To save the next person a few clicks, these are Android apps forked from the Simple Mobile Tools collection when that was sold to ZipoApps.
agile-gift0262 5 hours ago [-]
I used to use many apps from Simple Mobile Tools and migrated to Fossify's forks when the whole acquisition thing happened. I just went back to check the Simple Mobile Tools to see the effect form ZipooApps' acquisition [1]. What a calamity. Most of them require way more permissions than they used to before the purchase, have trackers, ads and scam-feeling weekly subscriptions. Also probably in breach of the GPL licence they used to have, unless they have removed all the code contributed by third parties, as their GitHub [2] hasn't been updated, but the apps in the Play Store clearly have. And I seriously doubt they distribute the source code in any other way.
I switched to Goodwy. Granted they arent the best since they lock a lot of basic features behind paywall it does the job and their themes are actually decent and feel modern considering they use Material.
5 hours ago [-]
shellwizard 5 hours ago [-]
Thanks mate
solstice 2 hours ago [-]
I use them and like them. One thing to be aware of with the dialer (that might not be unique to Fossify): when dialing the number of an emergency service (like 112 in Germany), there is no indication in the app's UI that something is happening and it looks as if the call failed and you will be back looking at the dial pad, even though the call will eventually be connected. The reason is that these types of calls get handled by something deeper in the Android system and will show up neither in the "calling" UI of the dialer nor in the list of calls.
komali2 2 hours ago [-]
My phone crashing when I dialed 911 after a car accident was the reason I stopped messing around with android roots and custom roms and whatnot. When it comes to my phone being a phone, I need it to Just Work(tm)!
justinrubek 59 minutes ago [-]
My personal motivation for doing these things is precisely because the device doesn't just work™ out of the box. If it was sufficient at its job, such hacks would not be required. It's because it isn't that they are reached for.
Yes, the current trade-off seems to be that stuff like that can break. That isn't the desired state, but it is what was prescribed by the manufacturer who seemingly has an interest in making the device less functional than it could be.
ryanmcbride 28 minutes ago [-]
your phone can't dial 911 out of the box? I find that kind of hard to believe.
I remember reading a comment that it was really a VoLTE (Voice over LTE) problem.
VoLTE in general seemed to be quite complicated, what with both phones and carriers needing the correct configuration. IIRC they were working on more standardization to prevent these kinds of issues.
solstice 41 minutes ago [-]
damn, that sucks. I fully agree with the sentiment of your last sentence.
account-5 5 hours ago [-]
Annoyingly brilliant apps, used the old ones before they were sold off, now use these. If only there was other androi apps like this set for other things. Instead the vast majority of the shit (in the truest sense of the word) you get from play store is pretty much akin to malware but definitely spyware.
mcv 2 hours ago [-]
It's nearly impossible to find good, honest apps on the play store anymore. Everything is loaded with ads, in-app purchases, spyware, and wants way more permissions than it needs. Google is making it more and more attractive to completely sever the ties to the play store. Although there are a few things I still want from there.
jcynix 18 minutes ago [-]
Try the app Netguard which implements a nice firewall. I use it to disallow most apps network access with it. Some apps may be allowed to access the net when I'm on Wifi, but not when roaming. Netguard allows you to distinguish between Wifi and Roaming. And you can enable a protocol to check which connections are attempted if you want to to specifically disable certain targets.
Disclaimer: just a satisfied and paying customer.
genpfault 2 hours ago [-]
> Although there are a few things I still want from there.
The apps are so simple, so clear, no fuss, no ads, no nothing. Just the functionality you need from every app. Excellent work!
This is the only project I immediately "donated" with the Thank You app.
tigrezno 4 hours ago [-]
Me too, but I hate having the useless Thank You app installed
WillAdams 4 hours ago [-]
My phone came w/ a folder for apps from my service provider and I've been adding to it any apps which I don't interact with regularly (since I've been able to keep my apps down to a single screen so I don't have to scroll).
entropie 1 hours ago [-]
You can uninstall them via adb. For Example there are different "unbloat your samsung device" github pages which give you a list of apps you can safely remove.
Tijdreiziger 10 minutes ago [-]
Instead of needing ADB, you can also go into Settings > Apps, turn on ‘show system apps’, and disable the ones you don’t want from there.
porridgeraisin 3 hours ago [-]
Yep, I had a crap folder for apps too. Until I switched to using T-UI as my launcher. Now I can only ever launch the apps I remember in my head since I need to type it out.
prmoustache 3 hours ago [-]
You can donate, remove the thank you app and use the f-droid versions.
