t run by the GrapheneOS team, they just advocate for it’s use

ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Sep 05:25 next collapse

That TI calculator app is the shit. I am in the generation who used those in engineering school. Goddamned things were like $150.

irmadlad@lemmy.world on 26 Sep 11:00 collapse

Ahhh…I am of the generation that remembers when there were no calculators. When they started becoming available, yes they were quite expensive. All my teachers would say ‘what do you think? You think you’re just going to have a calculator in your pocket all the time?’ Well, yes Mr Mizelle in engineering, I will be walking around with a calculator in my pocket that links to a satellite in outer fucking space.

ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Sep 15:53 collapse

And it has autocorrect on it, so then I’ll forget these spelling words

somerandomname@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 18:41 next collapse

Cannot find canvass on f-droid, got a link?

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 19:27 collapse

It’s on the IzzyOnDroid repo: apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/…/com.cyb3rg0d.canvass

Fossify Paint does the same thing without adding the IzzyOnDroid repo, I just happen to have Canvass since it was the first thing that showed up when I searched.

FriedRice@lemmy.ml on 27 Sep 23:20 collapse

Thank you!

irmadlad@lemmy.world on 25 Sep 23:24 next collapse

Honest question: I see a lot of people here use their mobile phones as a computer platform. I have a general uneasiness about doing so. Not throwing any shade whatsoever, I just feel there is too much out of my control on a mobile phone, for me to trust it more than I do. My general policy is not to use my phone as a mobile computing platform even tho I have a VPN installed and use Firefox as a browser.

My local network for instance. There is one pipe in and out. I can easily see what is coming in and what’s going out and I can control that with the granularity of a gnat’s ass. I know what my software is doing or not doing. I can allow or disallow anything I want. On a mobile phone, I feel that the control I have on my PC is not equal to the control I have on my phone.

How have you come to terms with what you can’t control on your mobile phone?

AceBonobo@lemmy.world on 25 Sep 23:38 next collapse

What do you do when you leave the house?

irmadlad@lemmy.world on 25 Sep 23:59 next collapse

On occasion, I do leave the compound, but it’s usually to get staples I don’t grow/produce on the farm. Rarely does that process need a mobile computing platform. (I guess that’s what you’re asking)

scytale@piefed.zip on 26 Sep 03:31 collapse

Touch grass? Not OP, but when I’m out of the house, it’s because I need to do something, so I’m barely on my phone except for navigation, the occasional text/call, and paying for stuff. Otherwise, I use my laptop most of the time (at home and at work).

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 00:22 next collapse

I definitely agree with you on this. My pet theory is that phones have been getting uncomfortably big, at least from my perspective, since the average consumer is expecting it to serve as a computing and productivity platform, while all I want is a nice little digital Swiss army knife. I’m only logged into my messaging apps and personal email, and don’t expect to do any sort of “productivity” on my phone. When my friends and colleagues assume I’m logged in to this-or-that on my phone, all I can think about is how afraid I would be if I were logged in to so many things on my personal phone. It’s so much harder to inspect what’s going on in the background of mobile devices.

One of the compromises I’ve had to accept is the closed, yet exploitable nature of the baseband and firmware. Also how much more spying it could do compared to any PC if an exploit were to get through. Compiling Coreboot and neutering the Intel ME taught me a lot about who’s really in control - and how much control we all lose to smartphone manufacturers and telecom companies.

hexagonwin@lemmy.sdf.org on 26 Sep 07:31 next collapse

I run an older android version, no google apps, rooted, and use AFWall/AdAway. I’m sure it’s not as secure with root and older software but I can mostly trust it to not send weird network packets etc.

MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip on 26 Sep 11:27 collapse

How have you come to terms with what you can’t control on your mobile phone?

Threat level analysis.

