I’m sure there are countless apps out there that are incredibly cool, interesting, or useful, but just haven’t hit the mainstream yet. Maybe it’s a productivity tool that’s boosted your efficiency, a unique game that’s kept you entertained for hours, or a niche app that’s catered perfectly to one of your hobbies or interests.
What are some Android hidden gem apps that you’ve used a bunch or think it’s really cool/interesting/useful?
Please share your recommendations, and if possible, a brief description of what the app does and why you find it so valuable.
Looking forward to uncovering some hidden treasures in the Android app world. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
LibreTube or NewPipe for watching YouTube videos without ads or tracking.
Seal for downloading YouTube videos.
Retro Music Player - probably the best looking music app for Android.
Pano Scrobbler - a FOSS app for Last.fm, Libre.fm and Listenbrainz. (I recommend Obtanium to download it from GitHub.)
Droid-ify is a much nicer client for F-Droid.
Obtanium for downloading apps from various other sources.
Aurora Store for anonymously downloading apps from the Play Store without a Google account
Molly - a better Signal client. (You can use Obtanium to download it from GitHub, you can add their F-Droid repo or download it using Accressent, a new experimental app store that seeks to replace F-Droid.)
Gallery - a simple gallery app that looks good and respects your Material You theme.
Murglar for downloading Music in full quality from Deezer.
Element X is a much better Matrix client than the standard Element app. (I recommend downloading it from GitHub using Obtanium)
LinkSheet - a small app that restores the old Android URL link chooser. It has many great features like the ability to remove tracking parameters from URLs or using FastForward to annoying bypass URL shorteners.
UntrackMe - a tool that can redirect YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, etc. links to privacy-friendly alternative frontends like Invidious or Piped for YouTube, Nitter for Twitter and LibReddit or Teddit for Reddit
Thunder, the best Lemmy client I ever used.
Most of the apps I mentioned are free and open source and many of them are available on F-Droid. They don’t collect or sell any of your data.
The last one is not an app, but an entire OS that can replace the spyware-infested ROM that’s preinstalled by your phones’ manufacturer. I’m talking about GrapheneOS. No ads, no tracking, no proprietary Google services. Just free and open source software with maximum privacy and security. It’s so great!
Some alternatives and corrections to your list:
- You can already download YT videos in LibreTube and NewPipe, speaking about NewPipe, I would suggest using NewPipeSponsosblock for blocking in video sponsors from creators. Aves Libre is a better advanced Gallery alternative with EXIF editing.
- Aimp is a good alternative to Retro.
- Spotiflyer is an alternative Murglar.
- Schildi Chat is a better alternative to Element X, its based on Element but is a lot faster and has a lot more options.
Ps: I’ve been seeing a lot of posts and comments by you in the communities that I follow, just want to tell you thx for contrubuting to them xD.
Thanks for participating in the discussion. I have to disagree on some of your point though.
You can already download YT videos in LibreTube and NewPipe, speaking about NewPipe, I would suggest using NewPipeSponsosblock for blocking in video sponsors from creators.
I have found the download features in both LibreTube and NewPipe to be pretty unreliable. Seal always works. NewPipe x SponsorBlock is great, I use LibreTube which also has SponsorBlock built in, I just included NewPipe in the list because LibreTube breaks sometimes. But yes, NewPipe x SponsorBlock is better than standard NewPipe. BraveNewPipe is even better.
Aves Libre is a better advanced Gallery alternative with EXIF editing
Aves is a good option, it’s also available on Accrescent. Personally though, I dislike the design of the app and prefer Gallery in combination with Image Toolbox for image editing.
Aimp is a good alternative to Retro.
It’s not open-source and thus not available on F-Droid.
Spotiflyer is an alternative Murglar.
In my experience Spotiflyer has been pretty unreliable. It either pulls low quality shit from YouTube or it tries to download from Spotify and fails. So far, Murglar has worked like a dream. Just like deemix on desktop btw. You can use Deezer Premium ARLs from this guide to log in and download genuine 320kbps MP3s or even FLACs. Never had any issues.
Schildi Chat is a better alternative to Element X, its based on Element but is a lot faster and has a lot more options.
I tried it out, personally, I didn’t really like it. Element has been pretty slow for me, but I never had these issues with Element X.
Thx for the feedback. I agree with pretty much all your points. It just goes down to personnal preference and some feautures.
It just goes down to personnal preference and some feautures.
