Free custom android apps

Most Popular Custom ROMs for Android: LineageOS, Pixel Experience, Paranoid Android, and more!

If you have been following the Android aftermarket development scene for a while, you must have heard of the term custom ROM. A custom ROM is essentially a third-party operating system that replaces the factory-installed stock ROM or skin on your phone. Even though manufacturers like Samsung, OnePlus, and Xiaomi have done a great job of refining their Android skins, there’s still plenty of interest in custom ROM development for plenty of devices.

As soon as Google drops the source code of a new version to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), the modding community starts working toward making the latest flavor of Android accessible to more and more devices in the form of custom ROMs. As such, there are a number of Android custom ROM distributions to choose from. If you’re itching to try out the vanilla Android experience on your shiny new Android phone or just want to breathe new life into an old device stored in your closet, but unable to pick the perfect candidate, then this guide is for you. Below you can find the most popular custom ROMs in the domain of Android.

LineageOS

Truth be told, the LineageOS project doesn’t really need an introduction at this point. Being the true successor to the legendary CyanogenMod project, LineageOS is a lightweight ROM with the bare minimum in additional features, resulting in a high-performance, high versatility Android variant one can imagine. The official LineageOS builds are standardized against a Device Support Requirements charter, which ensures that all the basic hardware functionalities (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Camera, NFC, etc.) continue to operate after replacing the factory-installed software with LineageOS.

No wonder the XDA community loves LineageOS to the moon and back, because it has set itself as the highest benchmark in the world of custom ROMs.

Pixel Experience

If you’re a stock Android enthusiast and want to experience vanilla Android just like on Google’s own Pixel devices, then you should definitely check out the Pixel Experience project. The custom ROM comes with all Google apps and Pixel goodies, like the launcher, wallpapers, icons, font, and boot animation out of the box.

The developers also offer a “Plus” variant of the ROM which features a handful of extra customization options that aren’t present in the basic distribution.

Paranoid Android

Like LineageOS, the Paranoid Android project (also known as AOSPA) has a rich heritage. It was once a top contender in the Android ROM scene for many different reasons — innovative features, a slick user interface, a revolutionary camera app, you name it. If you’re a fan of the stock Android look, but do admire aesthetics over random customization options, then I would highly recommend taking this custom ROM for a spin.

Evolution X

Are you a vanilla Android enthusiast and looking for a Pixel-esque ROM that also offers some useful UI/UX customizations? Take a look at the Evolution X project. The ROM comes with preinstalled Google apps and Pixel goodies, and features several customizations like Status Bar visibility toggle and Gaming Mode Quick Settings Tile.

ArrowOS

The ArrowOS project started with the sole aim of keeping things simple, clean, and neat. The developers added only a handful of tweaks on top of AOSP, aiming to deliver smooth performance with better battery life. The end result is a lightweight ROM that offers comparatively better performance and reliability over the stock Android.

dotOS

For those not familiar with dotOS, it stands for “DroidOnTime” and is based on AOSP. However, unlike other AOSP-derived ROMs, dotOS is known for its unique user interface and innovative features. In a nutshell, if you want a stock Android experience with a host of additional features, opt for dotOS.

Honorable mentions

Additionally, distributions like OmniROM and BlissRoms have introduced a plethora of novel concepts to the custom ROM scene that are later being adopted by many other ROM maintainers. Enthusiastic users will also find out several other custom ROM projects such as Potato Open Sauce Project (POSP), PixysOS, RevengeOS, Havoc-OS, crDroid, and more on our forums, as the developers continue to come up with something new all the time.

Another honorable mention: Xiaomi.EU

For those of you with a Xiaomi, Redmi, or POCO device, and who just want to get rid of the bloatware and advertisements of the MIUI skin, you can go for the Xiaomi.EU ROM. This particular distribution is not an actual custom ROM in the truest sense of the term, but the extensive modifications make it quite an equivalent one in the MIUI ecosystem.

The daily builds of the ROM are based on Chinese MIUI beta firmware packages and have further been localized for the international markets. As a result, users can get their hands on all the bleeding edge functionalities introduced in the Chinese variant of MIUI before Xiaomi officially ports them to the global ROM.

