What is Reddit's opinion of
F-Droid?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
100 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Kde Connect.
It's almost like push bullet, but open source and for linux. The app allows for mirroring of notifications, universal copy/paste, file transfers, and allows you to use your phone as a keyboard/mouse. You can also use it to control media players on your pc.
link me: KDE Connect
F-droid: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=kde+connect&fdid=org.kde.kdeconnect_tp
Further discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/4d2431/if_you_use_linux_and_android_youve_got_to_install/
Edit: Guys. I don't know if this will work for your distros. As long as your distro has packages for kde, you should be able to install KDE connect along with its dependencies. I'd refer to google/ddg if its not working 'out of the box'.
>Also she can just undo again, and get the 2s together, to get a 32768.
No, this is after game over.
Also, what's with the undo calls? The version I installed to her was the only one I ever played aswell, it's the one from f-droid repository (no ads). Does undo really make that big a difference?
I am not the dev, but I think this project is important because I think it is the first open-source torrent client for Android. If you want to contact the developer, here is the project page and F-Droid listing.
Actually the bar is higher:
- the source code for the application must be maintained in a publicly accessible Version Control System which we have support for (git, hg, svn, bzr), and the source code needs to be maintained in an up to date state.
- the software should not download additional executable binary files (e.g. non-free addons, auto-updates, etc)
- the software should use its own unique Android package ID. Where the application is a fork of another (even one not included in the F-Droid repository) it must have a new ID, different from the original.
- although not ideal, "non-functional" assets (e.g. artwork) may be acceptable under less permissive licenses than functional code - an example would be artwork assets that are licensed only for use with that particular game. In any case though, they must be included under some kind of license, and not be copyright violations
- trademarks must not be infringed, and any other legal requirements must be adhered to
Suggestion: you could use NewPipe combined with VLC or MxPlayer (just set "Use external audio player" on NewPipe and "Use as audio player" on MxPlayer).
It's really a lot better than playing the whole video in background on Firefox.
DNS66. Best system-wide adblocker I've used on Android that doesn't require root and is free without ads of its own. I didn't even notice the ad cancer!
Edit: to get it, one must download the F-Droid app repository and you can find it on there. Here's a link: https://f-droid.org/packages/org.jak_linux.dns66/
Edit 2: wow my first gold! Didn't even notice till just now. Thanks a lot, kind stranger.
AdAway my friend. You will need to have root access though.
EDIT: Okay people. I know some users have iPhones, I just don't know enough about them to suggest a solution. Check the comments below, some people have provided answers for you.
F-Droid is a legit alternative to Google's Play Store. And the sheer amount of data that Google collects does pose a danger to individuals, and I think, to society at large. However, Telegram is also garbage and likely insecure. I'm guessing $gran wanting to use it means she isn't a well versed privacy wonk.
F-Droid, it's like the google play store but it only hosts open source apps. On the google play store every calculator app had in-app purchases or ads, no such nonsense on F-Droid. It recently got a material design update.
I can also recommend that you check out the app FaceSlim which is basically a really nice wrapper of the facebook website before it was shit. Have replaced both the facebook app and messenger for me.
P.S. It is open source and free of spyware as well.
it's fairly easy.
Go here on the phone or tablet and download.
When you try to install (by tapping on the downloaded file) it should prompt you to allow install by third party sources.
Once you have F-Droid installed you just open it and search for DNS66 and then install. Run the program once to set it up.
Also check out ShatteredPixel Dungeon. It's one of the better time wasting games out there.
> For search, duckduckdo is really good.
In addition StartPage searches Google, but strips it of all metadata.
> As for phones, you can download apks from the store with yalp or alternatives.
Also, I suggest looking at FDroid for FOSS applications for android.
If you want to go completely google services free, there are plenty of Android roms based on the open source version.
The original authenticator was open source and the open-source version still works fine.
There's also OTP Authenticator.
AdAway, for obvious reasons.
QuickLyric, an awesome Material Design song lyric app.
StyleTap, a PalmOS 5 emulator (not worth the $50 for the full version, though)
You can download it through f-droid (an open source app store for android) or through Newpipe's Github page.
Here's the Github page:
https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/releases
And here's f-droid:
> Worth the messing around with a specific email app to use this?
