1y ago

What are your favorite can not live without apps?

89 comments

Libby, freaking love audiobooks.
- Easily the most used app on my phone
- Adding voice and audiobookshelf, for non-DRM books.
  
  Also podcasts, with progress sync across devices.
- Same. And Manga too!
  70 audiobooks, Manga volumes, and more already this year—All free through my library, and all so much easier to find, categorize, tag, and use than something like Audible.
  Every book marketplace I’ve used is focused on selling you what they want to sell you, not what you want to get. Libby just lets me keep track of books on my own terms in my own way. It’s a better experience and through my library. It’s great.

I self-host my own instace, save articles I want to read from my laptop, and then they sync with the app on my phone. I read them offline when I have some time to kill

That looks exactly like something I’ve been looking for. I’m going to spin up an instance tonight and take it for a test drive. Thanks!
- You're welcome!

Been meaning to check out Wallabag for some time now. How easy/ difficult is it to setup your own instance?

I don't self-host a lot of things, but I'd say this is not the easiest I've done, just because it involves setting up multiple containers (unlike something like SearXNG). Also thought that I had to set-up an SMTP container, but I got away with not having to do it.

I used ansible (and pass to store credentials), so this is how I did it (maybe someone can pitch in and tell me what I can improve):

 undefined

    
- name: Deploy Wallabag database
  community.docker.docker_container:
    name: db_wallabag
    image: mariadb
    recreate: true
    state: started
    memory: 500MB
    restart_policy: always
    log_options:
      max-size: "10m"
      max-file: "1"
    env:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: "{{ lookup('community.general.passwordstore', 'self_host_containers/wallabag_mysql_root_password', missing='warn') }}"
    volumes:
    - ~/wallabag/data:/var/lib/mysql
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost"]
      interval: 20s
      timeout: 3s

- name: Deploy Wallabag redis
  community.docker.docker_container:
    name: redis_wallabag
    image: redis:alpine
    recreate: true
    state: started
    memory: 500MB
    restart_policy: always
    log_options:
      max-size: "10m"
      max-file: "1"
    links:
    - "db_wallabag:db_wallabag"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
      interval: 20s
      timeout: 3s

- name: Deploy Wallabag
  community.docker.docker_container:
    image: wallabag/wallabag:latest
    name: wallabag
    recreate: true
    state: started
    memory: 500MB
    restart_policy: always
    log_options:
      max-size: "10m"
      max-file: "1"
    links:
    - "redis_wallabag:redis_wallabag"
    - "db_wallabag:db_wallabag"
    ports:
    - "80"
    env:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: "{{ lookup('community.general.passwordstore', 'self_host_containers/wallabag_mysql_root_password', missing='warn') }}"
      SYMFONY__ENV__DATABASE_DRIVER: pdo_mysql
      SYMFONY__ENV__DATABASE_HOST: db_wallabag
      SYMFONY__ENV__DATABASE_PORT: "3306"
      SYMFONY__ENV__DATABASE_NAME: db_wallabag
      SYMFONY__ENV__DATABASE_USER: db_wallabag
      SYMFONY__ENV__DATABASE_PASSWORD: "{{ lookup('community.general.passwordstore', 'self_host_containers/wallabag_symfony_env_database_password', missing='warn') }}"
      SYMFONY__ENV__DATABASE_CHARSET: utf8mb4
      SYMFONY__ENV__DATABASE_TABLE_PREFIX: "wallabag_"
      SYMFONY__ENV__MAILER_DSN: smtp://127.0.0.1
      SYMFONY__ENV__FROM_EMAIL: wallabag@example.com
      SYMFONY__ENV__DOMAIN_NAME: 
      SYMFONY__ENV__SERVER_NAME: 
    volumes:
    - ~/wallabag/images:/var/www/wallabag/web/assets/images
    - ~/wallabag/data:/var/www/wallabag/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "wget", "--no-verbose", "--tries=1", "--spider", "http://localhost"]
      interval: 1m
      timeout: 3s

Then I set up caddy for the reverse proxy

 undefined

    
- name: Upload Caddyfile
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    src: ./upload_files/Caddyfile
    dest: ~/Caddyfile

- name: Deploy caddy
  community.docker.docker_container:
    image: caddy:2
    name: caddy
    user: "1000:1000"
    recreate: true
    state: started
    memory: 500MB
    restart_policy: always
    log_options:
      max-size: "10m"
      max-file: "1"
    links:
    - "wallabag:wallabag"
    ports:
    - "80:80"
    - "443:443"
    volumes:
    - ~/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile
    - ~/caddy_data:/data
    - ~/caddy_config:/config

And this is the Caddyfile

 undefined

    
my.url.com {
    reverse_proxy wallabag:80
}

Finally, you then have to login with user:wallabag and password:wallabag and change them in the webUI. I changed the "wallabag" user to my user and set a new password.