Now you’re aware of the most popular custom ROMs in the scene, pick one for your device and give it a go. In case you need any help before or during installation, don’t forget to take a look at our excellent guide to installing a custom ROM on your Android Phone. And once you have the ROM installed, see if you can further upgrade your Android camera experience with GCam.

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The best app stores for Android

There’s life beyond Google Play. With this list of app stores you can make use of the best alternative marketplaces to download the APKs of your favorite games or apps, especially those applications not available in the official store

Another alternative app store to Google Play

The best alternative to Google Play

An alternative to Google Play

The best alternative to Google Play in its Lite version

Android’s store for applications and other digital contents

Alternative Android application store

The Russian version of the 9Apps online store

Download apps for Android Auto to your mobile

An alternative app store

Application store focused on MODs

Xiaomi’s app store

Alternative Android application store to Google Play

App store with a basic design

Thousands of patched apps and games

Chinese app store

Take a look at the iPhone App Store

Download applications and game MODs for free

A store full of patched and modded games

The app store by Oppo

A great alternative to the Google Play Store

Aptoide’s app store for Android TV

An apps store alternative to Play Store

Download apps for Android from a range of alternative stores

Alternative to Google Play to download apps

An alternative to Google Play to download apps and games

Irani app store

Turn your Android into an iPhone

Download applications for Android

Tencent’s apps store

An alternative to Google Play to download apps

Install apps directly through APKs

The application store for manga and anime fans

Get hold of paid apps for free

Alternative Android game store to Google Play

Find modified versions of the applications that you use

The app store for cyber hunters

4399 is a store from which we can download thousands of games for Android

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40 Best Free And Open Source Android Apps in 2021

Updated: January 30, 2021 By Antony Agnel 3 Comments

Hey there, you might be wondering what are the best free and open-source Android apps alternatives to most of the applications and services available on your Android-powered device. As you know already, Android development is under the control of Google – the king of online behavioral tracking which also specializes in targeted advertising.

According to Wikipedia, Android OS is actually open-source but in ‘most’ devices it comes with proprietary components embedded with it. What does that mean? Is it really open source?

The answer is a big ‘NO’!

Well, I was also wondering the same and was looking for free & open-source alternatives to the conventional Android operating system, the apps, and services, etc.

Table of Contents

Free and Open Source Operating System

To obtain primary freedom from all things Google, we can make use of custom ROMs like LineageOS, AOKP, Resurrection Remix OS, etc. These operating systems are licensed under free and open-source licenses and are based on Android, that is – they are developed as free and open-source software but are based on the official Android versions released by Google.

Now, here are some free open source apps for Android –

Free and Open Source Search Application

First of all, the default Google Search app can be replaced with DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo claims itself as the search engine that doesn’t track you, unlike Google which uses filter bubbles for personalized search results. Moreover, some of DDG’s source code is free software hosted at GitHub under the Apache 2.0 License, but the core is proprietary.

Free and Open Source Calendar Application

Utilities like Google Calendar can be replaced with Etar.

Etar is a material design calendar based on the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) calendar.

Free and Open Source Calculator Application

The best open source calculator app available out there is the Calculator N+ Math Solver app.

Free and Open Source Weather Application

Good Weather for Android provides detailed weather in more than 200.000 cities and any geo-locations.

Free and Open Source Camera Application

Open Camera is a fully-featured and completely free camera app for Android phones and tablets.

Free and Open Source Home Launcher Applications

Google Now launcher or any other proprietary stock launcher can be replaced with Rootless Pixel Launcher (highly recommended), Lawnchair Launcher, Turbo Launcher or Open Launcher.

These launchers are freely available for anyone to use. They also allow you to personalize dozens of different elements on any android device so that you can have a home screen designed in your own unique style.

Free and Open Source Habit Tracker Application

Loop habit tracker application helps you to create and maintain good habits, allowing you to achieve your long-term goals. Detailed graphs and statistics show you how your habits have improved over time. This app is completely ad-free and open source.

Free and Open Source Web Browsers

We can replace Google Chrome with either Firefox Focus or Brave Web Browser.

Firefox is a free and open-source browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation.

Free and Open Source E-Mail Services & Application

Also, we can switch from Gmail to ProtonMail so that we can get rid of Gmail completely.