PGP is still a better choice when it comes to being certain on privacy. With ProtonMail (and Tutanota), you have to take their word for it that they aren't compromised considering they're the ones dealing with their own keys and distribution.
With PGP, you have your private key, and as long as you're secure with it, you're the only one with that said key. No real trust issues or complexity here :p
On that note though, I'd trust ProtonMail and Tutanota more than any of the US-based big providers (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail/Live, etc). Plus, Protonmail and Tutanota are "easier" to work with than an email client and PGP generally speaking (although Enigmail and Thunderbird make it pretty painless once it's set-up).
I currently use Tutanota, but I'm working on moving my emails over to a general server with SMTP though so I can use PGP. In the past, I started using them because ProtonMail was invite-only and wasn't open-source. Tutanota also lets me download their Android APK without Google Play (they have a help page with a link to it; ProtonMail doesn't offer this; neither provider provides APKs for F-Droid either currently but Tutanota did try).
The Android APK is enough for me to choose Tutanota over ProtonMail, but if that wasn't a factor, I'd probably use ProtonMail considering I don't hear good things about Germany and privacy.
AFAIK you don't need to remove donation links, in fact they're encouraged. In any case, this is how you do it: https://f-droid.org/contribute/
It'll be especially useful for users on Cyanogen/Replicant, or people trying to escape Google's grip.
> You don't want to use a controlled and secure store to download your app, but a third-party website that could potentially harm your device?
APKMirror and XDA Labs are both reliable.
She didn't want to download it from an unreliable source, which is why she came for help.
>Not to mention that you won't get updates.
You could always install F-Droid or XDA Labs and keep apps updated through there.
Uninstalled it few weeks back. Unrelated to following.
After some interesting comments about Netguard, on fence about this developer.
Why use ABP if you're rooted? Adaway is a much better solution for rooted devices. Hosts file blocking is about as lightweight and effective as it gets.
If you have android, download the NewPipe apk (Or better still, get F-droid instead and use that to install it for auto updates). It allows you to play in background, download videos, and watch videos with no ads and is fully open source. The only thing you can't do is sign in to your account. It annoys me that so few android users know this and just live with Google's shitty play store rules.
It's an app store/repository of open-source apps for Android. The F stands for F as in freedom aka apps that have code publicly viewable so users can do as they wish with the code.
My advice: Get OruxMaps. It has way more functions than Google Maps and you can download maps of entire countries for offline use:
http://ftp.mapsforge.org/maps/
If you need routing, get OsmAnd~:
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=net.osmand.plus&fdpage=22
It uses the game Open Flood as a front:
Open Flood (A simple but addictive flood fill game) - https://f-droid.org/app/com.gunshippenguin.openflood
I like it, it's so satisfying when everything is one colour. Also, it's Free and Open Source Software obviously. Check it out :)
It's sad to see Google doesn't check for F-Droid app ripoffs like this (although the licence of this particular project doesn't prohibit this kind of thing)
RedReader Beta is one of the only open source Reddit apps, and was as far as I know the first app to implement forced site wide HTTPS. With as much as Reddit has a hard on for privacy and open source you'd think it would get more love. I think it's also a fork of Reddit Is Fun before that went closed source.
Have you tried using a file manager, eg Amaze or File Explorer to delete/manage your files?
As well as that, have you considered rooting? The Samsung Galaxy line has a huge consumer base which correlates to the amount of attention they get on XDA, meaning there's probably a really easy way for you to obtain root access.
That'll let you do whatever you want, delete crappy apps, add an adblocker, have the last say on permission granting, and more.
-Identiconizer!
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=icon&fdid=com.germainz.identiconizer
Found this gem on F-Droid today, its not on the play store
Basically any contacts you have that don't have a contact photo to go with them, it fills the picture in with a less generic picture with a setting to have it add a G-mail style contact picture, it's made my contacts so much more uniform and look a lot better, I highly recommend it
For Android, on F-Droid you can install a small app which will automatically mute sound when Spotify plays an ad. You can also tell it to play something else instead of ad sound like other music or the intergalactic cable from Rick and Morty.
Ad-Free (AdBlocker for Spotify) - https://f-droid.org/app/ch.abertschi.adfree
Your skills in the Android world could be leveraged by joining the F-Droid community. F-Droid is a repository for Android free software and you could help with packaging, and/or help with removing misfeatures (ads, tracking) from otherwise good free software.
