List of free and open-source Android applications

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Android phones, like this Nexus S, allow installation of apps from the Play Store, F-Droid store or directly via APK files.

This is an incomplete list of notable applications (apps) that run on the Android platform which meet guidelines for free software and open-source software.

[edit]

See also: Ad blocking
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
AdAway Ad blocker No Yes[1] GNU GPLv3 L16 / 4.1+
Adblock Plus Ad blocker No No
 GNU GPLv3 L7 / 2.1+ No longer maintained nor supported by Eyeo GmbH
DNS66 Ad blocker No Yes[2] GNU GPLv3 L21 / 5.0+
Blokada Ad blocker No Yes[3] GNU GPLv3 L21 / 5.0+
  1. ^ The API column is used to describe which versions of Android each individual application is compatible with. If API column shows "5.1" then the application is compatible with Android version 5.1 or higher; "L7" or "L14" mean specific Android API versions.

Browsers[edit]

Main category: Free web browsers
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Brave A Chromium-based web browser with an emphasis on speed, reforming ad blocking, and preventing tracking.[1] Yes No[2] BSD 4.1+ Has in-built ad blocker
Chromium Web browser using Blink engine. No No 4.4+
Fennec F-Droid Web browser customizable with add-ons, uses Gecko engine. No Yes [4] MPL 4.1+ Same with Firefox for Android, but some proprietary code removed.
Firefox for Android Web browser customizable with add-ons, uses Gecko engine. Yes
 No[3] MPL 4.1+ Removed from F-Droid
Firefox Focus/Klar Privacy centered browser, uses Gecko engine (GeckoView). Yes Yes [5] MPL 5.0+
GNU IceCat GNU Project version of Firefox browser. No Yes [6] MPL 2.0 4.0.3+ IceCat contains features not found in mainline Firefox release and eschews all usage of proprietary components.
Tor Browser Mozilla-based browser enhanced for use on Tor anonymity network Yes Yes[4] MPL 4.0.3+ Available in F-Droid by activating the extra Guardian Project repository[5]

Communication[edit]

Main category: Free communication software
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
ConnectBot SSH, telnet, and terminal emulator Yes Yes [7] Apache 2.0 1.5+
CSipSimple SIP & VoIP client Yes
 Yes
 GPLv3 1.6+
Jitsi Videoconferencing and instant messenger Yes Yes LGPLv2.1 ?
K-9 Mail Advanced email client Yes
 Yes [8]
Apache 2.0 2.2+ Supports OpenPGP integration with OpenKeychain
Linphone Video SIP/VoIP client Yes
 Yes [9] GPLv2 2.2+
Riot.im Federated instant messaging and group chat client using the Matrix protocol. Yes Yes [10] Apache 2.0 4.1+
Sipdroid SIP/VoIP client Yes
 Yes [11] GPLv3 2.0+ works on 1.5
WordPress Official WordPress client Yes No GPLv2 2.3+

Privacy/security focused[edit]

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
APG OpenPGP and key management Yes
 Yes
 Apache 2.0 1.5+ OpenKeychain available as more up-to-date alternative
Briar Peer-to-peer encrypted messaging and forums Yes Yes[6] GPLv3 4.0+
Conversations Federated encrypted instant messaging and group chat Yes Yes [12] GPLv3 4.0+ Interoperable with any Jabber/XMPP clients. End-to-end encryption using OMEMO, OpenPGP (and OTR for versions under 2.0 and the legacy version).
I2P Anonymizing network layer Yes Yes [13] Apache 2.0 2.3+ I2P also maintain their own F-Droid repo.[7]
Jami Softphone and messenger utilizing DHT and strong cryptography Yes[8] Yes[9] GPLv3 ?
Lantern Peer-to-peer internet censorship circumvention Yes No Apache 2.0
OpenKeychain OpenPGP and key management Yes
 Yes [14] GPLv3 Integrates with K-9 Mail.
Orbot Client and proxy for Tor anonymity network Yes Yes
 BSD/GPL 1.6+
Psiphon Client for internet censorship circumvention system Yes No GPLv3 ?
Signal Encrypted instant messaging, voice and video calling Yes No GPLv3 2.3+ Also available for iOS. The Android client is a merger of the former TextSecure and RedPhone apps.[10]
Surespot Encrypted instant messaging Yes Yes [15] GPLv3+ Also available for iOS. F-Droid build is based on forked repo.
Telegram Client for cloud-based messaging platform Yes Yes [16] GPLv2 2.2+ Also available for iOS. F-Droid build is based on forked repo.[11] Server uses closed source software.
Tox peer-to-peer instant-messaging Yes Yes [17] GPLv3+ 4.0+ Alpha release
Tutanota Client for end-to-end encrypted email service Yes Yes [18] GPLv3[12] ?
Wire Encrypted instant messaging, voice and video calling Yes No GPLv3 Also available for iOS, Windows and OS X. Server uses closed source software.

