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 ⬇️⬇️
Best Pdf viewer is clearly librera reader
Yes and no, its really cool but the ui is ugly, too complex and not useful for just viewing PDF…
What ? Am i the only guy who thinks its really good ? Like its super simple to use and really customizable
I tried it more deeply and I will say my recap : It’s a great app, not too complicated but the ui is ugly (a bit less when diving in the settings), it do not have more features than others, the actions are blocked by confirmation pop-ups. Not a recommandation for me, its more a e-book reader than a PDF viewer…
Yes and no, I do use it but sometimes it’s too complex to understand and I just switch back to the basic default one!
What how is it complex ? Like at all ? i have found way more complex unuser friendly ones but if you do have any doubts you can dm me or ask here.
There’s just a lot going on, it reminds me of something like GIMP rather than the clean (or perhaps dumbed-down) standards we’re used to for mobile devices. For instance I’ve got 11 buttons at the top and 10 at the bottom - I can have a guess at what they do but none of them are labeled! There are sub menus, different behaviour depending on where I click the document, modal popups; it just feels like a power user’s desktop app rather than a mobile pdf reader.