Just gonna leave this here: StreetComplete. Now if they would give you pocket monsters for completing tasks, OpenStreetMap would be complete within a month
if you like that, you should get Newpipe from f-droid. It's a youtube app where you can download to your heart's content, play music in the background, and best of all, NO ADS. it can't be blocked because it uses Google's own API.
For those of you not familiar with F-Droid: F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device.
Usage access is only needed for finding out how much you use each app.
No permissions are required to find out what apps you have installed on your phone and any app can do so. A big app like Pokemon GO using this for any reason whatsoever highlights this privacy issue, but in reality it's only one of many privacy issues and the only way around it is to shun all proprietary software entirely (including Google Apps and Pokemon GO) - go and look at your Facebook advertising profile to see what they collect about you (then wish you hadn't).
See the source code for APK Extractor to see exactly how listing apps installed is done.
It spoofs Google Play Services, so you can still use apps that require Google Play Services and Google Cloud Messaging (push messages). Battery life tends to be higher without Google Play Services.
Most of my apps are from F-Droid (a FOSS Store). If I really need a non-FOSS app from Play Store, I use Yalp Store.
People in /r/fossdroid & /r/privacy do not (usually) use Google Play Services.
Why not just use the official download on F-Droid?
https://f-droid.org/app/org.adaway
You can either download and install it directly, or install it through F-Droid (recommended, since that will help keep the app up-to-date).
I want to mention AdAway which replaces your hosts file with a another one that blocks most of the ads.
Monas - the best app for managing your money.
Spendee is an alternative to Monas.
AutomateIt is an alternative to tasker which is better for noobs like me.
iFont is an app which installs fonts. Its very easy to use and you will like it.
Start is a nice app which replaces your lockscreen.
Lockdown Pro is a FREE app to lock your apps. This is one of the best apps that i have seen on play store.
utter! Voice Commands BETA! is an offline alternative to Google Now. It's still in beta so it might have bugs.
ES File Explorer File Manager is a file manager which has a cool download manager integrated in it. I actually use this app only for the download manager. If someone can find me an app that works like it please tell me.
Cerberus anti theft is an app to help you locate your device. It has cool features and be sure to install the app as a system app so it will survive to factory resets.
QuickClick is an app that can start any action with a sequence of volume buttons clicks! It's really awesome!
linkme: Monas, Spendee, AutomateIt, iFont, Start, Lockdown Pro, utter! Voice Commands BETA!, ES File Explorer File Manager, Cerberus anti theft, Quickclick,
Yes, f-droid.org has a web interface.
Fossdroid was born like a side project to learn Symfony and try to improve the UI/UX for the user: app screenshots, comments, material design, popularity data.
>when I log into my google account it's going to track everything I do on the device
This is correct. Don't associate your Google account with your Android device. Only use libre software from the f-droid store.
You should also keep your Bluetooth and WiFi disabled whenever you're not using them, as you can by physically tracked by those.
There's also alternatives that work without root and use a local VPN instead; they use the same hosts files (blocking is the same) but they will require more resources. Some of them even come with etra features, like an integrated firewall or logging.
My favorite is probably Blokada because of it's load of features but DNS66 is a very good lightweight, simpler alternative.
You can find them all on https://f-droid.org and should only install them from there. F-droid is an Open source App store, meaning that every app (including the app store app itself) is open source, which makes it even more secure and trustworthy than the official Google Playstore imo.
F-Droid may not be the right place. Assuming this is the right site for the app, then I don't see any link to source code or the particular FOSS license that would qualify it for inclusion.
The only way to detect these is by using IMSI-Catcher detector that you can download using F-Droid. Both of these are open source. I would recommend that you download them so that you can protect yourself and others. I would recommend you download this so you can better understand where these devices are set up.
F-Droid:
Android IMSI-Catcher Detector:
https://secupwn.github.io/Android-IMSI-Catcher-Detector/
IMSI-Catcher Detector source code:
If you have to use facebook on Android I recomend Tinfoil for facebook.
It's a sandboxed version of the website seperate from your own web browser.
On android use newpipe, it allows you to play in background, download videos, watch videos with no ads and is fully open source. You just can't sign in to youtube, and you have to install it directly from APK here or use F-droid. Google try to box you in so they can sell their shitty music app subscription and don't allow it on the play store but it is totally legal.
