Most of the applications in the application stores are not open source and therefore it is very difficult for you to detect what is included in the application. You cannot easily detect malware hidden in an application with closed source code. If you choose open source applications, you can protect the privacy and security of your personal data, and if you are an application developer, you can support the application. Open source applications are applications whose source codes are publicly available on platforms such as GitHub, where you can make improvements to the application codes and present them to the developer if you wish, and where the application developer and the user are closer.
If you are a user who cares about privacy, or if you want to make your old Android device run smoother, we recommend you take a look at open source applications. Almost all apps that come pre-installed on our phones are connected to Google services and constantly transfer data. That’s why Google’s apps always use RAM and processor. If you want to increase the speed of your device or do not trust the closed source applications you have downloaded, we can recommend you open source applications that can be alternatives to some applications.
Basic System Apps
Some of the applications that come pre-installed on the Android system are calculator, calendar, clock, contacts, phone and other applications. If you have purchased a smartphone with Google Play services, all of these applications are provided by Google. Since the basic system applications released by Google are quite extensive, they can easily fill the internal storage of your device.
These system applications, created by a developer called Simple Mobile Tools, work completely independently of Google and are quite small. They include keyboard, gallery, camera, contacts, phone, clock, calendar, calculator, messages and other applications. You can quickly access these apps developed by Simple Mobile Tools via F-Droid and download their APK files.
[appbox fdroid com.simplemobiletools.dialer]
[appbox fdroid com.simplemobiletools.calculator]
[appbox fdroid com.simplemobiletools.clock]
Aurora Store – Application Market
Aurora Store is an open source client of the Google Play Store. Just like the Play Store, you can download and update apps through Aurora Store. It is just like the Google Play Store in terms of application variety. You can also use this third-party app store without MicroG. Aurora Store, one of the most ideal application stores for HUAWEI smartphones, is highly appreciated by users because it is very stable and has a simple interface.
[appbox fdroid com.aurora.store]
Browser
On the browser side, you can use Chromium-based Bromite or Ungoogled Chromium. Since both applications use the same infrastructure as Google Chrome, they use the Chrome interface, which is familiar to the eye. If you do not like these two browsers that are completely free of Google services, you can choose Firefox, and if you are someone who values privacy a lot, you can choose Firefox Focus.
Music & Video
VLC Media Player is a very popular media player that many users know well. Moreover, it is open source. We recommend using VLC because it is a stable media player. As a music player, you can use Metro Music Player. The interface of this music player is very modern and it is very successful in listing your music. Metro is fork of the Retro Music Player without some Google APIs.
[appbox fdroid org.videolan.vlc]
[appbox fdroid io.github.muntashirakon.Music]
Social Media Apps
There are also open source clients for social media applications. If you use Telegram, you can choose Neko X, for Reddit you can choose Infinity, for Facebook you can choose Frost, and for Twitter you can choose Fritter. You should keep in mind that unofficial clients for these types of social media applications occasionally do not work properly and may have fewer features than the official application.
[appbox fdroid nekox.messenger]
[appbox fdroid ml.docilealligator.infinityforreddit]
[appbox fdroid com.pitchedapps.frost]
[appbox fdroid com.jonjomckay.fritter]
Conclusion
The number of open source applications is quite large, but the majority of users still prefer closed source applications. The main reason is that open source applications do not have a wide network. All Google applications are connected to each other and a backup is kept. In Google Contacts, you can easily download and install the contact backup from your Google account. On the other hand, Google Photos lets you access your photo backup in the cloud. As the popularity of open source applications increases in the future, the open source application ecosystem will expand and become more user-friendly.
