These are some of my essential Android apps.
It’s a lot, but I couldn’t decide which ones are less essential, sorry.
All of them are FOSS and can be found on F-Droid or IzzyOnDroid (F-Droid compatible) repos
Neo Store is my favorite F-Droid client (F-Droid is essential, but the official app sucks IMO)
AirGuard if you think you might be a victim of AirTag stalking
AShell (requires Shizuku) for ADB access without computer (you need to be on wifi tho)
CloudStream when you are too broke to afford 10 subscription-based streaming services
echo unmaintained but I was unable to find any alternative. It records in the background and keeps the last N minutes in memory. You can save last X minutes as mp3 whenever you want.
libretorrent best torrent app on Android I have used
Translate You translator app supporting many sources
unexpected keyboard is my favorite for writing terminal commands in Termux or programming
Voice is the must have for localy downloaded audiobooks
YTDLnis is very cool yt-dlp GUI full of features + can be set as downloader app in ReVanced settings
and the best of all: Termux - Linux terminal on your Android
bonus: zotify (website) is the only Spotify downloader I know about that actually downloads from Spotify (!). It’s a command line app. It can be pretty easily installed in Termux though and usage is not very difficult if you are familiar with the command line.
Please read the README. I personally love it.
neo store refuses to run if you don’t grant it the right to send notifications and bypass battery optimizations. if an app demands a permission and doesn’t have a plausible explanation why it needs it, i don’t keep it :/
neo store needs the permission in order to run in the background and download apps. battery optimization may close neo store if other apps need more ram. it needs a persistent notification in order to show the user that it’s still running. that’s the modern way to show the user that an app is always running. GNOME is developing the same thing which is very good. Imaging facebook showing that notification, you’d know that facebook is running always in the background. Without that notification, the user knows that it’s not running. You may silence the notification. It takes some time to adapt to the new behavior and accept that there are always notifications running. you want the app to run, hence the notification is good.
If you don’t have Spotify subscription, it downloads the songs in spotify’s default quality for free accounts. I don’t think it works for other music streaming platforms.
Also I’m pretty sure it’s against the TOS even with paid account.
I didn’t get banned yet tho.
These are some of my essential Android apps. It’s a lot, but I couldn’t decide which ones are less essential, sorry. All of them are FOSS and can be found on F-Droid or IzzyOnDroid (F-Droid compatible) repos
AndOTP is a great authenticator app too! :)
Edit: Apparently, it’s unmaintained. This news saddens me and now I need a hug. :(
I believe it’s not actively supported anymore which is a risk for everyone but that said I love it and use it as well.
Oh shit seriously? Damn, you’re right. Looked it up and yeah it’s unmaintained.
…I really wish they put a notification in the NeoStore app when that happens. -_-*
Damn. Been using it for years now
neo store refuses to run if you don’t grant it the right to send notifications and bypass battery optimizations. if an app demands a permission and doesn’t have a plausible explanation why it needs it, i don’t keep it :/
neo store needs the permission in order to run in the background and download apps. battery optimization may close neo store if other apps need more ram. it needs a persistent notification in order to show the user that it’s still running. that’s the modern way to show the user that an app is always running. GNOME is developing the same thing which is very good. Imaging facebook showing that notification, you’d know that facebook is running always in the background. Without that notification, the user knows that it’s not running. You may silence the notification. It takes some time to adapt to the new behavior and accept that there are always notifications running. you want the app to run, hence the notification is good.
Update notifications probably
Re Zotify, do you have to have a Spotify subscription or am I sailing the high seas? Also does it work for other music streaming platforms?
If you don’t have Spotify subscription, it downloads the songs in spotify’s default quality for free accounts. I don’t think it works for other music streaming platforms. Also I’m pretty sure it’s against the TOS even with paid account. I didn’t get banned yet tho.
Formatting is your friend
Sorry, what exactly do you mean? I have tried to format my post at least a little, and I included a link to every app I recommended.