My Android App Stack – ErenayDev
My Android App Stack
21 Jun, 2026
Hi world! This is my first blog post.
I want to show you the Android apps installed on my phone.
I'm a high school student. I just finished 11th grade. That means I'll be taking the college entrance exam in 360 days.
I use these apps to help me study (Because there are no ads in any of the apps here). So whether you're a student or a working professional, anyone can use these apps.
Contents
Launcher
Browser
Pomodoro & Tasks, Habits
AdBlocker, DNS Resolver
Music Player
YouTube Client
Clock
Essentials
File Manager
Proton Ecosystem
App Store
Image Editor & PDF Viewer
Note-taking
Keyboard
Weather Forecast
Messaging
Maps
Video Player
Calculator
Let's go!
Launcher<br>A launcher changes so many things. I first used NiagaraLauncher. My focus improved a bit, but not a lot.
Then I found this awesome launcher on F-Droid: Minimo Launcher.
OLED theme, hiding apps. My focus is now at its peak all the time.
Browser<br>I chose Firefox Focus. It helps me focus a lot more. It deletes history and blocks trackers; literally the browser for me.
Pomodoro & Tasks, Habits<br>Pomodoro<br>I'm using Tomato. It's very simple to use and lightweight. (Currently I have over 200 hours.)
Tasks, Habits<br>Grit. It notifies me at specific times during the day.
AdBlocker, DNS Resolver<br>RethinkDNS. Literally. No other words needed. I tried NextDNS, but on Android, RethinkDNS has a lot of settings and works locally. Just download it and add your blacklists. I'm using ProtonVPN as the proxy in RethinkDNS. I love the Proton ecosystem, so I'm using it here too. A VPN is always required.
Music Player<br>I'm using Chocola now. Before, I used Musify, but I deleted it somehow. I don't remember why.
Music Downloader for Chocola<br>Chocola plays local audio, while Musify used YouTube. I download my music with YTDLnis and then play it in Chocola. It uses yt-dlp in the background. Also it can also download videos!
YouTube Client<br>Ah, yes... Who loves YouTube ads? Neither you nor I. Anyway, I'm using PipePipe. It's a fork of NewPipe from early 2022. It has awesome features, like no ads, SponsorBlock, and downloading videos/audio. You should try it.
Clock<br>I'm using Chrono. It's very useful. About 2 years ago I tried Alarmy (downloaded from the Play Store), but it had paywalls. I just wanted to solve math problems to turn off the alarm sound, so I found this one.
Essentials<br>Phone, Contacts, Gallery, Messages (SMS Client).
I'm using Fossify. You can check it out.
File Manager<br>I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not using an open-source app. It's ZArchiver. I started using it about 6 years ago and I'm still using it. I probably need to try some other FOSS alternatives.
Proton Ecosystem<br>E-Mail, Password Manager, 2FA Authenticator, Calendar, VPN, Drive.
All of them work nicely. If I earn money, I'll buy a paid plan.
I also have an account on Tuta, but I'm not using it. It's just sitting there for no reason.
App Store<br>The Play Store is required for some apps because their developers block downloading them outside of the Play Store.
F-Droid is nice. It's FOSS, and the apps inside it are mostly FOSS and guarantee reproducible builds.
But I'm not using the F-Droid client app. I use Droid-ify because I think it's more beautiful with Material Design 3.
As an alternative to the Play Store, I'm using AuroraStore with anonymous login.
I use Obtainium for downloading apps from GitHub/GitLab releases, not from official repos (like F-Droid).
Image Editor & PDF Viewer<br>ImageToolbox is great. The master app for editing images in the FOSS ecosystem. It also includes PDF tools.
Note-taking<br>Another sad note: I'm using Obsidian (eh, it's not FOSS). I tried Joplin, but I felt Obsidian was more comfortable.
Keyboard<br>Currently HeliBoard. It's fast and lightweight.
Weather Forecast<br>Using Overmorrow. It pulls updates from open-meteo. A great client app (open-meteo is awesome too ;D).
Messaging<br>Molly. It's a fork of Signal but more secure and privacy focused more than Signal.
Maps<br>OrganicMaps is based on OpenStreetMap. Works offline. Better than Google's.
Video Player<br>Using NextPlayer. It uses Material Design 3 and works great. Plays local videos.
Calculator<br>Using Vanilla, from the same author as Chocola. I need to find an alternative because it doesn't have scientific functions like trigonometry, etc.
Conclusion<br>Yep, that's it. I'll also publish a new blog post about debloating Android. If you have any suggestions or questions, mail me at erenaydev@proton.me.
#android
#apps
#foss
#privacy