- Android Guideline
- Why privacy matters
- Donations
- App Store
- The Cloud
- Curated App List
Android Guideline
WARNING: I take absolutely no responsibility for any damage done by following this guideline. Think for yourself before applying any of the suggested steps.
Why privacy matters
Closed source apps often contain trackers to display the the right advertisements, identify you throughout the web, to analyze where you go, what you like and who you know. This might seem ok, as long as the only use is to display you the right advertisements. But this means you allow anyone to known almost anything about you.
Its not about seeing no ads but has much wider implications like freedom and human rights. Enough has been written on the matter and I don’t want to do it again here.
Read why privacy matters at privacyinternational.org to learn more.
Donations
The reason these apps are listed here is because they are trustworthy and open source. Their developers have no intention to spy on you and no financial interest in your data. On the other and this means they give away their time and hard work for free. Pleaser consider at least 1, 2 or even 5€ to them. Of course more is better.
Many of the apps in the curated list are from the SimpleMobileTools app suite. Please donate some money at the SimpleMobileTools website if you plan to use the pro features. You can get the pro features for free on F-Droid. But it’s just fair to donate some € if you can afford it (and I think everyone can).
App Store
Using a trustworthy app store is the first step to a safer, privacy and security friendly Android experience.
F-Droid is an open source Android app store that applies strict rules on included apps - including tests to make sure the does not spy on you, has not trackers and so on. You probably won’t find a place where you can be as sure as here that the apps you get are safe to use.
If you have more questions, refer to F-Droid’s FAQ.
Installation
Download the F-Droid APK from the official website. Do not install it directly from
the downloads section (you don’t want your browser to have permission to install apps). Open your file manager,
navigate to your downloads folder and open F-Droid.apk
. Now give your file manager the permission to install
apps from unknown sources and install it. After the installation has finished, withraw the permission from your
file manager again. We don’t need it anymore.
Now open F-Droid and draw the first page from the top. This will refresh the package sources and check if there is an update for F-Droid. If so, you’ll see a bubble with a number on the bell icon in the tool bar at the bottom. Click it and apply the update.
You will have to give F-Droid the permission to install apps from unknown sources. Keep it like that.
After restarting F-Droid you are ready to explore its list of apps and install whatever you like.
The Cloud
It’s convenient to have your contatcs, photos, notes and calendars in the cloud. You may lose your phone or pc, but your data is still accessible. By default all this is automatically uploaded to Google or other services pre-installed by your smartphone manufacturer. The cloud provider then analyzes your data to show you advertisements, incluence what you see in a search engine or even change the route your navigation app calculates, to lead you along a store you might like.
In a country where data protection laws are weaker than in the EU your provider might hand over your data to political opponents or the government which can use it to put you to jail.
Long story short, there are many reasons why you should stay in charge of your own data. There is a handful of steps you need to follow, to gain back control over your data.
Remove cloud services
Uninstall all apps and services that might upload your data against your will to some companies servers. Navigate to “Android Settings” > “Apps” > “Show system apps” and remove or de-activate at least the following apps:
- GMail
- Google Calendar
- Google Photos
- Google Calendar-Syncing
- Google Contact-Syncing
No worries. You’ll find apps to replace these in the app list in the next chapter.
Get a trustworthy cloud provider
If you don’t want to use a cloud, you can stop here and go to the next chapter.
Else you need a new cloud provider. Either search the web for a trustworthy Nextcloud provider or setup your own cloud with a Raspberry Pi or a pre-configured home cloud device.
If you just want to synchronize Contacts, Calendars and Tasks there are many free choices online. If you want to backup your photos as well, you’ll probably need a paid plan.
Sync your device with your cloud
In the last step we install DavX5. This app synchronizes your Nextcloud instance with your smartphone/tablet and even PC.
- Install DevX5 from F-Droid
- Go through the setup assistent
- Disable battery optimization for this app
That’s it. You can now sync your data with a cloud service you can trust. See the curated app list for apps to use with this setup.
Curated App List
This list contains apps for everyday use. All entries have been tested for stability, user-friendliness and privacy and security aspects. Every app is able to replace your pre-installed app for the specific task.
Each entry contains information about:
- the app store to install it from,
- what to use it for,
- where to read its source,
- feature highlights.
General purpose
Launcher
Using you smartphone or tablet. Managing you start screen, app drawer, widgets and wallpapers.
- Name: Lawnchair Launcher v2
- Availability: Lawnchair v2 on Play Store
- Feature highlights: Almost everything can be customized,
- custom icons,
- hiding apps,
- setting adaptive icon shapes,
- managing drawer categories,
- …
- Source code: github.com/LawnchairLauncher/Lawnchair
HINT: Unfortunately the development is dead right now and it works only with Android <= 10. For Android >= 11 use its fork Omega Launcher which is available via the IzzyOnDroid F-Droid repository only. It is not as stable as Lawnchair, but under active development.
Additional steps
Customize the launcher how you like.
Browser
Browsing the web.
- Name: Firefox (Fennec)
- Availability:
- Fennec (Firefox without proprietary bits) on F-Droid
- Firefox on Play Store
- Feature highlights: Address and toolbar at the bottom, dark mode, the only trustworthy among the big players
- Source code: hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central
Additional steps
Set your default search engine to DuckDuckGo, Ecosia or Qwant.
File Manager
For all file managing tasks (browsing, copying, deleting, moving, …).
- Name: Simple File Manager Pro
- Availability:
- Simple File Manager on F-Droid (install Simple Thank You as well to get pro features)
- Simple File Manager Pro (ca. 1€) on Play Store
- Feature highlights: Theming support
- Source code: github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-File-Manager
Tools
Calendar
Viewing and managing your dates and birthdays.