NotKyloRen@lemmy.zip on 26 Sep 00:22 next collapse

So about that Wifi app in the third screenshot…

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 00:27 collapse

Forgot to put that on my list earlier, it scans for nearby WiFi access points and returns the signal strength, band frequency, and various details about each.

abominable_panda@lemmy.world on 26 Sep 00:30 collapse

Does it grant “backdoor” access?

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 00:39 collapse

Not that I’m aware of. I only used it to diagnose weak signals and frequency band conflicts in the house.

chimp@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Sep 00:57 collapse

Blessed be thy innocent soul.

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 01:09 collapse

edit: got the reference. lol

KazuchijouNo@lemy.lol on 26 Sep 00:36 next collapse

Lemuroid and PipePipe <3

Btw if you’re signed it with your youtube account on pipepipe you might not be able to watch videos. There were recent changes to the youtube

KazuchijouNo@lemy.lol on 26 Sep 00:39 next collapse

Where did you get super tux kart?

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 00:41 next collapse

F-Droid

KazuchijouNo@lemy.lol on 26 Sep 08:19 next collapse

Really?? It’s not appearing on mine :(

I’ve got an old Samsung J7 from 2016, maybe that’s why

dangrousperson@feddit.org on 26 Sep 11:13 collapse

you can get it from GitHub:

github.com/supertuxkart/stk-code/releases

and you can use obtanium to automatically update it (or any apps from GitHub/ the web)

Starkon@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 11:48 next collapse

I’m sorry but those are all for desktop if I’m not mistaking. There is Winlator but OP has the apk.

dangrousperson@feddit.org on 26 Sep 11:57 collapse

If you press show all assets, there is an .apk for each release as well.

its called SuperTuxKart-[version].apk, doesn’t have android in its name

Starkon@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 16:16 collapse

Thanks for pointing that out !

Turns out the releases were just not shown in openhub

KazuchijouNo@lemy.lol on 27 Sep 22:56 collapse

Niiiiice! Thanks a bunch. It had never ocurred to me I could play it on mobile

[deleted] on 26 Sep 11:12 collapse

.

chemicalwonka@discuss.tchncs.de on 26 Sep 01:20 collapse

The GOAT

sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today on 26 Sep 02:19 next collapse

Try CoMaps instead of Organic Maps. It’s a fork because Organic Maps is starting to enshittify

anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net on 26 Sep 08:24 next collapse

Man, I had hoped they fixed the search.

Those apps are fictionally useless for me. Does anyone know how to use it?

Starkon@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 11:46 next collapse

you mean comaps? Search is just a bit slow but not a big deal at all. I’d rather that than having Google spy on my ass everywhere I go.

anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net on 26 Sep 18:02 collapse

Of course, I don’t mean speed, I meant the search format. On Google I can search for an address with the usual format of 123 Street, City. If I search that way on Organic/Co, it doesn’t pop up results the same way. I just never understood it besides being an offline map for my reference.

Starkon@lemmy.ml on 28 Sep 10:18 collapse

I don’t know about other countries but here in germany I just type the street and the number of the house and it takes me to it. (as in Street 123, City)

sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today on 26 Sep 12:40 collapse

You could add addresses to Open Street Maps

Omer_Ash@lemmy.world on 26 Sep 15:25 next collapse

I just ran the two apps side-by-side and barely found any differences other than some subtle UI changes. How exactly is it different? And how is Organic Maps being enshittified?

sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today on 27 Sep 04:39 collapse

I haven’t been keeping up with Organic Maps updates to see if they differ but I’d assume they’re basically functionally the same, except for potentially Kayak results.

openletter.earth/open-letter-to-organic-maps-shar…

Omer_Ash@lemmy.world on 27 Sep 14:05 collapse

Thanks for the link. I just made the switch to CoMaps because I’m tired of enshittification.

trilobite@lemmy.ml on 28 Sep 11:03 collapse

Is there a reason for CoMaps not being on fdroid? I must be missing other app stores. For example, Accretium (a privacy appstore?) is not on fdroid.

sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today on 28 Sep 16:03 collapse