Absolutely true
This was the most respectful internet debate I’ve ever seen.
Trying to make Lemmy a better place
ytdlnis as an alternative for seal.
Thanks for the suggestion
Excellent list
I’m glad you like it
Oh no‽
Seems like FastForward has been put on ice/abandoned by the developers/maintainers (read the project GitHub header).
Any viable/preferred alternative?
The FastForward feature in LinkSheet should continue to work. If you need a solution for your browser, check out the Bypass All Shortlinks Userscript that you can install using Violentmonkey. There are also a couple of websites that can accomplish the same thing, bypass.city and bypass.vip. I got the information from https://fmhy.net/storage#skip-redirect
Hi, have you switched to using Accressent? Do you like it more than Droid-ify?
It’s in a very early stage of development, it currently only offers 11 apps. I really hope it succeeds though, it has better security than F-Droid so I would love to switch to it once it supports more apps.
I’ll keep an eye on it, thanks!
Great list overall. Obtainium looks like it could be life-changing. :-)
I try to get most of my apps from F-Droid (through Droid-ify) or Accrescent, but if they are not available, I turn to Obtanium to either download an APK from a website or from GitHub. It also has the ability to update your apps from your custom sources.
I installed it and it is working beautifully. Thank you for the suggestion!
Libretube and Newpipe, can you cast videos to like a Chromecast with these?
LinkSheet](https://github.com/1fexd/LinkSheet)
I’m sorry, why do we need this one?
I have Android 13 and when I tap on a link it asks me what app to open, also you can set this within the settings app per app basis.
Is this like Better Open With?
I have Android 13 and when I tap on a link it asks me what app to open, also you can set this within the settings app per app basis.
On many occasions, Android nowadays uses “Verified links” to figure out what app to open instead of prompting the user LinkSheet also provides other cool features that I already described in my previous comment:
It has many great features like the ability to remove tracking parameters from URLs or using FastForward to annoying bypass URL shorteners
Is this like Better Open With?
Yes
I missed the bypassing URL shorteners, heck, that would have been so helpful to me back in the day when I was sailing the seas for some “obscure” content.
Physics Toolbox Suite.
Most phones today contain a powerful array of sensors, and almost all of them are locked from easy access by the user. Physics Toolbox has functions that allow you to get the raw data from almost every sensor in your phone. It’s the only “tool” app that I can honestly say I’ve used as a tool. It has a sound intensity functions which I have used to determine if hearing protections is needed, and I’ve used that feature to diag a bad mic pickup due to an ambient white noise machine. It can give you the signal loss for a WiFi connection, very handy for troubleshooitng wireless access points.
Other features, magnetic field detection, tone generator, color matcher, g-force and rotation output, raw GPS view and more. All of these are available on the free version, but I actually use this app so much that I sent the 2 or 5 bucks to the dev mainly just to support them. The paid version also lets you export the sensor logs to a .csv file so you can view that data on a computer.
It really turns your phone from a glorified Lemmy portal into the cool future tool it was meant to be.
This is a super cool thing. Thanks for sharing
Phyphox is similar, not sure if it has all the same capabilities though.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.boyle.chris.sgtpuzzles
Several puzzles in one app, no ads, completely free.
Wow thanks! I play these on desktop all the time. I tried playing them from my phone browser and it wasn’t the same. Didn’t know there was an app! Thank you!
Github link incase you want to install it with Obtainium: https://github.com/chrisboyle/sgtpuzzles
also available on fdroid
This lets you connect to a lot of stations across the globe, by moving the globe
I used to love that place, but wasn’t on it much as it was a web site. I’m going to try the app.
LinkSheet is an alternative to URLCheck
Is there any reason to use one over the other?
At least I’m not aware of any reason. Just wanted to put the alternative out there.
https://www.f-droid.org/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/
StreetComplete! You can contribute to OpenStreetMap while walking around and having fun. It’s super fun and satisfying to unlock achievements while contributing to a useful project.
Minimalist Phone has changed my life. For anyone looking to either spend less time on social media or get rid of the digital clutter constantly bombarding you, this app is amazing.
It Filters my notifications so I can check them on my own time, it sets time limits on all social media and game apps and kicks you out when time is up, and it has a simple black background with no app icons, only the names of the apps you choose in white letters. Perfect for my over-stimulated adhd brain.
Brooooo I’m upgrading my phone and I’m definitely going to give this a go! Thank you!
