The Apps That I Kept On GrapheneOS

In a previous post I talked about my experience trying out GrapheneOS.Then in another post I spoke more specifically about which apps I've decided to part ways with. This post in contrast covers the apps I chose to reinstall: some because I love them and some because I just can't quite get rid of them yet.

The Google Apps

Three. I'm pretty happy to see that this is a list of only three apps.

Maps:
The true faustian bargain.

I love (lowercase) maps and this is a good map. I especially like that when the Map is wrong or missing a detail I can correct that. I once Google Mapped so hard that Google sent me a free pair of socks... Anyways in my mind this is one of Google's best products, and that means it one of the hardest to break away from.

Not to mention that some metropolitan areas are chronically under construction and navigating them in comparable to the Labyrinth of Crete. Google literally puts BLE beacons in tunnels where GPS reception is poor. They put 850 of them up in MA in 2017. Think of the people trying to get to Boston Logan Airport through the Ted Williams Tunnel that have been saved by this. I am one of those people.

But man Maps knows a lot about you. I have countless favorites and lists in Google maps. I also used to have an extensive day-by-day timeline of where I went because of the location history. That is until I got an email in March saying:

We briefly experienced a technical issue that caused the deletion of Timeline data for some people. We're reaching out as your account may have been impacted.

Thank you Google for doing to me what I would not do myself: deleting location history

Replacing Google Maps is still a hard sell though. The two big contenders for alternates are OsmAnd and Organic Maps Comaps. OsmAnd is packed with features [^ There is a paid Osmad+ with even more features but if you install a non-play build you can get them for free], but the usability is rough. Comaps is more focused on usability.

But these apps are not Google Maps. If I'm under time constraints when driving where I need congestion [^ There is an open issue for Osamd but I don't think it will go anywhere] information and incident reporting. If I'm trying to get around in Greece or Japan [^ Actually for Japan, please use Tabelog for resturant reviews instead of Maps.] I'm going to still rely on Google Maps.

So what to do? At least GrapheneOS's sandboxing and choosing to limit the data I send can help a bit. I can be active on StreetComplete to help contribute to OpenStreetmap. Google owns me here though for the forseable future.

Messages:
I have family members with iPhones in iOS 18 Apple finally started supporting RCS. Currently, if you want to use RCS on Android you are stuck with Google Messages. [^ the issues don't make me hopeful for an alternative any time soon.] Also of note, I could only get RCS to function when Messages was installed in the primary user on my phone. Oddly enough there was no backup of message history, but that is probably for the best.

Android Auto:
On GrapheneOS there is a a special installation process through the "Apps" app. Similar to Messages it seems to only work when installed in the primary user. Android Auto slurps up a lot of information and once again sandboxed Google Play helps here a little bit.[^ You can even restrict it to work only over a wired connection] Automotive telemetry in general for every car brand is pretty terrifying[^ Subaru has the DCM which is like a little cellphone attached to the car. I am not a car guy, but other people are passionate about getting around this and I'd like to look into it more.]

The "Essential" Apps

These are apps that feel like a part of my daily life. The title is in quotes because often they are not actually that essential. Here are the apps I've kept from this bucket:

• Bitwarden & Ente Auth: my go to password management and 2fa apps. Bitwarden works as my passkey provider but that requires Play Services to be installed
• Breezy Weather: if you install from Github and not fdroid you get more weather providers. For example you can get pollen count from AccuWeather.
• Droidify & Obtanium: for installing FOSS apps
• Futo Keyboard: Previously I was testing HeliBoard but I am now mostly using Futo. I like that they omit the internet permission compared to Google's keyboard, but that means I need to find a dedicated FOSS GIF search app.
• KDE Connect: for syncing with my computers.
• Nextcloud: only occasionally using right now.
• Obsidian: on mobile I mostly look up things in my vault since the ergonomics for writing are not great. Occasionally I will jot down notes though. Obsidian is closed source but also provides APKs through github that work with Obtanium
• Readwise Reader: Requires a subscription but its really worth it for me. [^ Once again it helps to be grandfathered into a lower price.] It helps that I'm grandfathered into a lower price. The TTS on Mobile is nice for listening to longform content on the go. [^ This is the main way I consume Matt Levine's Money Stuff Newsletter. I no longer have a custom service for it.] Linkwarden is a potential self-hosted alternative but web pages are epubs are all so chaotically varied. The Readwise team has always been really responsive when I reach out for support on parse failures.
• Tailscale: You can only have one app using the VPN interface on Android at a time [^ The restriction actually seems to be per user to be specific.]. I need tailscale to access my self-hosted services which means I cannot also have an adblocking app like Adguard. So instead I use Tailscale with NextDNS. [^ I initially created my Tailscale account with Google as the SSO option. I was able to add a passkey based user to my tailnet and log in with that instead! ]
• **Thunderbird (Previously k-9): ** I use this to access my gmail account. I'm in the longtail of moving my logins out of gmail and frankly I'll probably never completely escape it.
• Tuta Mail: I have been trying out Tuta for a couple months now. They implemented their own encryption so can only use their mobile app. I like how they handle catch all emails and email aliases though! I'm patiently awaiting for Thunderbird Pro beta access so I can jump ship that.