__rito__ 3 hours ago [-]
After my smartphone vendor's SMS app, and Google Messages both started serving me non-stop loans ads and gambling ads (never gambled ever in my life), I switched to Fossify Messages, and it has been going great for me. Never looked back.
sp0rk 3 hours ago [-]
Where are ads displayed in your Google Messages? I have never seen any ads and I struggle to even imagine where they would place an ad within its interface.
this is some dystopian bs. I've never realized goodle/android is in a such weird place
floppyd 4 hours ago [-]
What's strangely missing from the list of FOSS android apps is a simple "pixel-like" launcher. I have some old devices that I use for small tasks, and I'd love to install the very basic launcher on them, basically the only thing I need is a paginated grid on the desktop, a scrollable list of apps in the main app menu, and a swipe up gesture to bring this menu. I checked a lot of launchers some time ago, and all of them either go hard into "minimalism/functionalism" and don't even show icons, or go deep into customization and fail to be lightweight.
glenstein 3 hours ago [-]
There is a Fossify Launcher beta on F-Droid.
mcv 2 hours ago [-]
I didn't know it was in beta, but I'm using their launcher. It's mostly great, except for widgets, which it frequently loses. But I can have way more icons on my homescreen than I used to have.
polyaniline 3 hours ago [-]
Check out Lawnchair.
meonkeys 2 hours ago [-]
/e/ OS installed DIY or pre-installed by Murena (especially on a Fairphone) solves many of the issues mentioned in other threads. It's an AOSP fork with a simple decent launcher and near-zero bloatware (I only chose to disable weather and magic earth maps). Built-in access to many simpler and more user-respecting apps in F-Droid. Tracker protection and other privacy features. Works well with Nextcloud if you use that.
Doesn't fit everyone's use case. No iMessage, no RCS, no visual voicemail, no spatial audio. Personally I don't need or want any of that, I just want a smartphone I can mostly control.
heybrendan 5 hours ago [-]
How some of the developer community responded (in late 2023) when SMT was bought by ZipoApps--Fossify was a fork that emerged:
Love this! I had the same idea, and was pondering funding apps like this. Was going to call it "SimpleFree" and focus on privacy, offline, mobile, games.
degif 4 hours ago [-]
Genuine question – do Android people get ads in their OS default camera, calculator, calendar, phone, file-manager or SMS messaging applications? Or do have these Fossify application some extra privacy features that do not come with the default ones?
kotaKat 3 hours ago [-]
The default phone and SMS messaging application on all Tier 1 Android OEMs is required to be Google Phone and Google Messages. Also as such, Google stopped maintaining AOSP Dialer and AOSP Messages.
Tijdreiziger 7 minutes ago [-]
I use a Samsung phone and it has Samsung’s phone and SMS apps.
polyaniline 4 hours ago [-]
As far as I'm concerned, I run LineageOS, which doesn't come with everything I need OTOB, so I use app suites like Fossify, Simple Mobile Tools and other great work. Others may just want alternatives to pre-installed or standard apps that are more private and tuneable (eg. I maintained a fork of KDE Connect until they switched to Material 3 colors, and still do for VLC) because they're open source.
glenstein 3 hours ago [-]
>Or do have these Fossify application some extra privacy features that do not come with the default ones?
It's this one. Google's built-in apps are closed source with undisclosed telemetry. Fossify are open source, and they don't send your contacts or calendar entries to Google. Google's apps also serve Google ecosystem lock-in, and Google's ecosystem serves ads.
The non-google options on the Play store give you the option of not sending telemetry to Google, but at the cost of typically violating privacy in other ways or including ads.
Fossify avoids either of those costs.
ksynwa 2 hours ago [-]
The default sms app showed me advertisements that seemed way too sophisticated for a medium like SMS or MMS. I had to disable a setting called "RCS Chat" to rid myself of that nonsense. I am pretty sure it isn't something that Google invented or something like that though so I'm not comfortable putting the blame squarely on them for it.
FrequentLurker 45 minutes ago [-]
RCS is absolutely awful as it displays banner ads in your notifications. The notifications are far worse than what you get with SMS. It's the reason I turned off RCS as well.
Saris 3 hours ago [-]
No ads on the original apps, but these do have privacy benefits, they also just don't have useless features like the AI stuff that keeps getting crammed into default apps.
prmoustache 3 hours ago [-]
Not having ads doesn't mean they aren't full of trackers.
mcv 4 hours ago [-]
Everything Android seems to be increasingly enshittified these days.
