So I just realized I might exhibit one of the common autistic experiences. It certainly feels like overstimulation in a literal sense, previously I've thought of it as being overwhelmed or things getting too intense. I snap my fingers, flex my hand, scrabble around with whatever's in my hand, repeatedly whisper

The problem is this is almost always in response to thoughts I'm having or something I remember, which doesn't seem very external, and everything I read keeps saying it's only with external stimuli from one's environment. So is this something else?

Edit: Talked with my therapist and she said this is extremely OCD pilled. Task failed successfully

We know that Trump will do Genocide^2^ when he gets into office, so if Joe's serious he has no choice but to end the war before the inauguration. Since Hamas is nowhere close to defeated I guess they'll have to negotiate. But don't let perfect be the enemy of good, guys! Surely that's better than the Genocide^2^ we know is coming under Trump, right?

I'm sure he's consulting with legal experts right now to see what he can do to strengthen trans rights, student loan protections, worker's rights, etc. I imagine it's quite a lot given those godlike powers the supreme court gave him recently. I know he said he wouldn't use them, but we all know Trump is the biggest threat to democracy since WWII. There might not even be another election, right? If there's a time to put it all on the line, surely it's now!

But have you considered that the economy is doing great?

Surely the incumbent party won't get bit by this at the polls

Anecdotally my org is set to give nearly 30% more food in 2024 than last year

Apparently it is not normal to constantly worry about failing to notice incremental shifts in one's moral principles such that one arrives at a repugnant perspective without realizing it

A heavily internalized OCD (I know there's "pure O" but there's discourse online about how that's a misleading term) seems to fit a lot of my behaviors. I have pretty frequent intrusive thoughts, heavily developed mental regimens I use to weather and regulate them, and then intrusive thoughts and doubts about having intrusive thoughts and doubts, which feels like it shouldn't be allowed.

Anybody else have stuff like this???

Technically this is more of a /c/finance type beat, but since it's important info for all US Americans I figured I'd post here to reach more people.

Anyway, the credit score Credit Karma and some banks like Capital One give uses the VantageScore 3.0 model. The problem is that no lender, rental management company, or institution of substance actually uses it, and it can be off by 60 points or more from the one that they actually do use--your FICO score, with FICO 8 being the most commonly used score. Thankfully, you can see it for free using the below methods, differing on which Credit Bureau's score you'd like to see. They should all be within a few points of each other, but it never hurts to check.

• Experian: Sign up through experian.com. You can also pay an exorbitant monthly fee to see all three bureau's scores, or just use the 7 day free trial.

• Equifax: Sign up through myfico.com.

• TransUnion: The trickiest one--I think the only "free option" that isn't a complimentary feature from a credit card is the 7 day free trial from Experian.

Thanks to this I found out my credit score is actually ~20 points higher than what Credit Karma said it was. For my mom, it was ~50 points higher! That opens up a lot of doors for her in terms of balance transfers and CC debt consolidation.

Shoutout to Amerikkka for having this dumbshit system

I know not every game has a mobile port, and this the way it works for some other media too buying a physical copy of a book doesn't entitle you to an ebook version and vice versa. On the other hand, a steam game can be played on Windows, MacOS, or Linux without restriction provided it's ported or works with Proton.

In any event it still rubs me the wrong way to know I bought Slay the Spire on Steam, and Steam has a mobile presence, and StS has a mobile port, but that still doesn't end with me playing StS on mobile without buying it again.

Hopefully the recent court stuff with Epic and Apple will mean Valve could start putting up their own mobile launcher on iOS, as I imagine they wouldn't see just Android as worth the effort.

Between the 13th/14th gen degradation issues and this Intel is not having a good time

Good thing one of Brandon's major legislation "accomplishments" isn't majorly riding on Intel or anything

This list is a supplement to other resources like Privacy Guides, and aims to give privacy focused recommendations and/or suggestions for Android apps. I highly recommend looking through Privacy Guides first, as this list assumes some familiarity with the subject (e.g. what is F-Droid, what is FOSS). All offerings are FOSS unless specified otherwise, and all recommendation links should lead to a Github or F-Droid page where you can download the app.

This is not meant to be exhaustive or authoritative. Use your best judgement and individual needs when evaluating these offerings, and feel free to discuss or share such options in the comments.