Outside of these apps I consider everything else here "nice to have".

The Launchers:

For the longest time I used Nova launcher but then they were acquired in 2022 by a shady ad company so I switched off. [^ Also, sadly then in 2024 everyone but the main developer was laid off.]

After Nova I tried Lawnchair but it never seemed to merge in foldable support so I moved to Niagra Launcher. Nova and Lawnchair were really good at helping me open the app I wanted quickly. Niagra requires a couple extra steps but I was actually looking for that. Its a feature, not a bug that I had to be more intentional about choosing what I was launching on my phone.

Also while Niagra launcher is closed source, they put the releases on github so you can install outside of the play store. In 2022 they even made it possible to use Niagra without Play Services! Huge kudos to them.

Having said that I have been trying out a FOSS launcher Kvaesitso since switching to GrapheneOS. Last time I tried it, its still needed some more work but it feels fully featured now. Also, Kvaesitso integrates with both Breezy Weather and Tasks.org which I both use.

The Communication Apps

"what is the trigger in my life that gets me to open this app and start using it? So, for example, I don't know, take Airbnb. It's the trigger is like, ah, you want to travel and then and then you, you do that and then you open up the app. Apps that do not have this already existing natural trigger in your life, it's very difficult for a consumer app to then get the user to open the app again. You need a hook. Yeah. There's basically only one app. One super successful app that has been able to do that without this natural trigger, and that is Duolingo... So they, I mean, they gamified the shit super successful, super beautiful. They are the GOATs in this arena" - Latent Space podcast, episode "Building Snipd" [^ In this episode the speaks admired these apps rather than the abject horror I felt hearing that discussed.]

Outside of Google Messages this are the only other messaging apps I have installed. A main rule I have with all of them is to figure out how to limit the notifications they send me so my phone is not pulling my attention.

Discord: The network effect really gets me with this one. Its slowly enshittifying but not enough yet for us to start jumping ship. I keep all server channels muted but allow DM messages through.
Line: I meet with friends roughly once a week to get food after work. For some reason we only allow coordination for this event though Line.
Signal: I've had it on my phone since it was TextSecure! Still hard to convince people to switch over though.
Snapchat: the only social media I am on, thought I only use it for message and not grazing the feed. The rent extractions really shows on this app. I turned notifications off long ago and recently they send me a text saying I had unread snaps.

The Browsers Apps:

The GrapheneOS docs have a pretty detailed paragraph about why they recommend avoiding Gecko-based browsers. Having read that, I still really appreciate all the work the Mozilla foundation does, even if Mozilla Corporation gets a lot of flack now a days. So for daily driving I am using Firefox on my phone, but Vanadium's web view still has my back everywhere else.

The Media Apps:

Audiobooks:

• Audiobookshelf / Libro.fm: Libro.fm is like Audible but it helps support your local bookstore instead of trying to destroy them. Also the books can be downloaded DRM free so you can load them into Audiobookshelf which has more controls and options in the app.
• Libby: Please go get a library card! Enough said.

Podcasts:
Podcasts combine two of my favorite things: RSS feeds and getting to listen to content at 2x speed.

• The Economist: On recommendation from a co-worker I gave a one year subscription a try. There is an Audio Edition where all of the articles are read out loud. When I signed up I was bummed because they had recently killed their downloadable version of the Audio Edition. As I was writing this post I realized that they released a new RSS feed for the Audio Edition! The episodes are fully chaptered too! Just deleted this app off my phone.
• Pocket Casts: While the service is paid [^ and they got a lot of flack when they initially did a poor job adding a subscription cost after promising lifetime support] the client apps are all open source. The APKs are installable with Obtanium. For me the big feature is seamless cross device syncing. I can listen on my commute then sit down at my computer and pick up where I left off. Self-hosted Pinepods for desktop listening, antennepod for phone listen and gpodder/nextcloud for syncing is an option for an alternative but higher friction. If I wasn't grandfathered into free premium tier I would be more tempted to jump ship.