Xmanager, newpipe, Firefox with ublock origin and dark reader extensions.

TickTick would be hard to replace. Ive yet to find another cross-platform reminders app that's so good
Most of my other fav apps (Voyager for Lemmy, Bitwarden, NextCloud, NeoStore) could be replaced if I needed pretty easily (altho itd be a downgrade)
- I didn’t read close enough and thought you said TikTok. I thought to myself, “TikTok has reminders?!?”
- May I recommend Tasks? Not only is it open source and doesn't collect nearly as much information as TickTick apparently does (according to Play Market), but it's packed full of features, and also interfaces with a bunch of other apps, like Google Calendar and Google Drive for backups.
  Edit: it also is still maintained and updated regularly
  
  I will check it out but, unless I'm just missing it, it doesn't seem to have an iOS/iPad app. That unfortunately might be enough to be a dealbreaker
  
  I've tried to get into Tasks.org a few times, and I really like just about everything about it, but the deal breaker for me is that is seems like it doesn't have any collaboration features - can anyone tell me otherwise?
  My partner and I have been making really good use of Todoist and its (admittedly limited) collaboration features - we have a 'household' project, and anything on that list is visible to both of us and can be assigned to a person.
  I'd really love to get on a proper FOSS solution, but so far many of them are missing collaboration. Vikunja is really cool and has collaboration, but doesn't have any widgets atm (important for my scatter-brain). Still on the hunt!

A few I haven't seen mentioned:
Moon+ Reader - My favorite ebook reader of all time.
Tea Time - Simple timer widgets
Simple Time Tracker - Track what you do
NES.emu, Snes9x EX+, M64+ FZ - Emulators
Thunder - Lemmy
Root Explorer - file explorer
Lichess - Chess, free of ads, no fees. Almost entirely FOSS.
Also +1 to the usual favorites: Firefox, Termux, Nova, etc.
- Ok, I saw Lichess and read that entirely differently the first time.

Alarmed (iOS only, unfortunately). It allows you to set nagging reminders with notifications and has great features for snoozing a reminder or setting up routine reminders.
It’s great for ADHD. I basically use it for my schedule I’ll have it remind me the morning of something (or the day before depending on the event), when the reminder comes up, I’ll snooze it to to just before I have to leave.
I had been using apples “reminders”, which just seem to disappear into the ether if you happen to miss the notification.

Sync for Lemmy, Voyager and Summit, if I need to narrow it down to three Lemmy clients.
Google Photos with Pixelifly 🏴‍☠️
Telegram to discuss about custom ROMs and talk with my gf.
Spark Mail because I love Inbox Zero, also has some nice team features.
Spotify for music, ViMusic as a close second.
Google Chrome (looking to replace it with Ice Raven, Firefox when it gets full extension support).
Feedly and Feeder, the one to discover and manager plus multi platform, the second because I think it is a superior RSS app, used along with Discovery Killer to replace cringe Google Discover.
Bitwarden (Vaultwarden) for password management.
Showly synced with Trak.tv to manage my TV shows/Anime and Movies.
Todoist (looking to replace it with Tasks.org, but I really need this to be multiplatform, just as with Feedly), also testing with Ruppu for simpler stuff.
Droidify to handle all these awesome Open Source mess ;)
Smart Dock
Classic PowerMenu
Ice Box and App Manager/SD Maid
Franco Kernel Manager and Magisk.
Runners up:
Download Progress ++ and Media Bar
I think this would be the summarized list.
- Just as an FYI - tasks.org and iOS Reminders are compatible if you use a CalDAV provider as the underlying source. EteSync also works, but not very well, so I’d suggest CalDAV.
  
  I saw something like that when I knew about tasks.org, unfortunately I don't have my Mac right now to test it, but I will once I get it back!

Google Calendar - I live my life by this calendar. If it's not on the calendar, I'm not doing it
Audible - Audiobooks by Amazon (I know they suck, but it's a really decent service)
Tachiyomi - Manga and Comics manager and reader
Libby - Books and Audiobooks for free from your local library
Youtube - I use this way too much. I learn everything from here
- +1 for Tachiyomi. Absolutely incredible app to manage my collection digitally :)

Syncthing

Joplin - general note taking and to do lists
Feeder - my favorite RSS app. I also use it to save my YouTube subscriptions
Sync For Lemmy - The best Lemmy app out there rn IMO
NewPipe - YouTube app with built in ad blocking, background play, download function etc no login required.
Proton Mail - Emails
Proton Calendar - Calendar
Proton Drive - Cloud Storage
Proton VPN - VPN
AntennaPod - Podcast app
Spotify - Music
VLC - playing local video/ audio files
Firefox - Web Browser
Waze - Navigation
Signal - Messaging
Jellyfin - Accessing my movies and TV shows
Tailscale - What I use to access my Jellyfin when I'm away from home.
CamScanner - Very handy for scanning/ digitizing physical documents.
Speedtest from Ookla - I use it a lot to check my internet connection
Shazam - Music detection
PhotoScan - one of the only Google apps I use, let's you easily scan/ digitize old photographs
Bitwarden - Password Manager
- Have you considered Proton Pass as an alternative to BitWarden? I made the switch recently and I’m much happier with the integrations.