According to their official website, ProtonMail is the world’s largest secure email service, developed by CERN and MIT scientists. Also, they released the source code for the web interface under an open-source license. It’s quite easy to shift from Gmail to ProtonMail and forward all the new messages from the Gmail ID to the new ProtonMail ID. Check out this for step by step instructions on how to migrate completely to ProtonMail.
Moreover, they guarantee privacy, end-to-end encryption, anonymous email and what more – it’s 100% free!

Free and Open Source SMS Application

QKSMS brings a refreshingly beautiful and responsive material design touch to the stale state of text messaging. In a world with clunky SMS and MMS apps cluttered with bloat and ads, QKSMS is something to get excited about.

Free and Open Source Video Streaming Application

Next, we can replace YouTube with NewPipe.

NewPipe is a free and open-source YouTube client that doesn’t use any libraries that are dependent on Google’s framework or any YouTube API. It also lets you download YouTube videos with total privacy. The best part is that it lets you stream music in the background and do practically anything you can do with the official YT client.

Free and Open Source Video Player Application

The VLC media player is a free and open-source cross-platform multimedia player that plays most multimedia files as well as discs, devices, and network streaming protocols.

Free and Open Source Note Taking Application

Google Keep can be replaced with Orgzly | Notes & To-Do Lists

Currently, Orgzly is not an open-source project. Since the majority of its users are Org-mode users or users of other free software, it is the most commonly asked question. But in case it becomes free, the codes can be expected in GitHub repositories.

Free and Open Source Maps Application

Chuck out Google Maps and replace it with OsmAnd Maps (OpenStreetMap Automated Navigation Directions)

It is a free and open-source, global mobile map viewing and navigation app for offline and online maps for Android and iOS. It uses the OpenStreetMap (OSM) map database for its primary displays. The development of this project is being done on GitHub and the Android version is available under the GPLv3 license.

Free and Open Source Instant Messenger Applications

Remember, WhatsApp was bought out by Facebook for a whopping $22 Billion during 2014. Why spend so much for just an instant messaging app with no Ads? Give it a thought and if you could come up with a proper answer, please do mention it in the comments section of this post!

Signal Private Messenger is a free and open-source application for phones, that employs end end-to-end encryption and allows users to send end-to-end encrypted groups, text, pictures, and video messages and have encrypted phone conversations between Signal users on iPhone and Android. It is licensed under GPLv3.

Free and Open Source VPN Applications

OpenVPN for Android is an open-source client based on the open-source OpenVPN project. It uses the VPNService API of Android 4.0+ and does not require root access on your smartphone.

Free and Open Source Home Media Streaming/Entertainment Hub Application

Kodi® media center is an award-winning free and open source cross-platform software media player and entertainment hub for digital media for HTPCs (Home theater PCs). It uses a 10-foot user interface designed to be a media player for the living-room, using a remote control as the primary input device. Its graphical user interface (GUI) allows the user to easily browse and view videos, photos, podcasts, and music from a hard disk, optical disc, local network, and the internet using only a few buttons.

Free and Open Source Social Networking Application

We can try to migrate from Facebook to diaspora* – a privacy-aware, distributed, open-source social network.

It is a non-profit, user-owned social network that is based on the free Diaspora software. It consists of a group of independently owned nodes (called pods) that interoperate to form the network. It is not owned by any one person or entity, keeping it from being subject to corporate take-overs or advertising.

Free and Open Source Blogging Application

WordPress for Android puts the power of publishing in your hands, making it easy to create and consume content. Write, edit, and publish posts to your site, check stats, and get inspired with great posts in the Reader. WordPress for Android supports WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress.org sites running WordPress 3.5 or higher and is a free and open-source blogging tool.

Free and Open Source Clipboard Manager Application

Clip Stack can remember all your clipboard history and recover text after reboot. It’s a clipboard manager, a user-friendly notebook and maybe a tiny GTD manager. You can easily copy, share, star, delete and merge every text.

Free and Open Source Text Editor Application

Ted is an open-source, ad-free, lightweight text editor, meant as a notepad application and not meant to edit big files. You can create a new text file, open existing files and of course save them. You can also display line numbers and open recent files. You can also search for text inside the opened file.

Free and Open Source Music Player Applications

Google Play Music can be replaced by Vanilla Music.