NetGuard is a firewall which use an on-device VPN as a workaround
PodListen is a podcast player, that allows you to subscribe through RSS feed or an online database
Transdroid for remote torrent control
Bitte schön! Ich habe den mittels F-Droid installiert: https://f-droid.org/. Das ist ein "alternativer Playstore", der die Apps auch für den aktualisiert (bzw. dich ans Aktualisieren erinnert). Ein anderes Highlight aus dem F-Droid-Store ist Newpipe, ein alternativer Youtube-Player, der wesentlich besser als das Original von Google funktioniert.
If you have an Android phone, especially if you haven't received updates in a while, I would strongly recommend installing an updated ROM such as LineageOS which is available on a large number of devices. You won't be getting the same level of support for your six year old phone anywhere else.
You can also use F-Droid for downloading many apps. It's like Google Play, but contains only free and open-source software. Software with no ads, made by people less likely to see you as a walking piggy bank.
I've given the free and opens source oandbackup up a whirl recently when upgrading phone and had no problems.
Quite like the idea of taking regular backups from TWRP of the whole system.
The one in the play store cannot block ads, and I believe the free one on the play store actually shows ads. I recommend getting it from ~~GitHub, apk available here~~ the F-Droid catalogue. Once installed I would recommend purchasing the pro features as they are very useful. I have nothing to do with the development of this, I just really like it.
EDIT: People are informing me that the apk from GitHub also has ads. /u/Elm-tree-time says the F-Droid catalogue has the version without ads.
Good luck :) When I get a phone, the first thing I do after taking it out of the box, before even trying to use it, is root it and install CyanogenMod, which is basically stock Android but with better privacy controls, a theming engine, and better battery life/performance with no OEM bloat (even Google stuff is optional). There really isn't even a risk of bricking your phone anymore, at least not to the extent it was 5 years ago. The few phones that do need an unlocked bootloader (and there aren't many anymore) usually have official OEM tools.
And don't worry about warranties, once you've got complete control over your phone, its usually easy to return it to something that looks like stock to the average high schooler behind the Verizon store counter.
Edit: Alternatively, you can just one click root it with towelroot or something then install adaway, but what fun is that?
I use DNS66. It's free and open source and works on unrooted phones (works via VPN). Then I just created a list of adhosts to block that I found and uploaded it in the app. It works on Spotify and GPM.
Doesn't seem possible since compiling requires non-free software, which F-Droid doesn't want. See this thread.
(I should also note I'm not the developer of Keepass2Android.)
>your mobile device can be used to delete the video from the cloud if a cop swipes your phone
PluckLock (also available on Google Play) alleviates this problem, and solves it entirely when combined with device encryption. Basically it waits until your accelerometer hits a customizable threshold, and then locks. So if someone quickly snatches your phone, or you drop it, it'll lock immediately.
Beware that the battery drain is gigantic, so only enable it when you're going to be recording police or otherwise have need of it.
if it makes you feel better, it's also available on F-droid along with full source code.
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.hermit.tricorder
The git links look like they been taken down, but the tarball's still available, so you can audit and compile your own copy if you know how.
You forgot:
- Non-libre
- Centralised
Mumble can do most of what you claim (private messages, inline pictures in chat, friends list, phone app…). I'll gladly pay a cheap server (like $15/year) to run Murmur. Or if you have a decent upload (1 Mbps per 10 people, with very good voice quality), just run uMurmur on your own router for free with some QoS and you're good.
I prefer linkme: quicklyric.
Musixmatch starts to get obtrusive with their lyrics popup and bubble every time. Quicklyrics can be set to only show a sticky notification only when music is playing, and no icon so it's only visible when you pull down the status bar, and it goes away as soon as you exit the music app
Edit: apparently it's not on the play store, due to being taken down for something
https://plus.google.com/communities/115504114424315189412
Edit 2: also on F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=be.geecko.QuickLyric
Unlike Plasma mobile, stock Android is actually a polished product with a cohesive, tasteful design that just werks. Besides, what features would you really need on a smartphone with a '''real linux''' experience? I don't see myself running any servers, terminals or WM's on a 5' computer. And as for using shitty apps, there's nothing stopping you using LineageOS with F-Droid only.
