Google Mobile applications alternatives

F-Droid

Catalogue of FOSS apps for Android. Easy to install and keeps track of updates. Also has a browser version if you don't want to install the app.

Aurora Store

Aurora Store is simply a fork of the Yalp Store no longer a fork of Yalp, but is now its own project (see their readme). Update: Removed note on using microG as Aurora Store does not use it. Thanks @notpushkin

APKMirror

An online library of user-uploaded APK files. Helpful if you need a specific older version of an app or don't want to download it through Google Play.

Fossdroid

Uses the same library as F-Droid, but with a modern UI similar to that of the Play Store and the ability to view apps by popularity.

G-Droid

Also uses the F-Droid repo but with a different UI.

APKGrabber

Fork of APKUpdater. Both are great tools for avoiding app stores (on Android).

Aurora Droid

Yet another F-Droid client, potentially has a few bugs (thanks u/OfficialJohnGL4)

Fennec F-Droid

A privacy-focused version of Firefox Android available on F-Droid. It's focused on removing any proprietary bits found in official Mozilla's builds. (thanks u/SupremeLisper)

Cromite

Open-source Chromium build for Android with built-in ad blocking and privacy patches. It is the actively-maintained fork of Bromite, which stopped receiving updates.

Bromite

Privacy-focused/open-source build of Chromium with built-in ad blocking. Note: Bromite is no longer actively maintained — use Cromite (above) instead, as an unpatched browser is a security risk.

Privacy Browser

An open-source Android web browser focused on user privacy. It is released under the GPLv3+ license.

Mull

A Firefox for Android fork compiled from source, with proprietary blobs removed, and many security/privacy changes made using an altered arkenfox/user.js

Simple Calculator

Also part of the SMT project. Available on F-Droid.

Calculator N+ or NCalc+

Open-source feature-rich calculator. App itself is no longer in development, but the developer does encourage pull requests. I've used it frequently and it works great. Not on F-Droid, but a 3rd party play store can probably find it; or the APK's are available as releases on GitHub. You can also compile from source.

Calculator++

Open-source calculator packed with features. Thanks @ghost

DAVx⁵

DAVx⁵ is an open-source CalDAV/CardDAV suite and sync app for Android.

ICSx⁵

ICSx⁵ is an Android app to subscribe to remote (“Webcal”) or local iCalendar files (like time tables of your school/university or event files of your sports team). Thanks @je-vv

Fruux (mobile app)

Same service from above provides an Android app.

Etar

Open-source material design Calendar that integrates with the Android Calendar API. Can integrate with CalDAV/CardDAV servers.

Simple Calendar

Open-source. Part of the Simple Mobile Tools project.

Open Camera

Open-source camera for Android. Thanks @je-vv

Clock +

Open-source Alarm clock, timer, and stop watch.

Simple Alarm Clock

Exactly as it's name says; simple alarm clock yet adds many improvements over other apps. No dock mode or world clock.

Insane Alarm!

Developer states that he had "spent a night out with the boys and drank a bit too much but needed to be up in the morning". So, he made the loudest alarm clock possible based off an emergency alarm from when he was in the military. This app doesn't mess around, use it wisely.

Alarmio

An open-source simple alarm clock that implements many useful features while following regular design standards to ensure that it is quick and intuitive to use.

Fruux (mobile app)

Fruux also provides a contacts app.

Simple Contacts

Open-source. Part of the Simple Mobile Tools project.

Open Contacts

Open-source contacts. (thanks u/consentio)

Signal

Open-source. Signal possesses SMS/MMS capabilities on Android. Using it as your default SMS app has the advantage of having your SMS and your online-messaging-service integrated within one app. Doing so will also show stats within the app of how many messages you send are encrypted, and offers to send invites to your contacts.

Thanks @Glitchy-Tozier for suggesting it be listing as SMS/MMS alternative.

AnySoftKeyboard

Open-source keyboard. Available on F-Droid.

Hacker's Keyboard'

Also open-source. Very useful for developers or sysadmins on the go.

kboard

Open-source. Has features for phrases, "lenny faces", macros and more. Note: Project appears to be abandoned.

Simple Keyboard

Open-source keyboard.

Indic Keyboard

Open-source keyboard that supports many languages that other keyboards sometimes don't support. Not on F-Droid, but can be built from source or possibly through a Play Store alternative.

OpenBoard

New 100% FOSS keyboard, based on AOSP. Similar to "Simple Keyboard".

FlorisBoard

An open-source keyboard aimed at providing you with an easy way to type while respecting your privacy (this project is currently in alpha stage).