LibreTube for Android. YouTube just has too many ads.

Nextcloud (connected to self hosted instance), Obsidian (combo with FileSync app for free syncing to my other devices), Wifiman by Ubiquiti

jumpapp. A run-or-raise application switcher for any X11 desktop.
It's THAT good.

Jalapeño Poppers Wings Clams half shell Drunken clams Calamari Potato skins
- Translation for the non-yanks: Americans call starters "appetisers" and then shorten it to "apps"

"FitNotes" the workout app, because i've been using it for 7(?) years now to track my workout progress over the years and love the data/analytics. pretty user friendly, not super powerful, but great for tracking exercises.
and since google no longer supports music player apps outside of youtube, i guess Spotify, cuz that's the only way to listen to music nowadays. shout out to a friend who added me to his premium years ago

Plexamp and NewPipe for sure. Especially now that Plexamp doesn't require a Plex Pass.
- Thanks for the plexamp reco! I didn't realize there was a music app by Plex.

So many:
afwall+
joplin
proton vpn
protonmail
davx5
tasks.org
nova launcher
simple gallery
simple dialer
simple contacts
simple calendar
nextcloud
mega.nz
dropbox
aniyomi
buzzkill
voyager
infinity for reddit revanced
fdroid
mixplorer
xmanager
youtube revanced
the score
foss telegram
bitwarden
adaway
kde connect
tailscale
remote desktop client
nzb360
instander
ibraodcast
bubble upnp
nextcloud
localsend
syncthing
native alpha+
Librera FD
Feeder
Magic Earth
obtanium
seal
termux
unchained
premiumized
shelter
youcut or capcut
picsay pro
idm+
xbrowser sync
fennec
ocr
neo backup
magisk
imgur viewer
gptAssist
freebiealerts
aftership
de-bloater
fairemail
hypatia
- That's cool, but can you maybe provide a one-sentence summary of what each does for you?
- Someone recently recommended Keyboard Designer to me. Now i can type on my phone without my hands going numb in under ten minutes.

Tasker
- I have this but never use it. What do you use it for?
  
  I use it for lots of things. I'm not a coder, so I can't make my own apps from scratch. With Tasker I can make my own apps. I've made tons of them.
  I still have a Reddit account because there are some core subs that haven't migrated, but I don't have to official app installed. I use Tasker to check Reddit and notify me of posts.
  My memory is horrible and my schedule is varied every day, so I can't set alarms for certain times. I made an app where I can say something to my watch and it will remind me depending on my location. For example, I can remind myself to get paper towels on my way home from work. When I leave work, it will send a reminder to my watch.
  I use it for call screening. I only let calls from my contacts ring. It sends all other calls to voicemail.
  I use it to run scripts in Termux.
  I have a routine that will tell me why an app was closed.
  I have it POST things to the timeline on my watch with JSON.
  I have it reassign functions to my phone's buttons. I made an app that turns on the flashlight when I shake the phone.
  I have it put the battery level of my Bluetooth devices in my notification bar and on my watchface.
  I have it gather weather and notify me conditions and severe weather alerts.
  I could go on and on, but you get the idea. You can do just about anything with it.

Syncthing
AntennaPod
NewPipe
Army Knife
Sync for Lemmy
Telegram
Tusky

On my android phone: keepassDX - password manager w/ autofill Aegis - 2 factor authenticator Joplin - markdown journal
Great thread btw!

Swift Backup, i just can't imagine using my phone without that app.
- +1
  Google solution is not a solution at all, one of the biggest reasons I root as well.

Syncthing
Nextcloud
Jitsi Meet
FreeTube

LibreWolf
Terminal
VLC Media Player
Visual Studio Code
Qt Creator
gcc
Home Assistant
OpenWRT
OpenVPN
Steam
Bottles (manage Wine installations/run Windows software)
Squeekboard/phosh (Linux phone UI/onscreen keyboard)
Hacker's Keyboard (Android onscreen keyboard)
OpenRGB

I can't live without music, so SomaFM it is.

