2y ago

Hidden Gems: Unveiling Apps That Could Have Enhanced Your Experience Sooner?

There are a few noteworthy ones that have significantly enhanced my digital experience. Let me share them with you:

Musicolet: It's a fantastic music player with a user-friendly interface. The best part is, it doesn't bombard you with pesky ads like the default music player does.
Cube Acr: If you ever need to record calls, this app is a game-changer. It's the best free call recorder I've tried so far.
Macrodroid: This app lets you automate almost anything you can think of. Personally, I love how it allows me to easily turn on the WiFi hotspot with just a few taps. I couldn't find any other app on the Play Store that offered this feature without requiring root access.
Auto redial: You know those moments when you keep calling a restaurant repeatedly until they finally answer? This app saves you from that frustration. It automatically redials the number for you, making your life much easier.
Dynamic rotation: Auto-rotate can be a bit annoying, right? But sometimes, you do want your screen to rotate. That's where Dynamic Rotation comes in. It prompts you to rotate the app whenever you rotate your screen, giving you more control.
Folder sync: It's surprising that popular cloud apps like Mega don't offer a way to sync folders. Fortunately, Folder Sync fills that gap. You can keep selected folders always in sync without any hassle.
Volume booster: We all come across situations where the audio is too low. This app comes to the rescue by boosting the volume, allowing you to hear even the faintest sounds clearly.
Always on AMOLED by Tomer Rosenfeld: Recently, I dropped my phone in water, and since then, the screen has been acting up, moving randomly. However, I noticed that if I use this app for a while, it stabilizes the screen. It's been a lifesaver for me.

These hidden gems have definitely made a significant difference for me. It's fascinating to think about the missed opportunities had I known about them earlier. But hey, now that we know, we can make the most out of these fantastic apps, feel free to add your list below as well ❤️

85 comments

KDE Connect is an app to connect your phone and computer. It works on most OS (windows, Linux, etc.), and it works extremely well (better than the solution developed by Microsoft).
- I can't count how many times I used this. It's been a huge timesaver for me
- Yep, the shared clipboard and file sharing options are things I can't live without now. No more sending stuff to yourself using messenger apps or stupid workarounds like that.
- Does it work ok on Windows now? Last I tried it it wasn't so great, but it was at least a year ago.
  
  I'm using the version downloaded from the Microsoft Store and it's a bit spotty. The experience might be a bit better with the exe installer.
  
  Yes. I've been using almost daily and it's great! My only issue is that it sometimes (like once every one or two months), it has some trouble connecting back to my phone.
- How does it compare compared to Join by JoaoApps ?
- Does it work over LAN if I lose internet?
  
  Yes, in fact it only communicates over LAN - so if you go away from home it will stop mirroring, unless they've changed that in the last few months.

Isn't dynamic rotation built in to Android these days?
- I don't know about other brands but Samsung does have a small icon in the bottom corner prompting this when I rotate my phone yeah. Ignore it if not needed. Very useful.
  
  It is built into Android proper meaning most phones should be able to do it
- Yes but I think many people don't know it exists and how to use it. For those who don't know : rotate your phone and a little rotating phone will appear next to your "go back" button. Just click it.
- Think the point is it asks instead of just doing it.
  
  On my phone at least, when I have autorotate off and tilt the screen, an icon appears next to my back button that will rotate the screen. Which sounds to me like the goal of this app.

NewPipe has made my YouTube watching experience way better; it's a standalone app with features like ad blocking, subscriptions, and downloading.
F-Droid (particularly the Droid-ify client) is an open-source app store that generally provides quality apps.
Obtanium has helped me stay up to date with some of my more obscure apps, which are released only on Github. Obtanium can auto-update apps from a GitHub link or similar, which makes the process way easier.
Auxio is a pretty good music player, it's quite lightweight but it also looks good.
All of these are available on F-Droid, I find that many F-Droid apps provide a better or cleaner experience than Google Play apps.
- Last time I used NewPipe, it downloaded fine, and I could play back the downloads from the app, but there was no way to move the downloads to a non-system folder, so they were effectively locked into the app. Has that changed?