- Name: Etar
- Availability: Etar on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Includes widgets
- Source code: github.com/Etar-Group/Etar-Calendar
or
- Name: Simple Calendar Pro
- Availability:
- Simple Calendar Pro on F-Droid (install Simple Thank You as well to get pro features)
- Simple Calendar Pro (ca. 1€) on Play Store
- Feature highlights: Theming support, with widgets
- Source code: github.com/SimpleMobileTools
Navigation
Navigation and maps.
- Name: OsmAnd~
- Availability: OsmAnd~ Plus on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Offline navigation, high customizability
- Source code: github.com/osmandapp/Osmand
Calculator
Calculations of any kind.
- Name: Calculator++
- Availability: Calculator++ on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Real scientific calculator, great UI
- Source code: github.com/Bubu/android-calculatorpp
Keyboard
Writing.
- Name: Open Board
- Availability: Open Board on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Lightweight, simple, multi-language
- Source code: github.com/dslul/openboard
QR Code Scanner
Scanning QR codes and opening links.
- Name: QR Scanner
- Availability: QR Scanner on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Displays link before opening it
- Source code: github.com/SecUSo/privacy-friendly-qr-scanner
Communication
Phone / Dialer & Contacts
Calling people, browsing and editing contacts. This entry consists of two apps that are best used together.
- Name: Simple Dialer and Simple Contacts from the SimpleMobileTools app suite
- Availability:
- Simple Dialer and Simple Contacts Pro on F-Droid (install Simple Thank You as well to get pro features)
- Simple Dialer and Simple Contacts Pro (ca. 1€) on Play Store
- Feature highlights: Theming, chosing contact sources (cloud, SIM, accounts, …)
- Source code: github.com/SimpleMobileTools
Receiving and sending E-Mails.
- Name: FairEmail
- Availability:
- Feature highlights: Displays E-Mail in an easy to read layout, block trackers and helps the user with identifying phishing mails
- Source code: github.com/M66B/FairEmail
Instant Messenger
Encrypted secure instant messaging.
- Name: Briar
- Availability: Briar on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Serverless direct messaging, works even when governments shut down the internet
- Source code: code.briarproject.org/briar/briar
and
- Name: Signal
- Availability: Signal Messenger on Play Store
- Feature highlights: Phone and Video conferences
- Source code: github.com/signalapp
SMS
Writing and receiving SMS.
- Name: QKSMS
- Availability: QKSMS on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Lightweight, archiving function
- Source code: github.com/moezbhatti/qksms
Multimedia
Gallery
Managing and viewing your photos and videos.
- Name: Simple Gallery Pro
- Availability:
- Simple Gallery Pro on F-Droid (install Simple Thank You as well to get pro features)
- Simple Gallery Pro (ca. 1€) on Play Store
- Feature highlights: Theming support, excluding and including specific directories
- Source code: github.com/SimpleMobileTools
Music
Playing your locally stored music.
- Name: Vinyl Music Player
- Availability: Vinyl Music Player on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Cover art
- Source code: github.com/AdrienPoupa/VinylMusicPlayer
Radio
Listening to online radio stations world wide.
- Name: RadioDroid
- Availability: RadioDroid on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Modern interface
- Source code: github.com/segler-alex/RadioDroid
Podcasts
Downloading and streaming podcasts.
- Name: AntennaPod
- Availability: AntennaPod on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Modern interface, theming
- Source code: github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaPod
YouTube
Watching videos on YouTube.
- Name: NewPipe
- Availability: NewPipe can be installed from F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Great performance, more privacy
- Source code: github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/
Additional steps
You can install NewPipe from F-Droid. But since YouTube often changes its API’s it is much better to always have the latest NewPipe installed. The newest version has some days delay on the official F-Droid repository, therefore we do the following:
- Add the official NewPipe F-Droid Repository to our F-Droid.
- Refresh the repositories (draw down from the top in the first F-Droid tab)
- Search for and install NewPipe
Feed Reader (RSS/Atom)
Keeping up to date with projects you are interested in.
- Name: spaRSS
- Availability: spaRSS on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Great and simple reader
- Source code: github.com/Etuldan/spaRSS
Document Viewer (PDF, …)
Viewing several document formats.
- Name: MuPDF
- Availability: MuPDF on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Very lightweight
- Source code: git.ghostscript.com/?p=mupdf-android-viewer.git;a=summary
Privacy and security
Traffic Filter
Blocks trackers and domains that are known to undermine privacy, security and performance in a non-tolerable way.
- Name: Blokada 5
- Availability: Blokada 5 on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Choose from a whole bunch of block lists
- Source code: github.com/blokadaorg/blokada
HINT: Blokada creates a local VPN. That means, it does not transfer any of your traffic somewhere else. It simply uses the VPN on your phone to filter the traffic directly in your device. If you have trouble using a specific app, you can also whitelist it in the Blokada settings.
Additional steps
- Enable always on (“Blokada Settings” > “VPN Profile” > “Always”)
- Disable battery optimization for this app (“Android Settings” > “Battery Optimization” > “Show all apps” > “Disable” for Blokada)
- Choose you blocklists
- minimum: DuckDuckGo + Phishing Army
- medium: DuckDuckGo + Phishing Army + Exodus Privacy
- maximum: DuckDuckGo + Phishing Army + Exodus Privacy + Any Energized List
Password Manager
Managing and generating strong passwords and login credentials.
- Name: KeePassDX
- Availability: KeePassDX on F-Droid
- Feature highlights: Modern UI, compatible with desktop KeePass
- Source code: github.com/Kunzisoft/KeePassDX
Additional steps
Take your time to read through the instructions and information in the wiki to properly setup you password manager.