After i installed GrapheneOS I realized that some default apps weren’t that feature rich. Other apps like a music player were missing. But also I learned new ways to install apps outside of Google Play Store.

Where to get apps?

I knew that I can download .apk files to install, but keeping track of updates would be nearly impossible. F-droid is an app store with FOSS apps only, but I read about different opinions to not use it. The two recommended ways to install and manage apps are

• Obtainium
• Accrescent

Obtainium

This is an amazing app. It is not an app store, but it downloads apps from a source like Github and installs it on my phone. Obtainium checks the source for updates and notifies me and installs them.

On Obtainiums hompage is a list with popular apps, which you can add to my Obtainium with one click. Other apps I need to find on Github or somewhere else and add them manually, but it’s quite easy and quick to do it.

Accrescent

This is a real app store. It is only in alpha right now, but works well and already has some apps I need. The total amount of available apps is very small, but they cover core functionalities.

Which apps?

Authenticator

Nowdays is multifactor authentication state of the art. Therefore I need an authenticator to store my private keys for TOTP. In the Accrescent app store I found 2fa. A simple app, which does it’s job. The only thing I have to mention here is to export the keys from time to time to have a backup.

Signal

Signal is my main messaging app. Without Google Play Services the normal Signal app does not receive push notifications, because FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) is a Google thing and now missing on my phone. The solution is to install the FOSS version of Signal called Molly. Molly supports UnifiedPush. An open push standard with the possibility to host on my own. One way to host it is my Nextcloud server.

Push notifications

Since I am running my own UnifiedPushProvider in my Nextcloud, I need to install NextPush on my phone to connect those two.

Music player

Here I am currently looking for a good solution. I tested various apps, which are good solutions depending on the needs.

• Auxio
• VLC
• Streamsonic
• Symphonium

Auxio is a beautiful music player to play locally stored music on my phone.

VLC is less beautiful, but has a few more features. It can play music from the network shares and DLNA servers.

Streamsonic is a very interesting app and tends to become my favourite. It plays music from a music server. It lets me store tracks offline and also stream to DNLA devices.
As music server I can chose between various products like Navidrome, Airsonic or Nextcloud Music.
The only downside of Streamsonic is, that it doesn’t support Android Auto yet. But it is planned.

Symphonium works like Streamsonic, but it already supports Android Auto. This app is not free, but not expensive too. Maybe I am going to buy and use it as long as Streamsonic isn’t Android Auto ready.

Office

I rarely use office documents on my smartphone. But in case I need to read and email attachment or a downloaded file, I installed CollaboraOffice. An open source office suite.

Calendar

LineageOS’s default calendar is Etar. I prefere it over GrapheneOS’s default app, so I installed Etar.

Email

To access my emails I use FairEmail.

Keyboard

The default keyboard is very basic. The community recommended Florisboard. It’s a great keyboard with many features.

Wallet

To store my tickets in an app, I use FossWallet.
There are a few others aswell, but I haven’t tested them.

Launcher

I had nothing against the default launcher. But I was curious about a different launcher. I heard about NovaLauncher and how cool it should be. So I gave it a try. NovaLauncher is minimalistic and works a bit different than the “normal” launchers like Lawnchair. I can’t say one is better than the other, they are both good.

Gallery

The gallery of my choice is ReFra.
Installed with: Obtainium

The other one I tested is Aves.
Installed with: Accrescent

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