Kelson Reviews Mobile Apps
- Amazon Music ★★★☆☆ I want to use it to listen to music. Amazon wants to use it to sell me more subscriptions.
- Assistant for No Man’s Sky ★★★★★ Very useful for looking up crafting recipes and other reference while playing the game on my PC. Updated quickly when the game adds new features.
- Buran ★★★★☆ Simple, fast, intuitive Gemini Protocol client for Android with a clean interface. Supports bookmarks and client certs, but not subscriptions.
- Clusterduck ★★★★☆ Fun and weird, good for killing time while you’re waiting in line. Eventually it gets monotonous, but it takes a while to get there.
- ConnectBot ★★★★★ A no-nonsense SSH client for Android.
- CSCPay Mobile ★★☆☆☆ Now my laundry doesn’t just depend on the washer and dryer, but on a controller box, its internet connection, my internet connection, my phone charge, and an online service.
- DAVx⁵ ★★★★★ Background app that syncs your non-Google cloud accounts with your Android system calendars and contacts.
- Deedum ★★★☆☆ A full featured, if awkward, Gemini client for Android and iOS. Handles bookmarks, subscriptions and client identities.
- Fossify Apps: Replacing Simple Mobile Tools Simple Mobile Tools was purchased and now does everything it used to refuse to. Fossify is a privacy-respecting fork.
- Fossify Calendar ★★★★☆ Basic calendar app that works with your phone’s local calendars. You can do all the usual things you want to use a calendar for on your phone. Doesn’t clutter up your schedule with ads or vacuum up your personal data.
- Fossify Camera ★★★☆☆ Basic camera app with support for flash, timer and video, optional EXIF. Lacks advanced processing like night sight. Images are slightly noisier than Google’s camera.
- Fossify Contacts ★★★★☆ Basic, privacy-respecting contacts app for Android that works with all contacts accounts on your phone.
- Fossify Gallery ★★★★☆ Basic on-device gallery that lets you manage your photos without sending them to a cloud service just to deal with what’s on your phone.
- Fossify Keyboard ★★★☆☆ I wanted to like this keyboard, but I can’t seem to type reliably with it just by tapping on my phone, and there’s no swipe gesture or autosuggest support. It works better at tablet size.
- Fossify Launcher ★★★☆☆ Works fine for launching apps. Widget support needs more work. Does not auto-rotate.
- Gmail (Android App) ★★★☆☆ Works well with multiple accounts and display modes, but tracks you more than it should.
- iNaturalist (App) ★★★★★ Streamlines the basic use case of posting an observation from your phone and narrowing down the plant or animal you’re looking at.
- Instagram ★★☆☆☆ Like checking out your friends’ vacation photos, but every other photo is an ad, and half of your friends’ pics are full of product placement.
- IronFox ★★★★☆ A privacy-hardened Firefox variation for Android, comparable to LibreWolf on desktops. Removes Mozilla tracking and services like Pocket. Locks down features that can leak data, but those changes can break some sites.
- K-9 Email ★★★★☆ Classic email app for Android: No frills, no ads, no tracking. Supports multiple accounts, phone-to-tablet layouts, and dark mode.
- KeePass2Android ★★★★★ Nice, clean interface to a KeePass2 database with auto-fill support for both websites and apps and seamless syncing over your own server or the cloud of your choice.
- Mastodon (Mobile App) ★★★☆☆ Good for someone new to Mastodon, but lacks advanced features found in other apps like Tusky.
- Microsoft Outlook (Android) ★★★★☆ It works. More stable than the desktop version. Handles mail, calendar and contacts, offers the focused/other inbox view. Tries to keep you in Microsoft’s apps. OK for work, wouldn’t use it for personal mail.
- OpenTasks ★★★★★ Simple to-do list that works great with a Nextcloud server or local storage on your phone.
- PixelDroid ★★★★★ Optimized for photo sharing and viewing, works smoothly and integrates well with the system. FOSS, won’t vacuum up your personal data.
- QuickEdit ★★★★★ Full-featured text editor for Android. Good in a pinch on a phone, better on a tablet.
- StreetComplete ★★★★★ StreetComplete is an easy way to contribute to OpenStreetMap on the go, as a beginner, or both from your Android phone.
- Target (app) ★★★★★ Well-designed, runs smoothly, great for ordering items to pick up in-store or for shipping.
- Tinyview Comics ★★★★☆ Good comics formatted for small screens.
- Tusky for Mastodon ★★★★★ Impressed at how smoothly the app works, especially with multiple accounts.
- Vespucci (App) ★★★★★ Vespucci is a powerful editor for OpenStreetMap on Android that can handle just about anything, though the learning curve is steep.
- Watch Duty ★★★★★ More useful than official alerts or the LA Times fire maps for knowing which parts of a wildfire you need to worry about and how soon.