8VIM

Open-source. A "text editor inside a keyboard, drawing it's inspiration from 8pen and Vim."

ownCloud Android

ownCloud Android client. Available on F-Droid.

Nextcloud Android

Nextcloud Android client. Available on F-Droid.

Syncthing Android

Wrapper of Syncthing for Android. Available on F-Droid. Also consider Syncthing-Fork which uses a native Android UI rather than the default web UI.

Protonmail

Can be downloaded from the Play Store, but may work with one of the store replacements above (such as Yalp).

Tutanota

Client available from F-Droid.

Disroot

Available from F-Droid.

K-9 Mail

Available on F-Droid.

FairEmail

Available on F-Droid. You can (optionally) pay a 1-time fee to unlock some premium features (and support the developer).

DeltaChat

An email app with a chat-based UI and privacy support with autocrypt.

Mailbox.org

Mailbox.org provides IMAP settings for Android/iOS and an iOS profile. Thanks @avasts Issue #45

Notepad

Open-source. Supports Markdown and HTML. Very clean and feature-rich. Offline only.

Joplin

Scroll down on the GitHub page until you reach the Android download links. No F-Droid repo, but you can download the APK directly instead of using the Play Store.

Standard Notes

Encrypted note storage with loads of features.

Omni Notes

Very feature rich, open-source, material design notes app. Very active development. Available on F-Droid.

Carnet

I had some trouble finding info on this one. Looks like it has pretty seamless/painless ownCloud and NextCloud integration. Also available on F-Droid.

Markor

Open-source notes/to-do app for Android. Supports Markdown editing. Available on F-Droid. App is 100% offline, as stated on the GitHub README.

Orgzly

Open-source. Notes are stored in the plain-text Org mode format. Supports searching, metadata, and manual sync with Dropbox or local directory, which can be synced using e.g. Syncthing.

Notally

A beautiful, light and minimalistic notes app with no trackers, ads or analytics of any kind.

Nextcloud Notes for Android

An android client for Nextcloud Notes App.

Notesnook (mobile)

A truly zero-knowledge note taking app, encrypted using XChaChaPoly1305-IETF & Argon2. It is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and has browser extensions too. It is not self-hostable and follows a freemium model. Downloads are available on Google Play and the iOS App Store.

Maps

Open-source navigation app based on MAPS.ME. Searching for addresses doesn't always work and finding businesses can be a slight hassle, but overall one of the better apps I've used.

OsmAnd

OpenStreetMap for Android. (thanks u/masao77). As OsmAnd is primarily crowdsourced, many regions may not be totally accurate. If you would like to help improve OpenStreetMap and OsmAnd, check out StreetComplete (available from F-Droid.

Transportr

Primarily European, this is an open-source public transport app. Thanks to @lgiard

Öffi (Offi)

Öffi is a public transport Android app (also shows delays and replacement bus service for more and more transport authorities in Europe and beyond) - similar to Transportr

Organic Maps

An Android & iOS offline maps app for travelers, tourists, hikers, and cyclists based on top of crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap data.

Flym

Open-source Material Design RSS reader.

Feeder

Use good old-fashioned RSS feeds with Feeder

Piwigo Android

You need to have Piwigo set up first.

Stingle Photos

A convenient, easy to use Gallery/Camera application with Backup and Sync functionality for your photos and videos which seamlessly provides strong security, privacy and encryption. All photos and videos are encrypted prior to being stored and backed up, so they are secure at rest, in transit and on cloud storage.

ente

A simple, end-to-end encrypted, open-source photo storage service with a focus on security and privacy. Apps are available for iOS, Android, web and desktop.

NewPipe

Powerful open-source YouTube alternative. Supports audio only; background playback; picture-in-picture; no ads.

LibreTube

Open-source Android YouTube client that routes requests through Piped instances rather than talking to Google directly, so subscriptions and playlists are not tied to a Google account.

ReVanced

ReVanced started when Vanced was forced to shut down. Their Patcher tool is able to create patches for many apps with very little maintenance.

andOTP

Open-source 2FA app. Note: no longer actively maintained; Aegis (below) is the usual recommended replacement and can import andOTP backups.

FreeOTP+

FreeOTP is no longer in development so this fork should be used instead as it is currently in development.

Aegis

Open-source 2FA for Android. Available on F-Droid.

Authenticator

iOS - Open-source 2FA for iOS. (thanks u/SomeoneWannaBe)

Tofu

iOS - Open-source 2FA for iOS.

Raivo OTP

(iOS) A native, lightweight and secure one-time-password (OTP) client built for iOS.

Audinaut

An open-source Airsonic client for Android.