This is the link to F-Droid page - https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.horaapps.leafpic
While the application itself appears beautiful and is very promising, it is definitely incomplete and is a work in progress.
After Aperture and its apparent inactivity I had almost lost all hopes having a good open-source image gallery replacement. I just hope this one also doesn't drop off.
Ninja (Free/FLOSS). Although its main characteristic is that allows you to open links in other apps without switching to the browser app, it also works as an standalone browser. But it is not a simple browser, among its features it has:
- Built-in Adblock
- Capable of using the Readability api
- Speed Dial
- Capture whole page screenshot
- Minimalistic interface
- You can play Youtube videos in the background (One of the reasons you won't find this app on the Play Store)
Here's an album of the browser and a quick video of how opening links in the background works.
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.afollestad.cabinet
The source tar.gz for build 108 is still available
LICENSE.txt:
>There is no license, someone decided to pretty much republish Cabinet with no credit so I’m taking away the license altogether.
read as: "someone decided to ignore the license that said leave the copyright notice in, so I'm taking out the license and copyright notice for the project, violating the license for pull requests I've accepted" ಠ_ಠ
From github issue tracker (linked by /u/jumpwah):
>... someone copied the entire code including crash reporting and didn't bother to change the account it registers with, so he kept getting constant emails every time the rip-off (com.grizzly.main) was opened.
so he pushed "secret" account information into Github, too? Pffahahaha
DNS66 is a rootless ad blocker. It works flawlessly without any speed penalties. After installing it and discovering my pixel's night light mode, I don't need to be rooted anymore.
A lot of what makes Android "Android" is due to closed source code: the Google Play Services (which many apps on the Play Store use, and provides features like backing up app settings in Google's cloud and using Google's location services and a ton of other nice things) as just one example that will break most of the apps if you don't have it installed. Along with the Play Store itself and Google's entire suite of apps (Gmail, Photos, etc.) these are all closed source.
If you compile Android from open source you'll have a build with none of these things. Many "off-the-shelf" Android apps (if you were to download their .apk's from the Play Store on a separate device) fail to run because of the missing play services and other proprietary bits. Fortunately, you can easily install the Google apps on an AOSP device manually (usually by flashing a zip in recovery mode).
There is F-Droid for 100% FOSS software that has no dependency on Google, but IMHO their app selection has nothing on the Play Store.
It's all about copyright law which Tachiyomi breaks since technically all manga that's translated by fans unofficially is illegal. Many similar apps have been removed in the past for that reason so he didn't even attempt to put it up on the Google Play store.
If you don't trust the author directly there's also the option of downloading it from F-droid https://f-droid.org/ which is a Google Play alternative for FOSS apps.
Furthermore the app is completely open source, people can take a look at the code and see that there's nothing malevolent about it.
F-droid - alternative app store. Lots of root apps.
and AdAway - for obvious reasons.
Also xposed and its various modules.
Edit: Also DroidWall. Excellent basic front end for the iptables built into Android. It lets you specify which apps can access the Internet. So if I get tired of Facebook I can go in and switch off its internet access for a while.
I suggest strongly that people should take a look at using https://f-droid.org/ rather then Google Apps if they can.
Personally I am looking at getting my phone 100% Google Services free and then depending on manual installers for the small handful of apps that I need on my phone that are not open source.
It can be used to get a network based location on Android phones without Google Services and/or fully offline, if you are wondering what this can be used for
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fitchfamily.android.gsmlocation/
You need to be a system app to install/update/remove applications without user interaction. And to be a system app, you need to be bundled in the rom or to have root and copy yourself under /system.
As an example, there is the F-Droid Privileged Extension which you can install as a system app (https://f-droid.org/wiki/page/F-Droid_Privileged_Extension) and it will allow F-Droid to update/install/remove applications without any prompt.
Just in case anyone's wondering, F-Droid has several emulators available in it's repo for free. No catch, no ads, it's all free and open-source.
If you're rooted, I suggest adaway (via f-droid). It alters your hosts file so there's not a huge overhead of a constantly running app (like adblock). For unrooted, adblock is the best you can do.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.schabi.newpipe/
Plays videos (or just the audio, even allows the screen to turn off and continue playing), saves videos (or, again, just the audio).
Doesn't have the ability to log in to your account, though, but it does have its own form of subscription, so you can keep track of channels.
