WILL BE UPDATE OFTEN Last update : 8/30/2024
THE GUIDE FOR DE-GOOGLED APPS
(🏆 = just the best app ; ❤️ = a more than excellent app)
REMEMBER : Do not install every apps you find, for your security and privacy only install needed apps.
ANDROID
1- Phone and messaging
Phone --> Fossify Phone 🏆
Messages --> Quik SMS 🏆
Contacts --> Fossify contacts 🏆
Whatsapp --> SimpleX ❤️ Briar (For advanced users, maximum privacy concerns)
2- Networking
Chrome (browser) --> Cromite (must be configured) Mull ❤️(slower but not chromium-based, must be configured)
Discord --> Element (matrix.org client)
Reddit --> Voyager (a Lemmy client)
3- Multimedia
YouTube --> Libretube ❤️ Tubular (a NewPipe fork)
Spotify --> RiMusic ❤️
Google podcasts (podcasts) --> Antenna Pod 🏆
Gallery --> Fossify Galley ❤️ (Basic app) Aves ❤️ (Advanced gallery)
4- Tools
QrScanner --> Binary eye 🏆
Gboard --> HeliBoard ❤️ (OpenBoard fork)
IME keyboard --> Sayboard
Local sharing --> LocalSend ❤️
Google authenticator (2FA) --> Aegis 🏆
Lastpass (password manager) --> Bitwarden 🏆 (Self-hosted) KeePassDX 🏆 (local storage)
Gcam --> Open camera
5- Others
Clock --> Clock You
Google calendar --> Etar ❤️
PDF viewer --> MJ PDF
Office --> LibreOffice Viewer ❤️ (Only for reading)
LINUX
For more convenience, you can download your apps using the command line and flatpak (Flathub.org)
1- OS
Some Linux distributions recommendations :
- Linux Mint and Pop OS (for all levels)
- Arch (mainly for gaming but you can use it as working OS)
- Debian (for productivity (greatest compatibility) )
For most basic users I recommend using Gnome desktop environment
2- Softwares
Browser --> Firefox 🏆 (It’s recommended to tweaks and the settings and use custom user.js (Explanations about user.js)) Librewolf ❤️ (For an out-of-the-box great experience)
Office --> The LibreOffice Suite ❤️
File sharing --> Local Send ❤️
YouTube --> FreeTube
Adobe Illustrator --> Inkscape
Lemmy --> Photon
Matrix --> Element
That’s all, hope you enjoy, do not hesitate to save the post for future updates and comment your recommendations below ⬇️⬇️
I’ve tried every FOSS QR scanner, and unfortunately, binary eye is total crap. They don’t fully support all formats, and you need to get a near perfectly illuminated shot of the code. Also doesn’t scan regular barcodes whatsoever.
Reverted back to a commercial app for lack of options. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.scanteam.qrcodereader (adfree, despite the “contains ads” banner).
Shame really, I would like to have a FOSS alternative for such a seemingly simple application.
I think the graphite OS camera app comes with a QR scanner, might could try that
Have you tried SECUSO QR Scanner?
I think I had, but it was crashing when scanning regular barcodes, which I’m doing at work quite a bit since our ERP prints them for version control on our quality documents.
I’ve just tested it again and it seems to work, will be using them in parallel for a while. Thanks!
Edit: Just checked the changelog, looks like that was a bug that’s only been fixed this January, I’ve been trying to find a QR scanner sometime last year, so that was probably a buggy release then. https://github.com/SecUSo/privacy-friendly-qr-scanner/blob/HEAD/CHANGELOG.md
Might be interesting trying it again than!
Maybe you can retry BinaryEye too, because its incredibly fast for recongnizing qr code even in dark environments and not straight on it
Yep, on it. So far so good! And I inherently trust projects coming out of German universities, so that’s a bonus.
That’s great!
Why do you have this bad impressions of binary eye? Its maybe not the most feature rich, but it’s working perfectly for me. And I wouldn’t suggest this app from the play store… So I’m going to search a bit more and maybe find something interesting
Like I mentioned, I tried every available FOSS app (on f-droid that is, plus a bunch of github releases, many sadly abandoned), and none of them was able to scan all QR and barcodes I tested it with.
Can you share a QR code that Binary Eye can’t parse? I haven’t come across any in all these years I have been using it.