MALP

An open-source Android client for MPD. Available on F-Droid.

Shuttle+

Open-source local music player for Android. Available on F-Droid or by direct download.

Pulse Music

A music player app to complement your offline music collection with playlist support, theme options, multiple now playing screen, quick play shortcuts, QS tiles, sleep timer and lot of useful customisations.

Keybase

Encrypted chat like Signal with features like Slack. Does not require a phone number to sign up. Also has file storage. Note: Keybase was acquired by Zoom, Inc. in May 2020 (Keybase blog, Zoom blog). Thanks @notpushkin & @multimob.

Conversations

An open-source Android Jabber/XMPP client. It's a paid app on Google Play, but you can also build it from source for free if you want to.

Element

Android app - The open-source Android client for Element.

Jitsi Meet (F-Droid)

Jitsi is an open-source secure video conferencing platform. No account is needed to use it, simply enter a Room Name to join or host a meeting. The host is able to kick rogue users from the call. Works directly in your browser, with apps available for iOS and Android. It is not necessary to self-host, but self-hosting is an option for those who wish to. Very low latency and easy to set up. A free public server is available at meet.jit.si. (5-eyes server)

Jami

Audio / Video Calls, Conferences, Messaging app with peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted communications.

Mumla (client for Mumble)

Third-party Android client for Mumble.

Briar

An open-source app which supports Peer-to-Peer encrypted messaging. No phone number required for signing up. If the internet’s down, Briar can sync via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, keeping the information flowing in a crisis. If the internet’s up, Briar can sync via the Tor network, protecting users and their relationships from surveillance. Can install through a third-party F-Droid repo.

Session

Open-source. It is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that removes sensitive metadata collection. No phone number required to create an account. Can be downloaded from the Play Store or as an APK file from GitHub. Also has apps for iOS and Desktop.

Jitsi Meet (F-Droid)

Jitsi is an open-source secure video conferencing platform. No account is needed to use it, simply enter a Room Name to join or host a meeting. The host is able to kick rogue users from the call. Works directly in your browser, with apps available for iOS and Android. It is not necessary to self-host, but self-hosting is an option for those who wish to. Very low latency and easy to set up. A free public server is available at meet.jit.si. (5-eyes server)

Jami

Audio / Video Calls, Conferences, Messaging app with peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted communications.

Mycroft Android

Android client for Mycroft. Must be built in IDE; no pre-built binaries are available.

Ara

Open-source virtual assistant for Android. Can replace Google Assistant (home button functionality) on most devices. Either uses the author's server by default, or you can run your own server. Thanks @FultonBrowne (author of Ara)

microG

A re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries. It allows to use more precise navigation (which is proprietary in standard Android ROMs) and optionally receive push messages (requires connection to Google's servers, but also supports routing this connection through Tor). Thanks @notpushkin

Shade Launcher

Open-source Android launcher styled after the Google Pixel launcher. Available to download from an alternative F-Droid, APK Mirror, or GitHub Releases.

Omega

Open-source launcher. Active development with lots of nice features. Downloads available from GitHub. Previously known as ZimLX which has since been replaced by Omega.

Lawnchair

Another open-source launcher, also built to look similar to Google's launcher (it is built off AOSP Launcher3). Available from F-Droid and also APKMirror. (thanks u/droidonomy)

KISS Launcher

Fast, open-source and small launcher. KISS mainly relies on an app-search-bar, which makes it very easy to open up apps quickly.

Unlauncher

A clean, simple Android launcher with a very minimalist design. Forked from Slim Launcher.

Nebulo

From GitHub README: "Nebulo is a free, open-source, no-root, light-weight dns-over-https, dns-over-tls, and dns-over-http-over-quic client for Android with emphasis on privacy and security. Nebulo is fast, highly-customizable, ad-free, efficient on the battery, contains zero analytics / tracking.

RethinkDNS + Firewall

From the website: "Rethink DNS + Firewall is the easiest way to monitor app activity, circumvent Internet censorship, block ads and trackers on your Android device."

TrackerControl

From the GitHub README: Allows users to monitor and control the widespread, ongoing, hidden data collection in mobile apps about user behaviour ("tracking"). To detect tracking, TrackerControl checks all network traffic against the Disconnect blocklist, used and trusted by the Mozilla Firefox browser. Thanks @E5dZEUpc3BKaJrHnQVZd5zE

EteSync

For Calendar & Contacts. Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and open-source sync for your contacts, calendars, tasks and notes.

EteSync (Notes)

For Keep. Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and open-source sync for your contacts, calendars, tasks and notes.