Syncthing, I setup synchronisation between my PC and phone in apps that have bad built-in synchronisation or don't have it at all, e.g. for PPSSPP: I am able to have my save files for games synchronised and keep playing a videogame on phone just where I left it off on my PC
- +1 for sure! I used it to sync my Obsidian Vault between devices, phone included. It's very useful if you want the same folder in multiple places.
- How about the battery drain on the phone? I tried to use it once to sync my notes but it didn't work out well in terms of battery drain
  
  Did you measure that empirically? Gsam indicates it only accounts around 1% of battery drain.
  
  It depends on usage. I didn't synchronise anything yesterday and my phone reports 0% battery used since last full charge. I only synchronise PPSSPP files, sometimes move files from phone to PC with a dedicated folder and synchronise a fairly small amount of notes (joplin saves each note separately IIRC, and that means syncthing doesn't need to move the whole database accross devices) so the battery drain of the app is not of concern to me
  Oh, and by the way, I setup Syncthing to only run locally, so it doesn't run when I'm not connected to Wi-Fi and doesn't maintain connections with discovery/relay servers, I think those could have impact on your battery drain as well

Joplin. Organise your notes into notebooks and you can also write them in markdown. You can also save your notes encrypted and syhcronise them with the cloud to have them in all of your devices. Joplin is available in all Operating Systems. Also supposts Nextcloud so it can be self-hosted!
- I set up a Nextcloud server recently and have been looking for a decent note app. I'll try it out today. Thanks!
  
  You should definitely try, I have this setup (VPN) on my server for more than 1 year
- What do you think about replacing Samsung notes with this? S notes have everything I need but I think the text formattings in it aren't markdown.
  
  I'm not a Joplin user, but I use Obsidian which is similar as it's also in markdown and notes are saved locally or hosted with encryption.
  I'd say either app is better than the stock note-taking apps. I've been using Google Keep prior.
  I'm biased since I only use Obsidian but I love it, been a power user for a month now.
  Feel free to check both out! The link below is what I just searched for and learned about Joplin.
  https://www.mksguide.com/joplin-vs-obsidian/
  
  I havent used Samsubg Notes. However Joplin does not support to "draw" with a Pen.

Spectroid: what's that sound? Do I hear that faint but annoying sound or just imagine it? With spectroid you can see the sound spectrum over time.
Nova launcher: Lets you cutomize the home screen of your phone and make it just right. I like my apps a bit closer together in five columns instead of four. Nova launcher let's me do this.
Business calendar: it's just so much better than the default calendar, especially if you have lots of meetings and need an information dense view.
- I recently found out Nova was purchased by an analytics company. I don't have any proof or solid reason to think they're up to no good necessarily. But I have zero desire to use something as integral as a launcher that's owned by a company like that.
  I moved to Neo Launcher and it's been 95% as good as Nova. The knock is just some fine tunings that Nova had, but I'm not having any issues with Neo.
  
  Was not aware of this. Thank you!... :(
- I use Business Calendar daily. It's very customizable, easy to use, and has been awesome for years.

For me
MiXplorer (Mix) : Clean and powerful file manager at the same time. It's easy to use for normal user and very powerful for power users.
Lookup Pro: Floating dictionary that can blend in to native Android context menu when highlighting words. It's similar to iOS lookup or Kindle lookup feature.
Maosure: Google virtual measure app that make use of ARCore library.
Moon+ Reader Pro: favorite ebook reader
Seal: Favorite youtube downloader. Unlike other YT downloader that is riddled with Ads, it FOSS app.
Toolwiz Photos: Best all in one photo editor for me. It's very underrated. The variety of feature it pack is u match by any photo editing apps for me. From color correction to healing and cloning tools, the fun feature that gets old very fast like face rater, face swap, pip, etc. I just noticed that it has AI painting feature too.
TTS Server : Azure/Ms Edge TTS ported to Android to use it as system wide TTS. It's the most natural free TTS I've ever used. It's originally Chinese only app, but I forgot where I got English version from.
- MiXplorer is genuinely the best file manager I ever used, has basically everything but keeps being easy to use. and it has theme support!
  