For my GTD routine
Reminders
Notes
For my feeds
Reeder
WefWef (can’t find an as good native app for the moment)
For my diary
DayOne
For photo editing and graphics
Photos
Preview
Affinity Designer
For my work
Safari (I just love WebKit’s developer tools)
WebStorm
XCode
Calendar
For music practice (hobby)
GarageBand
Stave’n’Tabs
For 3D printing modeling (hobby)
Shapr3D with an edu account from a friend
I tried tons of third party apps (Omnifocus, Ulysses, Agenda, Things, Fantastical, Pro Tools…) but always end up using Apple’s stock apps because I love simplicity and I discovered that with my overthinking bad habit, having a good but simple/limited app is more efficient than an overkilled one.
- WefWef as in the Lemmy client? It's been renamed to Voyager, and I believe there's an iOS app too. I'm using it on Android now, and it's great 👍
  
  Thank you very much for the tip! I just installed it
- If you’re on iOS I’d give Memmy a shot. It’s very similar to Apollo, and I’m really liking it. The devs are great too
  
  If you like Memmy id recommend giving Bean a go too.
  
  Thanks for the advice but I already tried Memmy and a bunch of others and I always ended up back to using WefWef webapp, so I’ll stick to Voyager

Librera Reader Bromite/Cromite adaway

SearXNG.
It's a metasearch engine (aggregates results from several engines and feeds then back to me). It also filters out sites I don't want, and redirects Reddit to the old interface.

Iceraven
Newpipe
Foxy Droid
Bitwarden
Termux
RVNC
Showly
Librera
Simple File Manager
Simple Gallery
Syncthing

Weawow - the greatest weather app ever created. No ads 4.9 review in the Play Store, highly recommend it.
Termux
Tasker
Homeassistant
ChatGPT
Files by Google - actually it is pretty good and allows you to transfer files peer to peer with other devices
Anytype - Notion alternative
DuckDuckGo - for app tracking and blocking of tracking requests
Wireguard
ZeroTier One
ReadEra
TradingView
JustETF
Infinity for Lemmy
The rest were already mentioned here
- I'm not finding weawow on the playstore. Can you link us please?
  
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.weawow here you go

Newpipe
Mull
Signal
OpenCamera
And Librewolf on the Desktop

Markor - amazing android text editor.
Symfonium - music player that I can use with my selfhosted navidrome.
Vivino - wine rating app.
Deedum - gemini browser.
Fluffychat - matrix chat app.

Apollo :(
- Voyager?

On Windows, my absolutely vital stuff on the gaming rig are:
Discord
Firefox
Keepass - KeepassXC in my case, but that's because I also use it on other OSes and well, same UI; otherwise on Windows itself I'd recommend the actual Keepass.
MPC-HC, a media player that has a tiny install size and easily outperforms VLC without even breaking a sweat
Playnite, a multi-library game launcher.

Sleep as Android
QP-Gallery - QuickPic, modded to be good again
Tachiyomi - Manga and Comics manager and reader
Audiobookshelf - Self hosted podcasts and audiobook player with progress sync
FolderSync - Just filesyncing, since the nextcloud app sucks at it

Musicolet my local music player. It has the fondamental feature of switching between playlists without losing the position of the last played tracks. A feature that no othercplayer has

Firefox Focus

Top for me have to be the combo of Aniyomi and WVC.
Aniyomi is a Tachiyomi fork that adds anime extensions. Tachi is great as is, but after Anyme shut down, I needed something to watch and track anime with MAL integration. Plus if you read manga, I'd assume you watch anime too. App and extensions receive regular updates.
WVC aka Web Video Caster. Chromecast any video. I have watched soooooo much stuff on my TV through this. Great controls and features, frequent updates, and they're on Reddit to talk to directly if you have issues or feature requests. Great team of people and wonderful app. First premium app I bought.
Bring! is a close third. Works on Android and iOS so me and SO can both share a shopping list every since Google screwed theirs up. Was great when Google Assistant was linked to it, but Google broke that too. Still a great app though. We get notifications when the other person adds an item in case one of us is running errands already.

Audiobook Shelf - self hosted Audiobook server with a really excellent UI and very reliable
Tody - a habit tracking app specifically built around house chores, with functionality for multiple family members sharing the load
Sync for Lemmy - self explanatory
Tusky - also self explanatory

Nova launcher (super customizable and clean and you can unlock premium with revanced Manager)
KWGT (allows you to create custom widgets for your phone and has a very good editor so you can jam pack all the info you want into one widget)
Revanced Manager (ad free YouTube with extra features like return dislike and sponsor block and more)
Xmanager (free Spotify premium)
Vlc (best way to play video and audio files)
Fdroid (alternative app store which allows you to basically find a clone of most apps but open source and privacy friendly, plus a ton of other privacy respecting apps)
Aurora store (Google Play store but more customization and less Google tracking stuff attached)
Seal (allows you to download videos and stuff from basically any big site)

Steam.

I use Slidepad on my Mac every day. I have it mapped to a button in my mouse. It’s an embedded browser thing for web apps. But you can also put files there like pdfs and stuff which is handy when when you need to review something and don’t want another window always on your screen.