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!
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
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.)
Murglar for downloading Music in full quality from Deezer.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Atomas is a lovely little game about atoms.
I came to this thread looking for new games to kill time. Apparently I’m too stupid to make it past tutorial :(
It’s not you, my daughter had to show me how it’s played.
X-plore file manager. I’ve been using it since UIQ days.
If you are not streaming music, but play your local library - PowerAmp.
Accubattery
Blackplayer > PowerAmp
Fight me.
Shuttle > all of them fight me
I’m in a fighting mood. I wanna beat up both of you.
Winamp. Everybody line up so I can just run down the row while holding my fist at face hight.
Winamp will bring the llama to whip all your asses!
Pulsar music player
Gonemad Classic is unbeatable imho, and I tried them all.
blackplayer used to be my favorite but it’s not as actively developed as it once was.
It’s already all the way developed!
X-Plore is amazing. Especially the FTP server is so useful, there simply is no easier way of moving files between devices.
And they provide a native SmartTV app you can control with the remote, it’s excellent.
I’ve been using Ghost Commander, but I might give that a whirl
I feel like poweramp has a mind of its own on whether or not it wants to actually shuffle your music. Whenever I put my music on shuffle, it’ll shuffle the songs, but then it’ll just play an entire album in order.
There are separate options for shuffling songs and categories (albums, artists, folders, genre, etc) and you can toggle them independently of each other.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
This calculator app maybe I use it for nostalgia’s sake but I’ve had it on every android for the past 10+ years. It works great, launches instantly, and the ads were never more than a small banner at the top. I did buy the ad free version but it’s $2, no subscription or any bullshit, just a straight and honest scientific calculator.
Maybe not underrated because everyone should already be using it but KDE connect is a life changing app. So much functionality packed into a lightweight package. Just having a shared clipboard between my phone and laptop has been such a time saver every single day. If you don’t already have it, you should.
I’d like to have something like this but for macOS 🥲
Dope Wars Classic. The best modern recreation of the TI Calculator/Palm Pilot game Drugwar.
Still awesome to play to this day.
Spotiflyer <- Give a link to a song/playlist from various platforms and it will download it for you.
Feeder <- Great all around RSS feeder that can help you read your feeds on the go.
Metro player <- FOSS music player with great customizable UI. Has tons of features.
Probably more that I can’t think of at the moment.
My favorite music player Musicolet
Edit: link
Oh, I haven’t heard of that one before. Is it any good? (I already have mutiple music players but testing out another isn’t a bad idea)
It’s pretty good. I like that it also have Android auto support. I mainly listen to music in my car.
Spotiflyer <- Give a link to a song/playlist from various platforms and it will download it for you.
Soundbound now
I am disappointed he didn’t put it on fdroid. I assume Shabinder had his reasons.
Oh it got an update? Nice thanks for mentioning it.
Not sure how hidden it is, but I’ve been using Librera FD for the PDF of the textbook I needed for one of my classes. I only really ever use it for the PDF reading function and the search for certain words function, but it works great for what I need.
I also don’t know how hidden it is, but I also like Anuto TD (Another Ugly Tower Defense for Android) has been something I just got back into. It’s simple and fun enough to play since it doesn’t require too much thought.