Big thanks to @Pirate for creating the original version of this list over three years ago, and @kitten and @SirLotsaLocks for their contributions to that version.

How Do I Get All These Apps?

Check the "Obtaining Applications" page on Privacy Guides. It's worth mentioning that there are third party F-Droid clients like Droid-ify and Neo Store, but while they look better than the stock client and have easier repo management they cause undue stress on F-Droid servers, and so should be avoided unless you really can't do without those features.

General Utility Apps

Fossify offers a collection of apps forked from the popular Simple Mobile Tools, which was acquired and by an Israeli company and riddled with ads. This includes essentials like a photo gallery, calculator, music player, and more, all open source and privacy focused. You may see their apps pop up in other categories where applicable.

Here's a few more apps in this category suggested by your fellow Hexbears!

• Gallery: Well featured and pretty gallery app with editor!
• OpenCalc: Lightweight calculator with Material You.

Browser Comparisons

Privacy Guides gives limited options for mobile browsers due to their strict criteria, but some may want more options. DivestOS has a comparison table showing more browsers alongside their strengths and weaknesses.

Youtube

• Newpipe: Frontend application that does not require Google Services or a Youtube account.

• LibreTube: Similar to Newpipe, even using the same API, but noticeably prettier.

You also have the option of patching the Youtube app via Revanced to remove ads, integrate Sponsorblock, enable background playback, and more. However, while Revanced itself is FOSS, it obviously has non-free dependencies like the Youtube app itself. It also requires more initial setup than other alternatives.

Reddit Apps

Most third party reddit apps were shut down following changes to Reddit's API policy on July 5th, 2023. A limited cast of apps persisted, and thankfully FOSS options still exist!

• RedReader: Specifically exempted from the new API policy on accessibility grounds.

• Geddit: Notable for eschewing the API and instead using RSS/JSON feeds to display content. Does not require an account.

• Infinity: Open source, but requires a subscription.

There's also the option of using Revanced to patch many of the apps that stopped working after the API change. However, these apps are generally closed source and have no guarantee of continued support, as they have been abandoned by their devs and now depend on volunteer work for patches.

Social Media

Third party clients for social media apps have seen a significant downturn in recent years due to hostility from social media companies. While some may still work, I can't in good conscience recommend them due to lack of support and potential account bans. As it stands, the best option is to turn the mobile web pages for such services into Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), which have their own section further down below.

Depending on the social media in question, you might have the option to use a frontend as well. In addition to those listed by Privacy Guides, XCancel is a functional Twitter frontend.

Music Player

• Metro: Fork of Retro Music. Very well featured and pretty with Material You/3.

• Vinyl: Fork of Phonograph. Functional but uninspired Material Design 1.0 aesthetic.

• Fossify Music Player: Quite pretty IMO but minimal feature set. Use if it if you just want to play your music without any extras or fiddling.

• Auxio: Recommended by Luna! Simple gapless playback with a clean and customizable UI.

• Harmony Music: Another Luna banger. Youtube Music frontend without ads!

Video Player

• VLC: The one, the only. Supports every video format under the sun. Also does music!

Ebook Reader

• Librera Reader: Visually dated, but well-featured and supports a wide variety of formats. This version has the same features as the Pro version on Google Play.

• KoReader: Intended for e-ink devices, but also works on traditional displays.

• Book's Story: Recent release with Material You design. Limited format support.

Adblocker

Although not explicitly listed as such, many of the DNS Resolvers recommended by Privacyguides.org offer adblocking lists, and are considered superior to app based solutions like Blokada.

Launchers

Use this comparison table to pick one that's right for you. I currently use Lawnchair Launcher for a Pixel-esque experience.

Maps

Fair warning: these apps will likely be less reliable and accurate than Google Maps or others due to their dependence on the community driven OpenStreetMap for data, although by the same token it might have better coverage or detail in some areas if someone has put in the effort. I would caution using these for any really important navigation scenarios.

• OsmAnd~: The most well known mapping alternative. Can be used fully offline for navigation.

• Organic Maps: Reportedly has less of a learning curve than OsmAnd. Public transportation info only has "experimental support" that's tricky to get working. Also capable of fully offline navigation.

File Sharing

• KDE Connect: Easy file transfer between devices and pretty much all operating systems.

Keyboard

It's worth noting that these options may lack features you take for granted with stock and/or commercial keyboards like glide typing, predictive text, and emoji search, or may require additional steps to get them to work.