CoMaps is on both F-Droid and izzyondroid repos.

f-droid.org/packages/app.comaps.fdroid/

trilobite@lemmy.ml on 29 Sep 07:15 collapse

Thanks, how strange when I searched for it in fdroid it didn’t come up 🤔

cmgvd3lw@discuss.tchncs.de on 26 Sep 03:30 next collapse

Is that a pixel 4?

timhayes1991@lemmy.zip on 26 Sep 05:22 collapse

Based on the placement of the time on the status bar I would guess it’s a Pixel 5, as it needs to make space there for the camera punch out

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 16:56 collapse

Pixel 5, unfortunately a bit out of date since I’m putting off the repair of my 7a. Same app selection on the 7a though since I’ve maintained this as my backup.

Showroom7561@lemmy.ca on 26 Sep 04:50 next collapse

Fucking legend! I’m going to spend the weekend exploring these apps and see what changes I can make on my phone. 👍

phpinjected@lemmy.sdf.org on 26 Sep 05:05 next collapse

damn bro gat the juice

AshCircuit@lemmy.zip on 26 Sep 05:08 next collapse

That’s how my GrapheneOS phone is zero proprietary apps in the main profile and then my own separate Google profile. Essentially get to carry two cell phones with one device.

curious_dolphin@slrpnk.net on 26 Sep 13:57 next collapse

What does maintaining a separate profile for Google stuff buy you? I’m familiar with GrapheneOS, but haven’t internalized the separate profile thing yet.

AshCircuit@lemmy.zip on 26 Sep 14:20 collapse

It keeps Google 100℅ seperate or vice versa.

Then when it’s locked down it shuts down play services and apps to complete non functionality.

Go into system and create a new user. Set up that user exactly like you would a standard smart phone. And any apps you have on your main profile completely open source. That way it’s 100℅ Google free

curious_dolphin@slrpnk.net on 26 Sep 14:38 collapse

Got that part, but what throws me is, in order to install a Google app on that secondary “google” profile, don’t you have to first install the Google app on the main profile so that you can then push it to the secondary profile?

AshCircuit@lemmy.zip on 26 Sep 15:11 collapse

No… You just install the play store and play services on profile #2 via the Graphene app store.

curious_dolphin@slrpnk.net on 26 Sep 15:30 collapse

Oh, I see. I must’ve misread a tutorial at some point then. I did not realize one could install an app directly into profile #2, I thought root had all the apps and then specific apps had to be pushed to the other profiles. Thanks for clarifying that.

AshCircuit@lemmy.zip on 26 Sep 16:38 collapse

There is a guy in YouTube who does this. Side of Burritos? He has Google play on his main profile and then has a degoogled account for the second profile and transfers all the play store apps to the second profile. (Essentially making it his main).

I don’t do that for battery purposes.

trilobite@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 22:18 collapse

I nave ho learn how ho do these two profile things. How do u switch between them, and IS it on the fly?

AshCircuit@lemmy.zip on 26 Sep 23:17 collapse

Pull down your notification bar twice. In other words expand it all the way. There is a small person Inside of a circle icon. That is how you can select the other profile. It’s super fast and easy.

Then when you are done inside the profile. Hold the power button and select “Lock Out” and this will completely close down the second profile and put you back in the Main profile with the other completely shut down.

Downside is you wont get notifications in one area or the other from the opposing profile when it’s not in use.

An alternative that is pretty secure too instead of profiles is to do the same thing in Private Space. This is found in the settings under the Security tab. This WILL get notifications to your main profile and when you shut down Private Space all apps stop completely including Play Services. But it’s not as isolated as profiles

trilobite@lemmy.ml on 27 Sep 09:30 collapse

Wow, this is impressive. I had heard about profiles but never got into the detail and never really understood the benefit. So, a cool way of using this it to have a FOSS only space under the main admin profile and the build up a second “big brother” profile where I stack some annoying apps that in a way or another I’m forced to use like banking app and what’s app. When the “big brother” profile is shut down, nobody tracks you. Would that be correct? If this is true I’m here asking myself why on earth people are not harnessing this more.