  How does it compare to Amaze File Manager? I've just started testing out different file manager apps today
- Seconding Moon Reader Pro. Even the basic version is great.
  
  KOreader is great lightweight, feature-packed alternative like Moonreader but substantially different-looking, some may prefer it (I do).

Copy: Allows you to copy text from apps where it usually isn't possible (eg. Instagram). While certain Pixel phones come with a similar feature in the form of OCR, it does not work with non-English text.
Island: Allows you to run two of the same app on a single device - for example if you have two phone numbers and want to use WhatsApp for both numbers on the same device. Some companies like Samsung and OnePlus have this functionality built-in, but they may restrict it to certain apps. Island works with all apps.
Unit Lab: Well designed unit converter that should honestly be a default app on all operating systems. It allows for simple unit conversion (weight, temperature, currency, length, etc.) while also allowing you mix units in calculations (eg. 5 miles + 10 km + 2650 ft).
RustDesk: An open source alternative to TeamViewer.

A few of mine :
AndOTP : A good app for OTP that actually let's you backup your keys and move them easily and securely to a new phone
Blokada : A system wide adblocker for Android. 4000000 ads blocked so far on my phone
YouTube Vanced: Not really a "hidden" gem but a cool app nonetheless. I wish people knew you could get an ad free YouTube experience on mobile. It also includes sponsor block so you really get straight to content. Also let's you get a YT popup player and shutdown the screen with the video still playing.
F-Droid an Android open source app market. Often includes apps that are not allowed on Google market.
- AndOTP is no longer maintained. I'd suggest switching to something still supported, like Aegis for example.
- +1 for F-Droid. I always prefer open-source alternatives from there over ad-infested bloatware which the Play Store has a lot of.
  
  Plus, there are some really good F-Droid apps too, like Droid-ify (F-Droid client with smoother UI) and Obtainium (update apps automatically from a GitHub link).
- Vanced is dead, check out Revanced instead. Takes a bit more effort to get going as you need to build the app yourself but it works just as well
- Strange, I had YouTube Vanced but I remember it outright dying maybe a year ago. Had been using NewPipe for a while before I finally decided I use YouTube so often it's perfectly reasonable for me to just subscribe.
  YouTube Vanced is still up and running?
  
  The original YouTube vanced is dead, but the new revanced works like a charm
  
  ReVanced is.

I just want to share my positive experience with Folder Sync.
I use Obsidian for journaling and note-taking, and unless you use the paid plan it doesn't have native sync across multiple devices. I have the root folder of my notes stored in Google Drive and use Folder Sync to sync my PC/laptop with my mobile. Very useful as I'm out in the field often and like to jot down quick notes on my phone.
10/10 it just works.

Auto Auto-Rotate - Allows you to pick specific apps to turn on auto-rotate for while turning it off for the others. Works great if you wish to keep it on for media and video apps but not other apps.

Mixplorer - aka MiX, the only file explorer I've ever needed. It's intuitive enough for basic file browsing, but it can do heavy lifting tasks. I exclusively move files on and off my phone by starting an FTP server.
Pulsar - One of the only apps I've ever paid for, it's a music player that does everything I want and nothing I don't. I'm one of those nuts who still maintains a personal library of thousands of songs rather than using spotify or whatever.
MS Swiftkey Keyboard - I went looking for this when Swype was finally discontinued. Gesture typing wasn't common yet and I still find google's stock keyboard absolutely insufferable. Swiftkey lets me adjust the size and layout of the keyboard with far less restriction.

Any "Simple Mobile Tools" application. They are simple (obviously) and do their job well.