Emulators[edit]

Main category: Free emulation software
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Dolphin Nintendo GameCube and Wii Yes
 Yes
 GPLv2+ 5.0+ Requires device with support for arm64-v8a ABI and OpenGL ES 3 or above
Mupen64Plus Nintendo 64 emulator Yes Yes GPLv3 2.0+ Unofficial port as Mupen64 Plus AE.
openMSX MSX Yes Yes GPLv2+
PPSSPP PlayStation Portable Yes
 Yes GPLv2+ 2.3+
RetroArch Emulates multiple platforms Yes Removed GPLv3[13] 2.3+
ScummVM Emulates multiple gaming engines Yes
 Yes
 GPLv2 1.5+
VICE Commodore hardware Yes
 Yes GPLv2

Games[edit]

See also: List of open-source video games
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
2048 Mathematics sliding block puzzle Yes [19] Yes[20] MIT 2.2+ Port of 2048
Angband Text-based roguelike Yes Yes GPLv2 ?
Battle for Wesnoth Turn-based strategy game in a fantasy setting Partial Yes [21] GPLv2 2.3+ Ported to Android with SDL
Brogue Roguelike Yes Yes GPLv3 ?
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup Roguelike Yes
 No[22] GPLv2+ ? Text-based version also available
Fish Fillets NG Underwater puzzle game. Yes No[23] GPLv2 1.6+ Port of Fish Fillets NG
Freeciv A turn-based strategy game similar to Sid Meier's Civilization Yes No[24] GPLv2 2.0+
Frozen Bubble Knock the bubbles down by making clusters of three or more bubbles in the same color. Yes
 Yes
[25]		 GPLv2 1.6+ Port of Frozen Bubble
GLtron Lightcycle racing game. Yes
 Yes
 GPLv2 2.2+ Port of GLtron
H-Craft Championship SciFi 3D racing game. Yes No
[26]		 zlib 3.2+ Media is proprietary, but free for personal use.
Jet Boy Android JET demonstration code No No Apache-2.0 ?
OpenArena First person shooter similar to Quake 3 (see: id Tech 3) Yes No[27] GPLv2 1.6+ Unofficial port by "pelya" using SDL 1.2[14]
OpenTTD Business simulation game similar to Transport Tycoon Deluxe Yes No[28] GPLv2 1.6+ pelya SDL port[14]
OpenTyrian Vertical shoot 'em up Yes No[29] GPLv2 1.6+ pelya SDL port[14]
robotfindskitten A "Zen Simulation" Yes
 Yes
 GPL 1.6+
Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection Collection of puzzle games Yes
 Yes
 MIT 2.1+
Ur-Quan Masters Source-port for 3DO version of Star Control II ? No[30] GPLv2+,
CC by 2.0,
CC by-nc-sa 2.5[15]		 ? Game engine is free, but Star Control art assets are released under a Creative Commons non-commercial license.[16][15] pelya SDL port[14]
Warmux A turn-based artillery game Yes No[31] GPLv2 2.0+


General[edit]