• AnySoftKeyboard: One of the oldest custom keyboards. Appears to be under active development despite the last GitHub release being from 2022.

• Heliboard: An updated fork of the popular OpenBoard. Probably the most feature rich and developed FOSS keyboard available.

• FUTOBoard: A newcomer to the scene. Importantly not strictly FOSS, although people debate how close it is and how much it matters.

• Florisboard: While the stable release is from 2022, development is ongoing and beta releases are posted every few months at time of writing.

• Fossify Keyboard: From our previously mentioned friends at Fossify! Pretty basic, but clean and private.

Weather

There's actually a lot of FOSS weather apps out there, but none of them are perfect and generally lack at least one key feature. It's up to you to decide what you're willing to forgo, but to help here's a few to consider:

• Overmorrow: Slick design with radar and customizable units. No widgets or notifications, but the dev is only 15 so I'll cut them some slack.

• Breezy Weather: Fork of the popular Geometric Weather with material design (but not Material Design 3/You). Lacks radar.

• Weather: Feature rich and translated into many languages, but visually lacking and requires additional setup with an API key to actually get weather info.

There are more available on F-Droid if none of the above take your fancy!

Document Scanner

• OpenScan: Easy document scanning and conversion to PDF/JPG.

Camera

• OpenCamera: Developed since 2013 and known for extensive feature set. Can optionally remove exif data from photos.

• SecureCamera: Designed for GrapheneOS, but available for everyone. Removes exif data from photos by default.

Podcasts

• AntennaPod: The most popular and polished option. Others are available on F-Droid.

Twitch

• Twire: Decent looking and fairly customizable, with built-in adblock, Twitch account support, and BTTV/FFZ/7TV emotes (although they don't always work in my experience).

• Xtra: Feature list is somewhat barebones and I haven't used it myself, but regularly updated. May be worth a shot if you don't like Twire for whatever reason.

Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps or PWAs are basically apps that run through your browser while still feeling like a native app (AKA the ones you install from F-Droid or the Play Store). This can offer performance benefits, security benefits over a native app thanks to your browser's sandboxing capabilities, as well as the opportunity to use browser extensions on the site, like adblockers. On mobile, Chromium browsers have the best support for PWAs and reap the benefits of site isolation, while Firefox and its offshoots have less support and no site isolation.

• Installing on Chromium

• Installing on Firefox

Changes

7/28/2024

• Condensed the following basic utility apps into the "General Purpose Apps" category:

  • Gallery

  • Calendar

• Condensed the following social media apps/frontends into the "Social Media" category:

  • Twitter

  • Facebook

  • Instagram

• Converted "Browser" category into "Browser Comparisons"

• Converted "For websites that don't have an app" into "Progressive Web Apps"

• Removed following app categories already addressed by Privacy Guides:

  • Google Play

  • Email

  • Google (Search Engine)

  • Password Manager

  • Shelter

  • Messaging

  • Zoom alternative

  • File syncing

  • Notes

  • Scrambled Exif & ImagePipe

  • Office

  • RSS reader

• Removed following app categories that felt extraneous

  • Memes

  • Anki

  • Games

I noticed "The Ultimate FOSS Guide for Android" was very out of date and thought I'd try to make a new version with more current suggestions. But after a while I realized most of the time I was just copying off PrivacyGuides.org which has a pretty robust set of FOSS offerings with an unsurprising focus on privacy.

There are still some things it doesn't cover like Android launchers and keyboards, but we could have an additional sidebar post with more a la carte suggestions.

Thoughts?

• Any and all textual works can be decried as "lacking exigence", no matter their content.

• Make vague references to "the canon". Do not explain what canon you're talking about.

• Employ words like "ethic (singular)", "schema", "polity". It doesn't matter if you use them correctly, just use them.

• Pick a noun or an adjective to use as a verb. Just give it your own definition and let the audience figure it out.

• Use obtuse definitions of philosophical frameworks, like "it's about bodies moving through space". Do not elaborate or make it easier to tell what the fuck that's supposed to mean.

• If someone is making a good argument that you don't like, say it's "reinforcing teleological norms" and refuse to engage with it any more.

• And, of course, the classic: Anything you don't like is "deeply unserious".

~~thank u for coming to my ted talk~~