I'd add Tasker to that list, even if some of the functionality requires root. It's actually insane how powerful Tasker is.
- Tasker is good too but a bit redundant with MacroDroid. Both are amazing though! Everyone needs to have one or similar!

aCalendar+ in combination with nextcloud. Sorted my life completly. Imo the best calender app for Android.
Image Toolbox the name explains all. Adfree ☝🏻
Paperless mobile adding documents has never been easier. Scanapp inclusive ☺️

Keepass2Android Tasker Joplin DropSync, OneSync, DriveSync Evanova EDS Total Commander Aegis Instander Stocard Waze

Is Macrodroid better than Tasker in your opinion?
My Motorola phone does that dynamic rotation thing already :)

RadarScope. I work a very weather-dependent job.
- I too work a weather dependent job. What specifically do you like about this app?

Launcher KISS the simplest, cleanest and fastest launcher I have ever used. After few days I got so much used to it that when I get my hands on phone with another launcher I feel lost. My father and my son are also using KISS and they like it.

I'd nominate AccuBattery, it does a good job determining my phone's battery health. The pro version is cheap and has a lot of capabilities as well

CPU-Z summarizes literally everything about your mobile phone. What model you have, what SoC you have, what your clock speeds and thermals are, which update you're on, etc. Super useful and you never have to wonder anything about your specs.
Notebloc is the best camscanner app. The ads are a lot but you can get an ad-free version for pretty cheap. The black and white scan has great clarity that makes it look legit like it's scanned.
PlainApp is a new open-source Airdroid alternative. Easily transfer files and images from your mobile to PC over wi-fi. It's super useful.

FairEmail: I hated reading email on my phone, till I found it. I was so happy that I already paid for it 3 times (optional!) just to give something back to the dev.
Waze: it belongs to Google now, but I like it much better because it's like a social network for navigation and maps. You can also edit the maps by yourself. Another advantage is that it shows speed limits and warns you about police while driving.
- I also really like fairemail for it's privacy focused approach but often the formatting in emails looks weird.. e. g. Paypal is especially bad :(

Any FOSS alternative to Macrodroid?

Quick Cursor: Makes it easier to use large smartphones with one hand.

IgeBlock for watching youtube. No videos during playback, but you need to watch one ad every four days to keep most of the features available. Or you can pay.

I had been using Musicolet for the longest time, switched to Vinyl Music to try to stay more FOSS.

KDE Connect! https://kdeconnect.kde.org/

Niagara Launcher - literally changed the way I use my phone. Every single app is at most two taps away. And I really like the simple aesthetic.
Taskito - just a tasks / todo app but for some reason I like it much more than most of the popular apps.

Ok, saved lul

What phone do you use? I recall my call recording app stopped working a couple years ago due to some Google permission thing.
- Same, it's possibly also because of his location/country. I haven't tried the app, but if any europeans/british people get it working, please say.

+1 for Musicolet, it's fantastic.
I don't use a lot of apps I'm overly impressed with but FamilyAlbum is great if you have kids, want to share photos with family, and don't want to plaster them all over social media. You put you photos on there and give family access. No more Grandma begging for more pictures. Its not perfect. They try to get you to buy prints a lot, but otherwise a very good idea executed simply enough that the elderly can access it.

Shameless plug but I am promoting my app here on lemmy. Check out my profile if y'all want 🥲
- I imagine most people are like me and wouldn't go into your profile unless they knew at least some kind of reference to what the app is for
  
  I'd phrase it as you being like us tbh, rather than the other way around.

Bitwarden - Allows me to have unique, strong passwords for each of my profiles without worrying about forgetting it.
Aegis - Great open source 2FA app.
Standard Notes - Great note-taking app. I have it installed in all my devices which allows me to seamlessly switch between devices.
TrackerControl - Block all the trackers in the various apps installed in my phone.
Plees Tracker - As someone who has been trying to correct their sleep cycle, this app has been invaluable for me. It is an open source app that allows you track the duration of your sleep daily and then makes charts from it.

85 comments