Regular apps, occasional apps to improve a particular aspect of the phone or even just have a fun pastime: our collection of Open Source apps, Complements all software you can download from Google Play. They are also safe applications, we verified them one by one.

Over the years, I’ve accumulated a good collection of apps that I always install on the Androids I buy and review: Comparing battery consumption between mobile phones works very well for me. And not only do I download a list of my favorite apps from Google Play, I also have a small collection of APKs that I find essential. All open source, useful, free and without any advertising problems. They seem indispensable to me.

Safe apps you can’t find on Google Play

Since it’s very common to find APK files riddled with malware, you should be very careful with what you install from outside the Android store. Here’s my advice to avoid problems: only download apps you trustYou should run the APK through Virus Total and see that the repository on GitHub is active and updated frequently. Following these steps, installation is safe.

My recommendations for open source applications include any software that has helped me more than once. I currently have the following:

• Aurora Store. Required to download applications from Google Play that are not available in my location. Or for those who have a Huawei mobile phone: I use this on my Huawei Mate 40 Pro to download most applications. Aurora Store is on your GitLab.
• F-Froid. This legendary Open Source app store is also open source. It is therefore a great starting point for discovering new applications: they are available here.
• OpenCalc. An Open Source scientific calculator that is a very good alternative to the standard application. It’s on their GitHub and Google Play.
• New Pipe. An excellent YouTube client that, in addition to streaming content, allows you to download videos and even listen to them with the screen off. Available on GitHub.
• Amaze File Manager. A complete file explorer that is very easy to use, yet powerful and compatible with ROOT access. It can be downloaded from its repository and Google Play.
• grass icons. This highly compositional icon pack designed for Lanchar launcher is updated frequently and has a really elegant design. You need a launcher that supports icon customization: you can download Lawnicons here.
• Organic Maps. Great Open Source alternative to Google Maps with offline maps, turn-by-turn navigation and even Android Auto compatibility. Organics Maps is available in the public repository and Google Play.
• kodi. Not needing much of an introduction, this very comprehensive multimedia center manages to liven up a phone or, as happened to me, an Android TV. Kodi is available on GitHub and can also be downloaded from Google Play.
• VLC. The video player is almost perfect, there is no file that can resist it. And I usually carry it around on my Androids for exactly that reason: it opens everything I’ve saved. The project is available on GitHub and the application can also be downloaded from Google Play.
• Data Monitor. Android already offers pretty good management of consumed data, but Data Monitor improves on this with simple and diverse information that’s nice to see. It even lets you test the Internet: it’s on GitHub and Google Play.

All of the above apps are free, can be downloaded for free from the relevant links, do not contain in-app purchases and are ad-free. Perfect for managing any Android, customizing it and even finding new apps: these seem very important to me.

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Xataka on Android | This list is a mine of privacy: 100+ free open source apps and services that don’t collect personal data