I switched to Fossify gallery because I don't want my photos synced with google Photos anymore. When my default Messenger suddenly demanded access to my Google account, I looked for a replacement and all alternatives I could find on Google Play had ads, so again Fossify saved me. Love it so far.
3 hours ago [-]
anty 3 hours ago [-]
I don't see any ads on the mentioned apps on my Pixel phone.
I do have ads in the Play Store app and in the Gmail app, though.
interloxia 3 hours ago [-]
Google photos these days on my pixel constantly has various prompts to turn on their backup service.
It is so intrusive it might as well count as an ad.
Fortunately Aves is pretty good.
anty 3 hours ago [-]
Google Photos also sometimes promotes a printing service. I forgot about that.
phoronixrly 4 hours ago [-]
Us Android people like to use open-source software. A stark contrast to Apple people.
rmbyrro 3 hours ago [-]
I think many Apple users, especially people in the software industry, would prefer Apple software to be open source. It's not that they don't care, it's just that Apple quality is superior in multiple ways (hardware and software).
And it's not a coincidence that their software is closed. They can command ridiculously high margins and continue to invest in high quality products.
justinrubek 54 minutes ago [-]
I think we'll just have to agree to disagree that Apple's software is superior. Their hardware would be a lot better if the software was.
Tijdreiziger 1 minutes ago [-]
[delayed]
degif 4 hours ago [-]
More power to it! I do agree on the other selling points (privacy focused and open-source) for the Fossify, just was wondering about the ads.
reify 6 hours ago [-]
I use quite a few of the fossify apps.
love the calculator. with length, area, volume, mass, temperature and time calculations.
the gallery app. I like the renaming and proper deleting. easily remove exif metadata
non intrusive calender. I use it to set up my plant watering schedule.
messages, clear and easy to use
voice recorder, again simple and easy to use
All with absolutely minimal permissions..
NO ADS, no tracking, no data collecting
mcv 3 hours ago [-]
I'm very happy with their galley and messaging app. They're absolutely perfect.
I think I also have their launcher, but it regularly seems to lose my widgets. No idea why that's happening, but I clearly need to shop around a bit more. Or debug the issue?
I tried their keyboard, which is fine, but not quite what I'm looking for. I'm currently back to GBoard and unhappy with it. I need something that doesn't try to accidentally insert emojis everywhere.
b0a04gl 4 hours ago [-]
that bit on
> “could end up like simple tools” hits.
seen this before: forks start strong, get love on HN and reddit, but slowly stall. either one dev's doing too much or nobody else steps in. fdroid’s full of ghosts like that. would be smart if fossify locks focus on 3to4 core apps first, builds a contributor base now not later. maintenance isn't exciting, but that's what kills most clean forks
aquir 4 hours ago [-]
Do we / can we have something like these in the Apple Ecosystem?
Saris 3 hours ago [-]
Does iOS even allow using a different SMS app? They're pretty locked down usually..
Unboxed1078 41 minutes ago [-]
Not yet, but it will allow changing the Phone and Messages app in the EU soon with iOS 26.
I love these projects, a simple way to collectively cleanly payroll a-person/persons to work on these projects would be superb. Structuring of the Zig org is a light-in-the-dark for this sort of thing!
crtasm 2 hours ago [-]
I was still using an old version of Simple Tools Gallery - thanks for the reminder to try these. I will donate too.
edvardas 5 hours ago [-]
I was tired of constant popups in stock apps for features I don't want.
Fossify apps get the job down surprisingly well, no more no less.
I use their apps for messaging, gallery, file manager, paint, contacts
devnull3 2 hours ago [-]
Is there any list of games with same focus on being ad-free?
Does not have to be free.
tisdadd 1 hours ago [-]
You can use f-droid game category. It will say anti-features if it has ada, but don't think many did when I loaded an older tablet for the kiddos.
Imustaskforhelp 4 hours ago [-]
I use fossify. its genuinely good.
laci37 3 hours ago [-]
This really tells a story about the sad state of android devices, that you have to use third party apps for basic stuff like the file manager to avoid spyware/adware.
rmbyrro 3 hours ago [-]
I use hundreds, if not thousands, of third party software in my Linux OS and I don't think the OS is in a sad state.
mcv 4 hours ago [-]
I've recently started using several Fossify apps from F-Droid, mostly because it's become impossible to find good non-enshittified apps on Google Play anymore. I don't know if Fossify is the best, but it seems to be a pretty good baseline. Although their launcher and keyboard are lacking. Still looking for something better there.
encom 5 hours ago [-]
Was recommended the calendar app by a colleague recently, after I complained about how crap the FastMail app is. So far I like it a lot. Does exactly what I need, and nothing more. Together with FairEmail, I can finally purge FastMail from my phone. (I like FastMail as a mail host, just not their app)
globular-toast 5 hours ago [-]
Another calendar app, developed in 2025, that uses the ridiculous and antiquated "month" view.
coldtea 3 hours ago [-]
"antiquated" or "ridiculous" sounds like, err, your opinion, man.
