Monday, February 10, 2025
This listing collects a set of Free Software Applications which you can use as replacements and alternatives to default Android applications which are proprietary (nonfree) software. For example, you have a Xiaomi Redmi phone with set of applications such as Calculator, it will raise a question like "what is the free software replacement to this program?" and the answers are listed below. We wish this benefits to you all.
Why not proprietary software? See Why Not section at the end of this article with beneficial references you can learn.
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Adblock:
Fortunately, there is uBlock Origin from our community can be installed in your web browser. This is the same as what we always recommend for your Ubuntu Desktop. If what you do everyday is no more than web browsing this will make your digital life clean and fresh. Also, using Free Software mostly means you will never see advertisements. See Browser and Chrome sections.
Alarm:
Clock (nonfree) can be replaced with Clock (free) or TimerDroid (free).
App Center:
Google Play Store can be replaced with F-Droid.
Book Reader:
Google Docs as PDF viewer can be replaced with Document Viewer.
Browser:
See Chrome.
Calculator:
Calculator (nonfree) can be replaced with Calculator from F-Droid.
Calendar:
Calendar can be replaced with either Etar Calendar or Fossify Calendar or Simple Calendar Pro.
Contact
Contact can be replaced with Fossify Contact.
Compass:
Compass can be replaced with
Camera:
Camera can be replaced with Libre Camera.
Chrome:
Google Chrome can be replaced with Fennec (modified version of Firefox Mobile) or Thorium (modified version of Chromium). We also want to report that Iceraven (a new modified version of Firefox Mobile) works excellently on our phone. If you find difficulties in installing them, on F-Droid you can find FFupdater and install either browser from it.
Drive:
Google Drive service can be accessed with Fennex or Thorium browser instead of using the Drive client app. If you want a complete replacement full of features, and you are ready to, you can replace Google Drive with Nextcloud.
Download Manager:
Downloads can be replaced with Download Navi. Navi to Android is like Internet Download Manager (IDM) to Windows and (as we always recommend) it Persepolis Download Manager (PDM) to Ubuntu Desktop.
Gallery:
Gallery can be replaced with LeafPic (fast) or Camera Roll (feature-rich).
Google Search:
Google Search* has alternatives today fortunately and among them DuckDuckGo and Startpage that we recommend. To use either one, you should configure your Fennec to switch from Google to either DuckDuckGo or Startpage. If you want a Home Launcher search replacement, you might consider Setter as your new friend.
*) Notes: when we are talking about Free Software, we mean the code that runs on your computer must be free. But when we are talking about Google or DuckDuckGo or Startpage, we are talking about service, not software, and in fact you do not install the code on your machine, but you simply access it with your browser. Thus it is a separate matter to Free Software, and we do not call it free nor nonfree.
Hangouts:
Google Hangouts (instant messaging, group chat) can be replaced with choices:
Telegram FOSS (the most popular free software messenger)
Conversations (based on XMPP)
Element (based on Matrix)
Simple X
Jami
Home Launcher:
Home Launcher or any preinstalled one can be replaced with KISS Launcher just like our last month recommendation.
Keyboard:
Google Keyboard can be replaced with Simple Keyboard.
Music Player:
Music and Play Music can be replaced with Music from F-Droid or simply VLC.
Mail:
Gmail app can be replaced with K-9 Mail or Delta Chat.
Maps:
Google Maps can be replaced with OpenMultiMaps or OsmAnd.
Messages (SMS)
Google Messages (SMS application) can be replaced by either Silence (with encryption features), Simple SMS Messenger or Fossify SMS Messenger.
Meet:
Google Meet (video conference) can be replaced with
Telegram FOSS
Element (based on Matrix)
Jitsi Meet (also available in Delta Chat)
Simple X
Jami
Notes:
Notes can be replaced with My Notes.
Scanner:
Barcode or QR Code Scanner can be replaced with QR Scanner from SECUSO.
YouTube:
YouTube can be replaced with NewPipe and it is worth mentioning Clipious.
Videos:
Video player and Mi Videos can be replaced with VLC Media Player.
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Why not proprietary software?
Proprietary software is program that runs on our computer but is completely "owned" (controlled) not by us but only by its developer. Perhaps you ask why do we seek for alternatives? We learn from our community of Free Software and Open Source that:
1. Their developer via their agreements/licenses telling us to promise not to share and help with others. We disagree, thus we seek for alternatives.
2. To our community, it is an injustice for developer to control the software running on user's own computer leaving the user powerless. All proprietary software did that.
3. In fact, proprietary software is often malware. Nowadays, it is worse as they invade our privacy too.
4. Free software is fun. Contributing to a free software project is also fun.
5. Ubuntu and GNU/Linux and Free Software as a whole in general was developed as opposite to the values of proprietary software.
A lot of other free software projects born thanks to these teachings from our community. See for example F-Droid itself and applications above, LineageOS (an Android distro), Replicant (a libre Android distro), BlissOS (an Android distro for PC), postmarketOS (an Alpine based phone OS), PureOS (a libre GNU/Linux distro for phone), microG (free version of Google libraries for Android) and many more. Lastly, we want to convey these values to our readers to remind ourselves about our community. Let's start sharing software full of spirit once again!
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Originally posted here: https://ift.tt/CrZnoJO
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