Music:

• Symphonium: a shining example of an app I will pay for: One time purchase with a developer that is constantly adding updates. I self-host Navidrome and Symphonium integrates with it smoothly.

Videos:

• Tubular: This is a fork of NewPipe that include SponsorBlock. I don't graze youtube videos from my phone, but its nice to open a link in the app when I want to watch a specific video.
• Jellyfin / Findroid: I mostly stream my Jellyfin server to my TV but its nice to have it on my phone when I'm on a trip. Sadly while the official Android app does not support caching videos for offline Findroid does.

Images:

• Immich: I said that Google Maps was my favorite Google product. Google Photos is my second favorite. I luckily I am able to escape it because the open source software community has essentially perfectly recreated it. I've fully swapped over to using it instead of Google Photos. Only downside is the network effect where sending / sharing with people also on Google Photos gets a little harder.

The Nature Apps

If I had a nickle for every nature ID app I had on my phone I'd have two. Which is not a lot, but still. Neither are open source, but they are both citizen science projects which I love.

• Merlin Bird ID: The ability to pretty reliably identify birds by sound is really fun. [^ Though it varies considerable by the country you are in.] Their data policy seems reasonable and you can contribute your bird IDs back. Also see my post about self-hosting a bird monitoring station
• Seek by iNaturalist: Similar to Merlin but image based instead of accoustic. I love it for IDing plants, bugs and animals.

The Fitness Apps:

I love collecting data to help me with my training. It was really useful to look back on when writing my last post race report. For now I'm in walled gardens, but I've been trying out Endurian [^ and I'm looking to make contributions] so hopefully I can escape in the future.

• Garmin (Connect): For syncing my runs from my watch.
• Health Sync: handles pushing data from Garmin Connect to Health Connect and Strava. Last month Google announced Garmin would finally add Health Connect support. So if its a total replacement I can drop this soon. [^ Though once nice feature of Health Sync is Strava usually wont keep a workout's original name and will generate their own but with Health Sync you can force Strava to keep the original name.]
• KeyLifts: I bounce around between different apps for tracking my lifting. Usually do some Wendler 5/3/1 variation and KeyLifts supports that well.
• TrainingPeaks: I have all my training plans on TrainingPeaks and the mobile app is a nice way to check and re-arrange things when needed.
• Yoga (Downdog): really nice company and the app is low friction so I will actually do my yoga regularly instead of just thinking about doing it.

The Self Management Apps:

In the past I used TickTick for managing todos, time-blocking and habit tracking. Its the only app that had worked well for me because it balanced providing enough without letting me spin my wheels in pseudo productively land. I think it was worth paying a subscription for.

But the siren call of self-hosting is strong so I've duct-taped a simulacrum of TickTick together using FOSS pieces:

• DAVx5, ICSx5: - For synchronizing tasks and calendar events. Both are paid apps on Google Play as one time purchases. Free if you install through Droidify / Obtanium. Ironically because they offered a free option I decided to make a one time donation. If you sponsor through their GitHub they get the full amount of the donation compared to buying it on Google Play.
• Tasks.org: for task management and quickly capturing tasks to be done. Also free if installed through Droidify / Obtanium.
• Fossify Calendar: for managing all my events.
• NextCloud Deck: for workload management on my projects I've committed to. [^ I'm also trying out Vikunja but it doesn't sync well with other apps and I like to have unified views.]

The piece I most the miss with my current approach is easily mapping tasks to actual time blocks on my calendar. I like to sit down at the start of the day and block things off. That is really the only way I've found to prevent myself from overcommitting. I'd like to write about this more in the future, so stay tuned!

The Random Other Apps:
These are from the "Nice to Have" bucket but do not fit into any of the themes I have above:

• Image Sync: For GPS location syncing and photo transfers. See my post on the GRIII for more.
• Pathbuilder2e: another shining example of a paid app. Reasonable 1 time payment and the developer is always on top of adding newly released PF2e content.
• Pix Material You Light/Dark: I've had a couple different icon packs over the years. This is the current one I am using and it has a wide coverage of apps it includes.
• Pokemon Sleep - The only game on my phone and I could write a whole post on this one. Stay tuned.

Once again I've gone and wrote way to many words about how I am using my phone while also talking about trying to be more thoughtful about how I use my phone. C'est la vie.