AshCircuit@lemmy.zip on 27 Sep 16:47 collapse

Yes, when you google profile is shut down… It is completely isolated. You could install an application that is 100℅ malware and it would be completely closed down the moment you lock down that profile.

If you need what’s app, I would either check your side profile a few times a day for messages OR you can stick What’s App on the Private Space area of your FOSS profile so that it’s Super easy to check. Private space works the same way in that when it’s shut down… The apps are 100℅ turned off including Play Services.

fubbernuckin@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Sep 08:25 next collapse

They said it couldn’t be done…

ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Sep 09:26 collapse

It still can’t be done 100% unless you make significant sacrifices to the usefulness of your smartphone…there’s plenty of really useful (and sometimes necessary) things with no FOSS or open source alternatives.

Starkon@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 11:43 collapse

Not to mention drivers… many driver blobs are proprietary and if you can find an open source one, there is a chance it works partially or not at all. I have a spare phone and I’ve been hesitating between flashing either PostmarketOS (all FOSS drivers but without the android ecosystem) or LineageOS, or maybe both if I can achieve that.

Starkon@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 08:27 next collapse

That is the way! Excited to flash my phone to LineageOS. Thanks for sharing the apps !

Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club on 26 Sep 09:48 next collapse

Whoa, I have like half of these, nice!

ZinQ@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 10:29 next collapse

Attack surface who dis?

wolfiedafloof@lemmy.world on 26 Sep 11:12 next collapse

Lol. Last picture at the bottom third. “WiFiAnal” xD (Sorry, I’m childish)

gilgameth@lemmy.world on 26 Sep 12:29 collapse

Hey, that’s the only safe way to let others control your buttplug.

HappyFrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 26 Sep 13:27 next collapse

Quite the kinky lineup; WiFiAnal, Wetter, QuickDic… 😏

Shape4985@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 16:48 next collapse

I see you have freetube. Grayjay is also a great addition as it has plug ins for lots of sites

UndergroundGoblin@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 27 Sep 05:08 collapse

Unfortunately FreeTube and Newpipe never worked for me. Only NewPipe works, but I have to disable my VPN.

pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Sep 17:12 next collapse

Stop, you’re gonna make me cum

geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 20:11 collapse

WifiAnal

pH3ra@lemmy.ml on 26 Sep 20:30 next collapse

I love the mandatory Super Tux Cart anyone of us has installed but played like 4 times

[deleted] on 27 Sep 11:50 next collapse

.

ThunderLegend@sh.itjust.works on 27 Sep 11:53 next collapse

I wish I had friends to use xmpp apps to text…I’m a whatsapp hostage

monovergent@lemmy.ml on 27 Sep 21:21 collapse

To be fair, I only have a few of my friends and some of my family on XMPP. I’m also guilty of having WhatsApp on my work phone for colleagues and the rest of my friends.

Catalyst_A@lemmygrad.ml on 28 Sep 06:14 next collapse

Congratulations!!!

sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today on 28 Sep 16:11 next collapse

Last I tried RHVoice is was very unnatural sounding.

Sherpa-onnx is a much much more natural option. I personally use vits-piper-en_GB-southern_english_female-medium because I thought it sounded the most natural. You can also use Glados from Portal

Brunette6256@sh.itjust.works on 29 Sep 00:57 collapse

I second sherpa! Love it. I use with with Librera FD so basically made PDFs audiobooks.

sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today on 29 Sep 05:09 collapse

Ohhh I’ll have to check that out. Thanks for the tip!

David2003@lemmy.world on 29 Sep 18:12 collapse

Could you tell me the names of those applications and point me to where I can download each one? Do you have a compiled list?

Starkon@lemmy.ml on 03 Oct 10:48 collapse

F-Droid is the way