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Dasher Accessible text-input method Yes Yes GPLv3 ? Also available for iOS
Google IO App for Google IO conference Yes Yes Apache 2.0 4.0
OpenLP Worship presentation software Yes Yes [32] GPLv3 ?
ownCloud Client for synchronization server Yes Yes [33] GPLv2 4.0+
Nextcloud Client for synchronization server Yes Yes [34] GPLv2 4.0+
The White House The official White House app Yes Yes MIT 2.2+

Multimedia[edit]

Main category: Free multimedia software
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
AntennaPod Podcatcher Yes Yes [35] MIT 2.3.3+
Kodi (formerly XBMC) Media player and center Yes Yes [36] GPLv2+ Multi
NewPipe YouTube and SoundCloud Client No Yes [37] GPLv3+ ?
Popcorn Time Media player utilizing BitTorrent protocol No No GPLv3+
(AGPL exception)[17]		 ? In Nov. of 2015 PopcornTime.io ceased operations after court order from the MPAA issued in Canada.[18]
Ringdroid Ringtone maker Yes
 Yes
 Apache 2.0 4.1+
Rockbox Media player ? ? GPLv2+ ?
Tribler Decentralized video sharing Yes Yes LGPL v2.1+ 3.0+
Tux Paint Simple drawing program for children Non-free Yes GPLv2 ? Version on Google Play is published by a 3rd-party & contains proprietary ad libraries in violation of upstream developers' license
VLC Media player Yes
 Yes [38] GPLv2+ 4.2+
Wikimedia Commons Client for free media repository Yes Yes [39] Apache 2.0 4.4+ Old CommonsLab app no longer maintained. Current app is community-developed.[19]

Navigation[edit]

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Avare GPS aviation application Yes
 Yes Apache 2.0 2.2+
MAPS.ME Offline mapping using OpenStreetMap data Yes Yes [40] Apache 2.0 ? F-Droid version is an unofficial fork, with extra features and removed proprietary binaries.
Mozilla Stumbler Data gathering for Mozilla Location Service Yes Yes MPL2 2.3.3+
OsmAnd Offline mapping using OpenStreetMap data Yes Yes [41] GPLv3 2.3+ Only parts of the software are available at no cost, this cause the software to get a few arbitrary limitation as limited portion maps of openstreetmap may be loaded. There is an unlimited paid version.

Personalization[edit]

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Lawnchair Launcher with Pixel features on every device. Yes Yes [42] GPL-3.0 5.0+ Archived.
Lawnchair 2 Continuation of the Lawnchair Launcher - Launcher with Pixel features on every device. Yes No GPL-3.0 5.0+ Lawnchair 2 can be found in the Play Store, but the alpha version can only be found in APKMirror's website.

Reading[edit]

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
DuckDuckGo Widget for privacy focused search engine Yes Yes Apache 2.0 2.2+
FBReader e-book reader Yes
 Yes
 GPL 1.5+
iFixit Official iFixit reader Yes Yes GPLv3 2.2+
Kiwix Offline Wikipedia reader Yes Yes GPLv3 4.0+
MuPDF PDF and XPS viewer Yes Yes AGPL 2.2+
Wikipedia Access to Wikipedia Yes Yes [43] GPLv2 2.2+
Wiktionary Client for crowd-sourced dictionary Yes Yes GPLv2 2.2+
XOWA Offline Wikipedia reader Yes Yes AGPLv3 4.4+

Science and Education[edit]

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
BOINC Participate in distributed grid computing initiatives Yes No LGPL/GPLv3+[20] 2.3+
EnigmAndroid Simulation of the Enigma cipher machine No Yes GPLv3+ 3.0+
Galaxy Zoo Classify galaxies in crowdsourced astronomy project Yes Yes GPLv3 3.0+
GCompris Educational activity suite for children aged 2–10 Yes Yes GPLv3 ? Member project of KDE
GNU Octave Scientific programming language syntax with built-in plotting and visualization tools ? No GPLv3 ? [21][22]
micro:bit Interact with a micro:bit device via Bluetooth Yes[23] No[24] Apache 2.0[25] ? Developed by Samsung.[26] Depends on proprietary Google frameworks.[24]
SageMath Client for mathematical software Yes Yes GPLv3 2.0+
Sugar environment One Laptop per Child learning platform Yes Yes Apache 2.0 2.3.3+ Ported as Sugarizer.

