I've been looking into Android hiking apps, especially how they behave once you lose cell coverage.

I compared AllTrails, Gaia GPS, Komoot, Outdooractive, Wikiloc, OsmAnd, Hiking Project, and FarOut, and the offline experience varies a lot more than I expected.

For example, AllTrails and Gaia GPS put offline maps behind paid plans, Komoot gives you one region free, while OsmAnd is much more offline-first. Hiking Project is also an interesting completely free option, although its coverage is much stronger in some regions than others.

I wrote up the full comparison here:

https://pixeltrackhq.com/blog/best-hiking-apps

For people who actually hike outside reliable coverage: which Android app has been the most dependable for you?

cross-posted from: https://gregtech.eu/post/35507847

I use the Calendula app, which has the option to send a reminder before an event, but not an alarm per se. I sync Android's calendar to my Radicale server with davx⁵ if that matters. I have a Huawei P30 pro.

I recently set up a DAV server with Radicale and I'm using the davx5 app to sync data between my phone and the server. The Huawei Calendar app is a bit basic, and so is Fossify calendar. Are there any apps with a feature set similar to that of Thunderbird on desktop? I'd like to have the option to set a custom reminder time before an event (the Huawei calendar app can't do that), set categories for events (the Huawei app doesn't have the option at all, Fossify does have the option to set a color for the event but not anything more than that and just puts CATEGORIES:Come From :org.fossify.calendar in the .ics file) and the option to hide a specific calendar from view conveniently (Fossify does this well, Huawei doesn't have the option at all). I don't mind if the app isn't FOSS, but it would be nice if it is.

https://github.com/TrackerControl/tracker-control-android/releases

Key Feature Additions

• Tracker activity timeline (with live updates and empty-state guidance).
• Sort trackers by most recent detection.
• Bulk include/exclude apps from monitoring.
• Filter option to show disabled (“frozen”) apps.
• WireGuard support (new VPN option), later improved with a Rust-based engine (gotatun).
• Optional TCP MSS clamp (helps tethering/network issues).
• Improved transparency: traffic log now labels blocked vs allowed.
• Accessibility improvements (labels, contrast, dynamic controls).

Major Improvements

• VPN and networking:
  • Better DNS fallback (Mullvad secondary).
  • IPv6 support improvements (DNS + routing).
  • Secure DNS battery optimizations (caching, idle socket handling).
  • VPN fail-safe behavior (“fail closed”) and better recovery from tunnel failures.
  • External VPN handling and revocation behavior improved.
• Performance:
  • Batched database writes and reduced network reload frequency.
  • Memory reduction via streaming blocklist parsing.
  • Reduced battery usage (VPN + DNS).
• UI/UX:
  • Full Material 3 redesign with edge-to-edge layout.
  • Timeline live updates and improved navigation behavior.
  • Better feedback (e.g., when app launch fails).
• System behavior:
  • More reliable handling of system apps (single toggle).
  • Respect per-app monitoring settings consistently.

Bug Fixes (Count: ~30)

Includes:

• Crashes (NPEs, SecurityException, ANRs).
• Memory leaks (cursor leaks, fragment leaks).
• UI issues (overlaps, broken toggles, onboarding buttons).
• VPN issues (revocation handling, restart loops, deadlocks).
• DNS failures (especially IPv6/mobile edge cases).
• Data consistency bugs (stale alarms, tracking logs, Chrome tracking restore).

Infrastructure, Build, and DevOps (Count: ~20)

• Reproducible builds and release pipeline.
• F-Droid compatibility improvements.
• CI validation and dependency automation (Dependabot).
• Faster builds and improved test coverage.
• Rust dependency upgrades and stabilization of WireGuard bridge.

Localization / Crowdin Updates (Count: ~10)

• Multiple translation updates.
• Specific fixes (e.g., Ukrainian resources).

Security & Reliability Enhancements (Count: ~10)

• Hardened WireGuard integration.
• Safer VPN replacement behavior.
• Improved lock handling and connection stability.
• Better handling of tracker ambiguity and shared IP detection.

Minor / Cleanup Changes (Count: ~10)

• Removed deprecated features (e.g., NetGuard lockdown).
• Fixed metadata issues and unused toggles.
• General polish and consistency fixes.

great app.
every so often.. its healthy to stop apps that you aren't using and dont plan to use soon.
saves you phone battery.

TL:DR: I have an older Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. I hate the stock Samsung Voicemail app. What's a better one? I don't want to sign up for a service, and I would rather avoid sending all my voicemail data to a server somewhere. Privacy is a concern, but second to a good app, and transcription.

Longer story: For the longest time, we used carriers who seemed to control voicemail on their end, no app needed. I would receive an SMS transcription, and have the option to call and listen to voicemail or click a link etc.

We changed to Verizon a while back and suddenly my phone decided to start using the baked in Samsung Voicemail app to manage voicemail - which is terrible. 6 voicemails and it's already complaining that my inbox is full and I constantly have to delete voicemail - making this worse is I get 3-4 spam calls a day that just leave silent voicemails so it fills up every 2 days or so. Even though I decline unknown callers etc, they still leave voicemail and I can't block them. Also no transcription or anything...anyway, I'm stuck with this phone for the time being and want to know what the best options out there are. Googling this is obviously useless. Thanks for anyone's input!

Hi there!

I've just released a new open-source Android app called DNS Toggle over on IzzyOnDroid (I'm still waiting for it to get added to F-Droid's main repository).