This week recommending Markor, a simple Markdown and todo.txt editor (great for multiplatform).
I just started using it and liking it and direction of development. Requests no excessive permissions.
Available on both Google Play and F-Droid
Here's the description from their Github-
- Simple and lightweight.
- Write down notes and ideas
- Edit text documents with simple markup formats
- Supports markdown and todo.txt
- Highlighting and modular text actions
- Notebook in Documents or custom folder
- Notebook with subfolder support
- Edit documents from other apps
- Preview rendered markup
- Share into QuickNote - Read-it-Later alternative
- Share into To-Do - Wunderlist alternative
- Dark and Light theme
Okay! Android users! If you don't already have it you should download F-Droid it's an app "store" (or rather an app for accessing repositories for opensource apps) full of free opensource apps.
Search for an app called Android IMSI-Catcher Detector (AIMSICD). AIMSICD is an app to detect IMSI-Catchers. IMSI-Catchers are false mobile towers (base stations) acting between the target mobile phone(s) and the real towers of service providers. As such they are considered a Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack. In the USA the IMSI-Catcher technology is known under the name "StingRay".
This is exactly the reason why projects such as F-Droid are so important. When everything about a marketplace is in the open, from the installer itself to the programs it hosts, tampering with the structure becomes more difficult.
uc browser is confirmed spyware. :(
you should give lightning browser a try! it's like chrome but also comes with adblocking, a configurable fullscreen browsing mode that hides the url bar and/or notification bar, has a dark theme, different rendering modes, is free and on fdroid:
Well if you use apps that do not need Google Play Services such as all apps on F-Droid. Or you can use something to help that I posted on /r/Android that I am not allowed to mention on LineageOS due to the rules here.
If you have root, you can get AdAway in F-Droid. It's an IPTables based adblock so it doesn't need a constantly running service or anything - it just periodically updates your IPTables.
I was recently researching on ways to stream YouTube inside an app I'm working on and came across this awesome open source app which seems to be quite a decent alternative to the YouTube app. It's not on play store. You can download it from f-droid here -
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=newpipe&fdid=org.schabi.newpipe
Not sure if this has the features you're looking for, but it's certainly worth trying out.
Or you can use a nice wrapper for it to makes it more pleasant, without being annoying to use like Face Slim. It doesn't require as many permissions and it's free and open-source.
I know others have said it, but I came here to give links. AdAway is the BEST. Made by a great guy, too.
The download link: https://f-droid.org/repo/org.adaway_51.apk If you'd like to keep it up-to-date, you can download F-Droid, too. F-Droid is a FOSS Android app store.
https://github.com/dschuermann/ad-away is where the source is. You can build it from source very easily.
Finally, dev's site: https://sufficientlysecure.org/index.php/adaway/
Was wondering the same thing, maybe it's a work phone or something that can't be fiddled with.
OP, if you've gotta have that stuff turned on, you might try something like Airpush Detector, so you'll know exactly where the problem is (other than what /u/derkirche already described).
I am the only one who shuts everything off (location/data/BT) when not using it? Not just for privacy, but to save battery.
Actually authy is a drop in security because it's tied to your phone number as an authentication method. This breaks one of the tenants of using 2FA in the first place, and effectively makes it as secure as SMS.
You should instead NOT be using Authy, and NOT use Google Authenticator (because it uploads the keys) - and instead use apps like FreeOTP which do not "backup" this information (thus necessitating the hackers gain access to your phone.) (Bonus points: don't use your phone for really sensitive items, use a wifi-only tablet that normally has airplane mode enabled)
The above is completely a moot point though if the account allows SMS recovery over TOTP. If you have an account that allows you to disable SMS recovery, do that. But the overwhelming problem is that for years companies have beleived that SMS was 'secure enough' and have built their recovery infrastructure around that uncertain "fact." So now you have a bunch of accounts that can be recovered through 1. SMS, 2. Email, and it's a fucking disaster because it's basically impossible to truly secure your account with 2FA unless you're also able to disable those two previous options.
Have a look at QuickLyric (F-droid link) . I wouldn't say it's "better", but it's a much lighter alternative.
There is, if you have an Android phone with this program installed: Android IMSI-Catcher Detector
You'll need to have the F-Droid client installed to get it.