Many people prefer the month view.
hans_castorp 3 hours ago [-]
If you don't like the monthly view, choose one of the other views.
I actually like the Monthly + Daily.
basemi 3 hours ago [-]
"Month view" is useful when I need a wide view on a specific month.
tigrezno 4 hours ago [-]
I also use the monthly view
encom 4 hours ago [-]
I like the month view. This is for my personal calendar, and I'm not so busy that I need a narrower view. Month view is nice for seeing what's coming up in the near future. However, you can set the calendar to whatever view you want.
globular-toast 2 hours ago [-]
You can't see what's coming up in the future if it's the last week of the month. But, hey, you can see three weeks into the past! So useful.
Saris 3 hours ago [-]
That's the only view I use. How on earth is it 'antiquated' lol
globular-toast 2 hours ago [-]
It's based on a paper calendar that you would hang up on the wall. You know, from before we had screens about 50 years ago.
neiesc 2 hours ago [-]
Awesome thx!
guerrilla 3 hours ago [-]
Is this the suite that was originally made by Germans or is that a different one?
1: https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=821434617619498026...
2: https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools
Yes, the current trade-off seems to be that stuff like that can break. That isn't the desired state, but it is what was prescribed by the manufacturer who seemingly has an interest in making the device less functional than it could be.
VoLTE in general seemed to be quite complicated, what with both phones and carriers needing the correct configuration. IIRC they were working on more standardization to prevent these kinds of issues.
Disclaimer: just a satisfied and paying customer.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/
https://gitlab.com/AuroraOSS/AuroraStore
This is the only project I immediately "donated" with the Thank You app.
They sometimes look like this, too [JPG]: https://static1.anpoimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/...
Doesn't fit everyone's use case. No iMessage, no RCS, no visual voicemail, no spatial audio. Personally I don't need or want any of that, I just want a smartphone I can mostly control.
- https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/General-Discussion/issu...
It's this one. Google's built-in apps are closed source with undisclosed telemetry. Fossify are open source, and they don't send your contacts or calendar entries to Google. Google's apps also serve Google ecosystem lock-in, and Google's ecosystem serves ads.
The non-google options on the Play store give you the option of not sending telemetry to Google, but at the cost of typically violating privacy in other ways or including ads.
Fossify avoids either of those costs.
I switched to Fossify gallery because I don't want my photos synced with google Photos anymore. When my default Messenger suddenly demanded access to my Google account, I looked for a replacement and all alternatives I could find on Google Play had ads, so again Fossify saved me. Love it so far.
I do have ads in the Play Store app and in the Gmail app, though.
It is so intrusive it might as well count as an ad.
Fortunately Aves is pretty good.
And it's not a coincidence that their software is closed. They can command ridiculously high margins and continue to invest in high quality products.
love the calculator. with length, area, volume, mass, temperature and time calculations.
the gallery app. I like the renaming and proper deleting. easily remove exif metadata
non intrusive calender. I use it to set up my plant watering schedule.
messages, clear and easy to use
voice recorder, again simple and easy to use
All with absolutely minimal permissions..
NO ADS, no tracking, no data collecting
I think I also have their launcher, but it regularly seems to lose my widgets. No idea why that's happening, but I clearly need to shop around a bit more. Or debug the issue?
I tried their keyboard, which is fine, but not quite what I'm looking for. I'm currently back to GBoard and unhappy with it. I need something that doesn't try to accidentally insert emojis everywhere.
seen this before: forks start strong, get love on HN and reddit, but slowly stall. either one dev's doing too much or nobody else steps in. fdroid’s full of ghosts like that. would be smart if fossify locks focus on 3to4 core apps first, builds a contributor base now not later. maintenance isn't exciting, but that's what kills most clean forks
https://www.heise.de/en/news/Phone-and-text-messages-Apple-o...
Fossify apps get the job down surprisingly well, no more no less.
I use their apps for messaging, gallery, file manager, paint, contacts
Many people prefer the month view.
I actually like the Monthly + Daily.