The vanilla Music player is a GPLv3 licensed MP3/OGG/FLAC/PCM player for Android with the following features – multiple playlist support, grouping by artist/album or genre, plain filesystem browsing, ReplayGain support, headset/Bluetooth controls, accelerometer/shake control, cover art support and ScrobbleDroid support for Last.fm integration.

Another very good alternative is the Shuttle Music Player.

Free and Open Source Gallery Application

The Simple Gallery is a simple tool that can be used for viewing photos and videos. Items can be sorted by date, size, name both ascending or descending and photos can be zoomed in. Media files are shown in multiple columns depending on the size of the display, you can change the column count by pinch gestures. They can be renamed, shared, deleted, copied, moved. Images can also be cropped, rotated, flipped or set as wallpaper directly from the app.

Free and Open Source Pedometer Application

This lightweight Pedometer app uses the hardware step-sensor for minimal battery consumption. This app is designed to be running all the time without having any impact on your battery life. It uses the hardware step detection sensor of devices like the Nexus 5, which is already running even when not using any pedometer app. Therefore the app does not consume any additional battery juice. Unlike other pedometer apps, this app does not track your movement or your location so it doesn’t need to turn on your GPS sensor.

Free and Open Source Samsung Gear Fit Application

Open Fit is an open-source alternative to the Gear Fit Manager and allows non-Samsung phones to use and control the Samsung Gear Fit. It currently provides most of the features provided by the Gear Fit Manager application and some new features.

Free and Open Source Android Apps Market Application

Google Play Store itself can be replaced with F-Droid, a free and open-source Android app repository.

F-Droid is a robot with a passion for Free and Open Source (FOSS) software on the Android platform. F-Droid has an Android client to perform installations and updates, and news, reviews and other features covering all things Android and software-freedom related.

Free and Open Source Reddit Client Applications

RedReader and Reddinator are two unofficial yet open-source Android clients for Reddit: the front page of the internet.

Free and Open Source File Manager Application

Dir is a simple, beautiful, free and open-source file manager for your Android smartphone.

Free and Open Source Document Viewer/Office Suite Application

Google Docs and Microsoft Office Suite can be ditched and can be replaced by LibreOffice Viewer.
LibreOffice is the world’s most popular Open Source office app. It uses the same engine as LibreOffice for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This, combined with a new front-end based on Firefox for Android, reads documents similarly to LibreOffice Desktop.

Free and Open Source Flash Tool Application

The Rootr app (requires root) helps you to flash and backup your device recovery and kernel without rebooting it very fast and easily without a PC or any outside influence.

Free and Open Source Reference Site/Encyclopaedia Application

The official Wikipedia Android app is designed to help you find, discover, and explore knowledge on Wikipedia.

Free and Open Source Task Management Application

OpenTasks is an open-source task app in material design. This app supports basic task management and provides a user-friendly user interface. To complete a task in the list view, just hold it for a moment and fling it from the left to the right. To edit a task fling it from the right to the left.

Free and Open Source Podcast Manager+Player Application

AntennaPod is a podcast manager and player that gives you instant access to millions of free and paid podcasts, from independent podcasters to large publishing houses such as the BBC, NPR, and CNN. Add, import and export their feeds hassle-free using the iTunes podcast database, OPML files or simple RSS URLs. Save effort, battery power and mobile data usage with powerful automation controls for downloading episodes (specify times, intervals and WiFi networks) and deleting episodes (based your favorites and delay settings).

Free and Open Source Flashlight Application

Minimal Open Source Flashlight is a minimalistic flashlight application. It consists of only one switch to turn the camera LED on and off – not more, no widget, no timer, no colored display, and no unnecessary artwork. Its size is just 39KB!

Free and Open Source Bitcoin and Ether Wallet Application

Blockchain Wallet helps you keep your bitcoin and ether safe, simple, and fun. It helps you to securely store your funds and instantly transact with anyone in the world. Join more than 17 million Blockchain wallet users – access your existing wallet on your Android device or create a new one. It’s free and takes just a few seconds.

Free and Open Source GitHub Client Application

FastHub for GitHub is yet another open-source unofficial GitHub client app but unlike any other app, FastHub is built from the ground up.

Conclusion

That’s all for now. Currently, I’m hunting for more FOSS applications; I will update the list as and when I come across new alternatives.

Hope this list helps someone in search of free and open-source alternatives to the traditional proprietary apps and services available in Google’s Play Store.

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