What I can suggest you to do is to not use Google Play Store anymore.
As alternative, you can download F-droid (it's a little app-store for open-source apps) and at the app search for Yalp Store. This app allows anyone to download any (free) app from Google Play Store, even if don't have a Google account.
Good luck.
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=adaway&fdid=org.adaway
http://repo.xposed.info/module/ma.wanam.youtubeadaway
And about half a dozen other such apps. These two together will completely clean up most sites though.
You already know that Telegram is a centralised service that goes through non-free servers. Those two things aren't very nice.
I'm using XMPP with OTR, and my mobile client is Conversations.
>F-Droid is the preferred market application on android nowadays.
???
I use F-Droid only because I'm too paranoid to install GApps, and F-Droid is a barren wasteland compared to the Play Store. I can't imagine anyone who cares about popular applications prefers F-Droid over the Play Store.
Well to be clear not Opera per se but ad filled browsing which include pop ups or overlay ads. Let me explain...
So this was happening to me on Vodafone Postpaid for quite a few weeks. I was getting charged for such silly packs and most 'pack activated' messages came while I was working or having lunch/dinner. i.e. not using the phone.
All these I was able to talk/argue with Customer Care and get the charges reverted (I was still charged for 1 day though). What they kept telling me was that these packs are third party packs and not the carrier provided services as such and these packs are activated by entering captch or some sort of confirmation from your device and they usually come as a pop up.
What I realised is since these are third party packs they must be implementing some shady methods to accept the ads someway and since Opera blocks them pop ups, they must be implementing a method to auto accept somehow as they are blocked.
So my guess is you used your browser or any ad filled app like some third party Reddit app before sleeping and it trigged the activation.
I started using a system wide adblock which potentially blocks ads from almost all apps, DNS66 is my choice for non-rooted and AdAway for rooted. Since then I haven't got that problem so far.
Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe its not but since using system wide adblock i.e. almost 3-4 months I haven't had any third-party pack activation.
Personally I like open-source browsers the best (Dolphin has straight spyware from memory).
F-Droid has a bunch of Chromium auto-updater's, heres one. This is a more stripped back version of chrome without Google's data collecting features.
Lightning is a minimal browser that uses Android's WebView, Works well, but too basic for me.
Firefox is my personal favorite, I think it's a bit heavier then the ones above though, otherwise it has all the features I want.
There is a fork of Signal called Silence that maintains the same encryption methods as Signal but for actual SMS. It works like normal for unencrypted SMS as well, but if a recipient is also using Silence, your SMS are encrypted too.
Termux is a wonderful program that not only brings a full featured shell to your device but also a package manager and the packages to go with. It's available on Google Play but for the purposes of running it on the watch I pulled the apk from the F-Droid page. https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.termux
Sideloaded it as normal. Thanks to /u/StillUsesWindowsXP I got an Internet connection on the device. Surprisingly Termux ran the first time around, sized itself accordingly, and overall just runs great.
I am still tied to adb for text input (If anybody knows of an on Watch keyboard that works everywhere (IME) I'm all ears)
EDIT: Cmatrix https://i.imgur.com/aMQcJV0.jpg
- 2048 (Shreyas Sood's version) : a very well done copy
- Pixel Dungeon :A rogue like, similar to brogue. Technically there is an IAP, but it's just for the donate button so I don't think it count.
- Puzzles : A free pack of puzzles games
DNS66 is great but I prefer Blokada, it uses/can use the same hosts files but it has more features, customization options and a more intuitive UI:
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.blokada.alarm/
Might as well plug the f-droid catalogue itself here, it's like the Play store but only for Free Open Source Software which means there is no secret ad-, spy- or malware.
(If you want to be sure, you can always look at the source code, it has to be freely accessible, modifiable and redistributable)
There's lots of little gems to be found in it that are just as useful as the apps we listed here, check it out for yourself: https://f-droid.org
DAVdroid (Sync contacts, calendars and tasks with CalDAV/CardDAV) - https://f-droid.org/app/at.bitfire.davdroid
Please consider buying it on the play store or donating (and apply that to every free software you use) Enjoy!
DNS66 is another good adblocker free and open source, you don't need root and doesn't impact your battery. It works like a vpn using adaway list and filtering traffic via DNS. The only annoying thing is the constant key icon (vpn notification) in the status bar.