A list of great closed source Android apps from a veteran user
A list of great closed source Android apps from a veteran user
Hi, its TheAnonymouseJoker! I am a veteran Android user besides being a privacy advocate and data archivist.
Generally, its said that if something is not free, you are the product. But there are less than 50 exceptions to this rule of thumb. Some great, irreplaceable closed source apps are:
- Snapseed
- Glasswire
- most third party reddit apps
- 1DM+ downloader
- Accubattery
- AppOps by Rikka Apps
- modded QuickPic on XDA
- Bouncer
- ACR Call Recorder
- CamScanner 5.6.8.20180625 (last version before malware incident)
- Clipboard Pro
- DiskUsage (old Google app, still works, blazing fast)
- many reputed emulators in r/emulation community like Snes9x, DrasticDS, AetherSX2 et al
- modded GCam and GCam Go for budget and old phones
- HiBy Music Player (no music player is close)
- MiXplorer (on XDA, best file explorer for power user, Solid Explorer is less function more form, maybe FX works for some)
- MX Player old versions, nothing does video playlists and UX like playback speed overlay as well to this day, VLC is a compromise
- Nova Launcher (all versions including and before 7.0.20)
- OfficeSuite Pro (only decent document editor 100% compatible with MS Office), WPS is ok and Collabora is garbage
- RAR (official WinRAR for Android, no better compression tool exists, only MiXplorer's archive plugin based on mcmilk's 7-Zip ZS 22.01 comes close)
- ScreenMaster (on the fly screenshot cropping and horizontal/vertical stacking with adjustable image compression)
- SD Maid
- Wavelet (non-root system wide equaliser on XDA, preset for almost any headphone or earphone)
Curious why you'd choose closed-sourced apps when there are phenomenal open-sourced options which accomplish the same tasks? The list of trackers for CamScanner alone is wild, I'd expect most of the others to be similarly invasive too.
Edit:
- Snapseed: 0 Trackers
- Glasswire: 0 Trackers
- 1DM+: No Exodus Report
- Accubattery: 6 Trackers
- AppOps: 2 Trackers
- Bouncer: No Exodus Report
- ACR Call Recorder: 2 Trackers
- CamScanner: 18 Trackers
- Clipboard Pro: 2 Trackers (cost $2.99)
- DiskUsage: No Exodus Report
- HiBy Music Player: 5 Trackers
- MiXplorer: No Exodus Report
- MX Player: 18 Trackers
- Nova Launcher: 2 Trackers [Lynx Launcher is a much better choice for this list]
- OfficeSuite: 12 Trackers
- RAR: 0 Trackers
- ScreenMaster: 4 Trackers
- SD Maid: 1 Tracker
- Wavelet: 0 Trackers
Since you are using Exodus report as criteria (good one tbh), you can disable internet for every app on here except 1DM+ (since its a multithreaded downloader with video grabbing like IDM/XDM on desktops).
There are no functional alternatives to any of these apps. If I started listing you the kinds of functionality each of them bring, you would be feeling like why did I live without this. Let me give some examples though.
- Snapseed: Google's HDR can be replicated here, their Magic Eraser is based on "Healing" feature, and its the best RAW DNG editor and can have custom one-click editing presets. Even Photoshop or Polarr are not a match considering how refined Snapseed is, and why Google abandoned it few years ago (they only released a dark mode update in 2021).
- AppOps + Shizuku: no other way exists for non root devices to be able to modify work profile app permissions
- CamScanner: no need to tell how bad Microsoft's Office Lens is, since CamScanner (old and new versions) can be used fully offline and is very fast
- HiBy Music Player: the MSEB tuner is amazeballs and has no equivalent in audio player app industry, making it incredible for people with the cheapest and worst $1 earbuds and IEMs
- MX Player: no internet needed so trackers mean nothing, also use old version, less bloated
- Nova Launcher: Nova Gestures have no equivalent or better alternative
- ScreenMaster: the GOAT, the app using which I have generated evidence upon evidence, screenshots and collages of all the exposes I do on internet, and the app with which I can take thrice the screenshots with same storage space, with 90% quality compression.
I can go on...
Only possible alternative, but very hacky, is using Cache Cleaner with SD Maid SE beta from F-Droid.
CamScanner has multiple solid alts available, I like PDF Doc Scan a whole lot. The editing options are a step above CamScanner I'd even bet.
The EQ settings in VLC almost certainly are equal, if not superior, to HiBy.
I truly don't need much for a photo editor on my phone. If you need to use all the bells and whistles with Snapseed, I'd much much rather use my PC.
Seperate User Profile > Work Profile 100%! A work profile is working in a different room at your house, while a different user profile is equal to having an separate office to go work in when it comes to data segregation.
Lynx Launcher > Free Nova Launcher for me without question. Lynx's is super clean and the free settings are more than enough for detailed customization with zero trackers.
With ScreenMaster, I don't see the need at all. More apps increase your attack surface area. My default works very well, I've never even thought about an additional app for screenshots.
If tech business hadn't gone off the deep end acquiring tons of unnecessary data from every user in the name of profit, I'd be more willing to have forgone the years of research needed to be fully untracked digitally. That being said, convenience is no where even close to a good enough reason for me to use most these apps unfortunately.
What is a "veteran Android user" lol
One who has been not just "consooming" Android news like a fanboy, but actually using it, knowing almost every quirk along the years, been into tweaking extensively, not just during but also post custom ROM days (people like no root hassle free life nowadays). The above list cannot be formulated without atleast a decade worth of deep knowledge of Android app ecosystem and without being an active power user.
Note: most foldable users are not power users but just early adopters of fragile toys.
I really like Glasswire's data usage widget