I’m not so up on what’s new and such, and I’ve really enjoyed a few games I’ve downloaded:
(Obligatory apology for any link or format issues. On mobile and first time posting.)
Scalak. You rotate and move blocks and pieces around to try to match up edges. Hard to explain. Kind of like the baby’s “put the square in the square hole” toy except for adults. It’s got really nice, calming music, so it’s nice to play before bed or offline on the plane.
MultiSudoku. Off-line sudoku that has five sudoku squares (?) attached together.
Word Hero. I love word games and this has been my favourite. It’s basically Boggle and after each game, it ranks the scores from everyone around the world who played the same game as you. Been playing this for years. Unfortunately online only.
Burnable Garbage Day. Earth has completely filled with rubbish, and a cleaning robot has woken up from a deep slumber to find out why the planet has become this way. Originally a Japanese game so the translations are a bit dodgy, but it’s a really fun play. I think it can be played offline. It’s been a while since I’ve played this.
Mahjong 13 Tiles. The only actual mahjong game I could find that isn’t like the old Windows tile matching game. This is the gambling version where there is no money bets, but you can play against bots. It’s been ages since I’ve played this so I can’t remember if it’s online or offline or if you can play against real people.
Dingbats. Guessing famous idioms from drawings. Can be played offline.
Quell Reflect. Moving a bubble around to capture all the gems. The puzzles get harder as you progress. Can be played offline.
Influence. You start with one cell (think Chinese checkers) and you keep spreading your influence to conquer the other players. Can be played off-line.
What the Forecast. Obnoxious, rude weather app.
Whicons. Minimalist white icon pack for Android.
BirdNET. Identifies birds by their call. I’ve used this in Canada and Australia.
Plant Net. Same thing as BirdNET but photos of plants. Also can confirm it works in Canada and Australia.
Edit: Forgot one game, Slitherlink. I set it to easy and listen to podcasts in the background to wind down at the end of the night. Each hexagon (or whichever shape you choose) has a number, and each number represents the max number of sides that can be selected. Eventually the entire board is connected via one line. You’ll have to read the description, it’s the best description I can give, albeit not a very good one.
Edit edit: This is what happens when I haven’t had my coffee yet. Kakuro is another numbers game like sudoku.
Skalak sounds like someone got tired of solving the eternity II puzzle.
Installed a couple of those to try. Thanks for sharing
Leafsnap - an excellent plant identification app. Can id from a photo of a flower, leaf or bark.
I like the inaturalist seek app better
Looks interesting. I’ll check it out.
How easily/quickly are plants identified on it? Leafsnap usually only takes a minute or so and has id’ed around 90% of what I’ve thrown at it.
But I do like the idea of tracking more than just plants and contributing to data gathering for science.
Edit: yep iNaturalist is much better. The search is about the same but its prioritizing results based on location is a good feature.
Yep it works pretty slick!
Thanks! Inaturalist looks way better and doesn’t require a subscription. Got a plant right away, and I like how it gets more and more precise as you move around the plant.
Merlin is similar but for birds. Also feeds all of the data you give it back to Cornell’s ornithology lab, which I’d normally be against, but in this case it’s for a great cause.
You can also troll various bird species by playing their calls back to them. Most will at least come in for a closer look, some will straight up strafe your ass depending on the season.
NeverTooManyBooks.
I have several books cases and shelves where I store books, this has helped me a lot to have a catalogue of them.
I just scan the book code, the app gets book info, and I assign it to a place where it is physically stored, like, bookcase 1 in office room, shelf 3 on main room, etc.
I have it installed from Droid-ify which is like an app to have more sources for f-Droid.
https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/com.hardbacknutter.nevertoomanybooks
Ooh, saving this for later. I’m gradually reclaiming all our books from storage and this sounds very handy. Thanks for the tip!
Also I want to recommend Birday, it is a very simple birthday manager, and you can import birthdays from your calendars.
I intend to use this to remember birthdays and actually call people on their phones.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.minar.birday
Doing inventory of your physical stuff seems like a chore, but a very rewarding one for sure.
This is a pretty neat idea to be honest, I wonder if it exists for other kinds of media?
Strangely enough I find a bit of joy in doing things like that. I’ve got several books of paperwork I’ve been gradually scanning and organising in a paperless ngx setup. It’s a big hassle that ultimately doesn’t help me much at all (95% of the things in there are random things I could just get rid of and would never miss), but yet I do it anyway, and enjoy doing it
Yeah, I have actually thought about using paperless as well, but just the idea of beginning keeps me away lol.