Security[edit]

Main category: Free security software
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Bitwarden Password manager Yes
 Yes
 GPLv3 4.4+
Haven Monitoring system to protect against evil maid attacks Yes Yes[27] GPLv3 4.1+ Developed by Edward Snowden under the auspices of The Guardian Project, and Freedom of the Press Foundation[28]
KeePassDroid Password manager Yes Yes [44] GPLv3 1.5+ Port of KeePass
PasswdSafe Password manager Yes
 Yes
 Artistic License 2.0 1.6+
Prey Anti-theft and monitoring Yes Yes GPLv3 4.0+

Utilities[edit]

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
APK Google Play F-Droid
Barcode Scanner Barcode and QR Code reader Yes Yes [45] Apache 2.0 4.0.3+
Impress Remote Presentation remote control for LibreOffice ? Yes [46] Yes MPL2[29] 2.3+
Noice Background noise generator ? Yes [47] Yes [48] MIT[30] 5.0+

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The API column is used to describe which versions of Android each individual application is compatible with. If API column shows "5.1" then the application is compatible with Android version 5.1 or higher; "L7" or "L14" mean specific Android API versions.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Learn About Brave and Our Team - Brave Browser". brave.com.
  2. ^ "Add Brave to F-Droid". GitHub.
  3. ^ "Firefox". f-droid.org. F-Droid. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Guardian Project Fdroid repo". guardianproject.info. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Is Tor Browser available on F-droid?". Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  6. ^ "Briar on F-droid".
  7. ^ "I2P Official App Repository". f-droid.i2p.io.
  8. ^ "Ring - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com.
  9. ^ "Ring - F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository". f-droid.org.
  10. ^ Greenberg, Andy (2 November 2015). "Signal, the Snowden-Approved Crypto App, Comes to Android". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  11. ^ "Telegram-FOSS-Team/Telegram-FOSS". GitHub.
  12. ^ mpfau (12 August 2014). "tutanota/LICENSE.txt". github.com/tutao/tutanota. Tutao GmbH. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  13. ^ RetroArch / COPYING. github.com. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  14. ^ a b c d "pelya/commandergenius". GitHub.
  15. ^ a b "COPYING". sourceforge.net/p/sc2/. The Ur-Quan Masters Git Repository. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  16. ^ The Ur-Quan Masters licensing
  17. ^ Popcorn Time Foundation. android / LICENSE.md. git.popcorntime.io. Retrieved 19 August 2015. Archived September 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Gardner, Eriq (3 November 2015). "MPAA Touts Big Legal Success Against Popcorn Time". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  19. ^ "Commons mobile app". commons.wikimedia.org. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  20. ^ Anderson, David Pope (8 August 2008). "boinc / COPYING". github.com. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
    Rom Walton (7 November 2015). "boinc / README.md". github.com/BOINC/boinc. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  21. ^ Corbin Champion. "corbinlc/octave4android". github.com. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  22. ^ Thomas Treichl (21 October 2013). "Octave on Android". Octave Maintainers mailinglist. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  23. ^ "micro:bit application page on Google Play".
  24. ^ a b "Request for adding the official BBC micro:bit application". 2018-07-26. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  25. ^ "License text in source code repository". Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  26. ^ "Samsung Launches the Official BBC micro:bit App". 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  27. ^ "Guardian Project Official App Repository". guardianproject.info.
  28. ^ https://freedom.press/news/introducing-haven-open-source-security-system-your-pocket/
  29. ^ F-Droid - Impress Remote. f-droid.org. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  30. ^ Noice license on GitHub repository. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
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