Android is an open source operating system, in the sense that the Android software code can be used by other developers and can also be modified. Open Source apps are appreciable and preferable to the others because they are not born for commercial reasons, because they do not have a company that earns money from their use (at least not directly), because they have no advertising, because they respect privacy and because they are free to be used free of charge without limitations, also for commercial purposes.
While we saw, in another article, the best open source programs for PC, on this occasion we discover the 20 best open source apps for Android that can be downloaded both from the Google Play store, and from another store called F-Droid, which specializes in listing only and exclusively open source applications .
Theoretically, by using all these apps to perform the main tasks of the phone, you can really boast of having a cell phone almost completely made of open source software .
1) DuckDuckGO is the app to search the internet by protecting privacy in a private way, without searches being tracked and recorded to be exploited for advertising reasons as Google does.
Unfortunately DuckDuckGO is not perfectly optimized in the Italian version and searches do not have precise results like Google.
2) Muzei is the best app to have a different background every day on Android to which I have dedicated a specific article in the past. Thanks to the fact that it is open source there are numerous plugins and extensions that can be added to Muzei to make the selection of backgrounds come from different sources such as Instagram, Flickr and the NASA website.
3) KDE Connect is the app that Linux users (even those who use Ubuntu) use to integrate and connect the PC to the Android phone.
4) VLC for Android is among the most popular apps ever, just as VLC Mediaplayer is also the most used open source PC program in the world.
Its ability to reproduce any type of movie and video makes this application one of those to always have on every device.
5) Signal Private Messenger is a free and open source app that allows you to exchange messages between users in a completely private and encrypted way, impossible to intercept.
Signal is also a VOIP app for making untraceable phone calls.
6) K9 Mail is perhaps the most efficient email client for Android, compatible with all types of Email accounts, although perhaps not the simplest or the most beautiful program to look at (as Gmail is instead).
7) Open Manager and Amaze File Manager are two open source apps for Android to browse and manage files in the phone memory.
Both apps are also able to browse the files of a PC connected to the same wifi network and to connect to files saved in online space such as Google Drive and Dropbox.
8) Kiss Launcher is an app to change interface to the Android phone, open source, which focuses not only on simplicity, but also on lightness to keep the system fast to respond.
9) QKSMS is the open source app to manage, read and send SMS from Android mobile, very good and alternative to the Google Messenger app.
10) Clipstack is the app to manage the copy and paste notes on Android, that is, to store the history of the copy and paste and to be able to use them when needed, perhaps to write recurring messages or do searches.
11) Simple Mobile apps are all open source, including the address book manager, App Launcher, Calendar and music player.
12) Maps.Me is instead an app to be used for maps and the navigator, based on free Open Street Map.
Another alternative to open source Google Maps is Osmand .
13) Open Camera is the free app to replace the standard camera with an open source that is in constant development and improvement.
14) Wifi Analyzer app to check the quality of wifi networks detected by the phone.
15) Orbot to surf the internet with TOR and be completely anonymous and untraceable.
16) Telegram, the open source Messenger app that has many more features than Whatsapp.
17) Kodi for Android is an open source app.
It is a media center app for watching movies, videos, images and listening to music centrally. Kodi is completely free and open source, although it does better on Android TV boxes than on smartphones.
18) Phonograph is one of the few open source music apps, with Material Design interface, themes, Last.fm integration, tag editing, playlists, widgets and more. Shuttle is another outstanding open source app. Both should take you where you need to be for your personal music collection.
19) Barcode Scanner, the most used app to scan QR codes, is open source.
20) Keepass Droid, an open source and free app linked to the popular Keepass program to manage internet account passwords
21) Lawnchair Launcher is an open source app that looks a lot like Pixel Launcher, with multiple functions. It supports icon packs, can resize icons, has background blur mode and many other customizations.
The Launcher, very light and minimal, works really well.