I also think it is a chore because inventory used to be one of my work functions in a former job.
This is incredible. I’ve been looking for something exactly like this. Thank you!!
Simple Text Editor
FOSS text editor for when you just literally wanna write something down without any weird bloat and without having to deal with Google. Available on F-Droid.
Also, OpenBoard for a FOSS keyboard with swipe typing. Also available on F-Droid
You know what, I think F-Droid is actually my hidden gem app. I’m sure most Lemmy users use it, but I don’t think I know anyone else IRL who does, so hidden gem might not be accurate depending on perspective.
On second thought… Seems they haven’t finished their glide type function for release yet, though it’s planned! Are you on a beta version or something to get the swipe function? Or were you talkin the backspace & spacebar swipe gestures? 🙂
Really? I don’t think I’m using a beta release and I’m glide typing this message. I might have gotten the apk off of Github rather than F-Droid but I honestly don’t remember, been using this keyboard for a few months now.
Oh my god thank you!! I’ve been out of luck looking for an open swipe keyboard, I’m so excited you found one and shared it!!! WOOT!
Do you need to root phone to use F-Droid?
Nope
r ur notes available on every device u log into?
URLCheck
Checks URLs for nasties like tracking links. Can also be used to open links in specific apps (where they don’t always want to)
Available on both f-droid and the play store.
https://www.f-droid.org/packages/com.trianguloy.urlchecker/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trianguloy.urlchecker
also great bc u always have the option to choose which app to open with, and acts as a confirmation if you accidently click a link
One thing I’d like though is a module to scan YouTube links this is why I think that would be useful
excellent point!
oh, i hadnt thought of that. i didnt think think it would be very helpful, but after i watched that video, it really opened my eyes to the dangerous possibilities.
-Organic maps
Beautifully designed open source navigation alternative. It’s not perfect, because I still have to do some auxiliary searching occasionally, but I’m really enjoying using it instead of Google
-Quickweather
Another beautifully designed app. Not perfect, but just really nice to look at because of how well it was done. I still use myradar as my main driver, admittedly.
-ViMusic
Again, one of the most beautifully designed apps I’ve ever seen. It has a few bugs, but I really enjoy using this one. It uses YouTube music as the back end.
-Newpipe and freetube
Either of these work pretty good as a better way to watch YouTube videos. I’m glad people are fighting back against Google’s bullshit…
-Eternity
This is currently my favorite Lemmy front end. I’ve tried many so far and this one seems to have the best functionality and customization too.
Wow, organic maps is beautiful! Thanks!
I’m really happy to share that one! The only other alternative that I’ve come across that looked (kind of) promising was osmand, but organicmaps puts that one to shame as far as looks go. It functions really well too, I think it’s just a better app in general actually.
Niagara is by far my favorite launcher these days
I use it with Frequaw as the only widget to launch the apps I use the most
I rue the day Identiconizer falls behind on API versions and I won’t be able to install it on new phones anymore. Having identicons for contacts I don’t have photos for is just so much nicer than the plain letters.
Living Worlds has gorgeous low-power animated wallpapers
AlmostTI stops me from needing to learn how to use a newer calculator than the TI-84
I keep hearing good things about Niagara, but it seems like such a shift from what I’m used to
It’s very different but it’s so much faster to access the drawer and Frequaw covers 95% of what I used my home screen for
Loving identiconizer! Thanks!
My favorite style is “Contemporary” then I set the background to #01FFFFFF
Frequaw looks great! I’m going to give it a try.
Joplin https://joplinapp.org/ It is a free an open source note taking app similar to Evernote. You can keep your data on a cloud service (such as Dropbox) to keep your notes in sync between Android, Windows, Linux and IOS or you can pay for Joplin Cloud storage.
Why has every note app gone into the cloud.
Like its hard to find a note app that doesn’t try to get me to sign up and subscribe to features. I just want to take notes like I’m a PI investigating people at my local mall
You can use Joplin without any cloud sync at all and the notes just stay on your one device.
You can also use Syncthing to keep your notes synchronized across multiple devices. Syncthing is an app that does just that (keep files synchronized in the background).
It’s a desktop app, but can sync with self-hosted cloud servers. It’s also literally just text/markdown files.