Collection:Replicant-expanded

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This collection is maintained by the Free software replacement project team.

Android is a mostly free operating system developed mainly by Google. Unfortunately, the drivers for most devices and most applications from the "market" are not free (as in free speech, not as in no cost). They frequently work against the interest of the users, spy on them, and sometimes cannot even be removed. We urge all Android users to switch to a free Replicant as soon as possible.'

Here is a list of popular free software applications that run on Android — along with the proprietary applications they replace. If you are still a Android user, you can take a first step towards free software by installing these applications.

When we say these application programs are free software, we're talking about freedom, not price. It means that you are free to use these programs constructively, either alone or in a community, while respecting the freedom of others. The source code is available, so that you can study the software, adapt it to your needs, fix bugs, and release versions with new features. You can also convince or pay others to do these things for you. You are also free to give away and free to sell copies, under the terms of the applicable free software license. These programs are free software because you have freedom in using them. Free software develops under the control of its users.

Using free software on Android (or any nonfree operating system) is the first step towards freedom, but it does not get you all the way there. You're still under Google power as long as you use Android.

However, on this page we're concerned with the first step.

Free programs

Please sort all entries alphabetically in the "Free program" and in the "Replacement for" columns.

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide Google Play F-Droid
Adblock Plus Ad blocker yes yes no GNU GPLv3 L7 / 2.1+ Antifeature warning ⚠ Ghostery
NextDNS
AdClear

Web browsers

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
Bromite GNU Project version of Chromium no no no GPLv3 4.0.3+ Chrome
Chromium
GNU IceCat GNU Project version of Firefox no no no MPL 4.0.3+ Fennec

Office Suites and synchronisation

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
ownCloud Client for synchronization server yes yes GPLv2 4.0+ Microsoft onedrive
Google drive
Apple cloud
Nextcloud Client for synchronization server yes yes GPLv2 4.0+ pCloud
MEGA.nz
MediaFire

Communication

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
Briar Peer-to-peer encrypted messaging and forums no yes yes GPLv3 4.0+ Bridgefy
Conversations XMPP client no yes yes GPLv3 5.0+
Element (formerly Riot) Decentralized, encrypted chat & collaboration powered by Matrix yes yes Apache 2.0 5.0+
GNUnet
I2P Anonymizing network layer yes yes Apache 2.0 2.3+ I2P also maintain their own F-Droid repo.
Jami Softphone and messenger utilizing DHT and strong cryptography yes yes GPLv3
Jitsi Videoconferencing and instant messenger yes yes LGPLv2.1
K9-Mail Advanced email client yes yes Apache 2.0 2.2+ Supports OpenPGP integration with OpenKeychain Microsoft Office Outlook
Spark mail
Gmail
Linphone Video SIP/VoIP client yes yes GPLv2 2.2+ Zoiper
3CX Phone System
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.
Telegram Client for cloud-based messaging platform yes yes GPLv2 2.2+ Also available for iOS. F-Droid build is based on forked repo. Server uses closed source software.
Tox peer-to-peer instant-messaging yes yes GPLv3+ 4.0+ Alpha release
Tutanota Client for end-to-end encrypted email service yes yes GPLv3
Wire Encrypted instant messaging, voice and video calling yes no GPLv3 Also available for iOS, Windows and OS X. Server uses closed source software.
WordPress Official WordPress client yes no GPLv2 2.3+

Emulators

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
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+ ePSXe
ScummVM Emulates multiple gaming engines yes yes GPLv2 1.5+ Kosmi

Games

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup Roguelike yes no GPLv2+ Text-based version also available Moonshades
Freeciv Turn-based strategy game similar to Sid Meier's Civilization yes no GPLv2 2.0+ Civilization
Europa Universalis
Empire Earth
Frozen Bubble Tile-matching puzzle game yes yes GPLv2 1.6+ Port of Frozen Bubble Utilizer Deluxe
Minetest Sandbox similar to Minecraft yes yes Minecraft
OpenArena First-person shooter similar to Quake 3 yes no GPLv2 1.6+ Unofficial port by "pelya" using SDL 1.2 Quake
OpenTTD Business simulation game similar to Transport Tycoon Deluxe yes no GPLv2 1.6+ pelya SDL port

General

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
Dasher Accessible text-input method yes yes GPLv3 Also available for iOS
OpenLP Worship presentation software yes yes GPLv3

Multimedia

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
AntennaPod Podcatcher yes yes MIT 2.3.3+ Google podcasts
Pocket Casts
Podcast Addict
Kodi (formerly XBMC) Media player and center yes yes GPLv2+ Multi Emby
Popcorn Time Media player utilizing BitTorrent protocol no no GPLv3+ Netflix
Rockbox Media player GPLv2+
Tribler Decentralized video sharing yes yes LGPL v2.1+ 3.0+
Tux Paint Simple drawing program for children yes nonfree GPLv2 Version on Google Play is published by a 3rd-party & contains proprietary ad libraries in violation of upstream developers' license Paintastic
Painty
VLC Media player yes yes GPLv2+ 4.2+ MX Player
KMPlayer
GOM player

Navigation

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
OsmAnd Offline mapping using OpenStreetMap data yes yes 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. The unlimited version is also available for free on Google maps
maps.me
Here WeGo

Reading

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
Aptoide F-Droid Google Play
FBReader e-book reader yes yes GPL 1.5+ Amazon Kindle
Moon+ Reader
ReadEra
Kiwix Offline Wikipedia reader yes yes GPLv3 4.0+
MuPDF PDF and XPS viewer yes yes AGPL 2.2+ Adobe Acrobat Reader
Foxit Reader
Xodo
orgro Org Mode file viewer no yes yes GPLv3

Science and education

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
aptoide f-droid google play
BOINC Participate in distributed grid computing initiatives yes no LGPL/GPLv3+ 2.3+ DreamLab
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 MathStudio
HP Prime Graphing Calculator
SageMath Client for mathematical software yes yes GPLv3 2.0+ MATLAB
Stellarium Planetarium software yes GPLv2
AnkiDroid Flashcard spaced repetition for memorization yes yes GPLv3 Memrise
gnuplot Plotting yes yes GPLv3 GeoGebra

Security

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
aptoide f-droid google play
Bitwarden Password manager yes yes GPLv3 4.4+ LastPass
Authy
1password
Haven Monitoring system to protect against evil maid attacks yes yes GPLv3 4.1+ Developed by Edward Snowden under the auspices of The Guardian Project]], and Freedom of the Press Foundation
KeePassDroid Password manager yes yes GPLv3 1.5+ Port of KeePass Enpass
Dashlane
Google smart lock
Prey Anti-theft and monitoring yes yes GPLv3 4.0+

System and utilities

Application name Description Availability License API Note Replacement for
aptoide f-droid google play
F-Droid Graphical package manager for app repositories no yes GPLv3+ 4.0+ F-Droid team also maintain an application repository Google play
Mycroft Voice assistant companion GPLv3 Amazon echo
Google Assistant
Siri

See also

External links



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