The app adds a quick settings tile to easily toggle your phone's private DNS setting on and off with a single tap!

For those who may not be familiar with this setting, one of the main uses for private DNS is content filtering (ad blocking or simply blocking dangerous domains for security) and better privacy (default DNS providers often track your activity). You can do this for more or less free using services like NextDNS.

The app is built to respect user privacy, so it doesn't store, collect, or share any personal data. I've also built in some optional advanced features that you can access by long-pressing the tile:

• Custom DNS:
  Set your own custom hostname for Private DNS (e.g., dns.adguard.com).
• Wi-Fi Blocklist:
  Automatically disable private DNS when you connect to specific Wi-Fi networks. This comes in handy with public Wi-Fi networks (hotels, cafes, etc.) that rely on DNS tricks to serve a login page, which usually break when private DNS is enabled.
  You can even automate adding/removing Wi-Fi network names (SSIDs) from this list.
• Hide App Icon:
  Because I hate having tons of apps I never actually need to open listed on my phone, I've made it so you can hide the app from the launcher drawer.

⚠️ Permission Required
To modify Private DNS system settings, this app requires the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission. You will be prompted to grant this on rooted devices If your device is not rooted, you can easily grant it manually using this ADB command:

adb shell pm grant com.ericlowry.dnstoggle android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS`

You can check out the source code over on GitHub or get it from IzzyOnDroid.

I built an Android widget that learns your app habits — without sending anything to a server

I had a problem. My home screen was organized chaos: folders for Work, Music, Streaming, Chat, Hobbies. Every evening I’d open the same three folders in the same order just to launch the same handful of apps. I wasn't finding apps — I was repeating a ritual.

My phone already knows what I do and when I do it — it just never puts that knowledge to use. So I built Habits to teach it to repeat what it has already seen.

The constraint: Android only remembers a few days

The predictive feature needs the Usage Access permission. The problem? Android only retains raw usage history for a few days by default. After that, the data is gone.

I needed enough history to recognize actual patterns — not just what I opened yesterday, but what I open at 8 AM on a typical Tuesday. That requires weeks of accumulated history, and Android doesn’t give you that out of the box.

I also wasn't willing to ship app usage logs to a backend. This widget was going to be smart, but only if it could be smart without touching a server.

How it works under the hood

Habits accumulates usage history on the device — timestamps, durations, which apps — storing it for long enough to smooth out noise and detect recurring patterns. A statistical model then correlates the current time slot with past behavior to assign relevance scores to installed apps.

The model balances two signals:

• Long-term habits (default weight: 75%): apps you tend to use at this time of day over the past weeks
• Short-term context (default weight: 25%): apps you opened in the last few minutes, which suggest what you’re about to do next

You can adjust the relative weight of each factor in settings, so the widget adapts to how predictable your routine actually is.

What the widget actually does

• Surfaces apps contextually: morning coffee → news apps, Friday evening → streaming and music
• Customizable grid (columns/rows) directly in widget settings
• Monochromatic icon support natively — no third-party icon packs needed
• Material You dynamic colors, custom backgrounds, adjustable icon sizes
• Pin/exclude apps: keep essentials always visible, hide outliers
• Full icon pack support if that's your setup
• Export/import your history: the usage database can be exported and re-imported on a new device — your model follows you, no lock-in

The honest version (the stuff I'd want to know before installing)

• Usage Access is required — the core feature doesn't work without it. The app prompts for it on first launch.
• No accounts, no IAP, no ads — but also no cloud sync, no server fallback.
• No magic: the predictions are based on patterns in your own history. If your habits are genuinely unpredictable (shift worker? seasonal routine?), the widget won't help much.

Stack

• Kotlin, native Android
• Jetpack Compose + Glance widget
• Apache Commons Math for the statistical model
• Local DataStore for historical usage accumulation

Feedback wanted

This is my first attempt at on-device predictive UX. Two things I'm actively grappling with:

1. Model scope vs. accuracy: I'm deliberately keeping the model narrow (time-based patterns) to avoid permission sprawl. I'd love to hear from others who've tried adding signals like location or calendar overlap — what worked, what broke the battery.

2. Detecting "out of pattern" periods: The model learns habits, but habits break. Vacations, travel, sick days — how do you signal to an on-device model that "this week is different" without adding heavy heuristics or extra permissions? I'm wary of turning this into a full scheduling system, but ignoring those periods makes predictions worse for a chunk of the year.

I'd love to hear from other Android devs — especially anyone who's hit the Android usage history wall or tried on-device prediction.

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nick.applab.habits

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/48011911

I found this very promising app that looks like it can be an alternative to Ferdium, Rambox, Franz, Hamsket.

WebSpace is an app that brings websites and web apps together in one organized, streamlined interface. Any web app you can think off can be used in WebSpace in its own web instance instead of your main web browser. Basically it is a web browser but for web apps you use often and may want running in the background.

For use degoogled users who use website, web apps, PWAs over native apps, this makes using these services much easer.

WebSpace also adds many privacy features such as ad blocking and filtering, cookie isolation, and more.

Also it is written in Flutter! Meaning this could become available on desktop in the future! One app, one codebase for all major OSes!

Check it out and contribute!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47583791

Physical keyboard layouts were optimized for typing with ten fingers. Most virtual keyboards just copy the look of those physical layouts — even though the writing experience is completely different, since on a screen we're really only using one or two thumbs. On top of that, most of these keyboards focus on how the keyboard looks, and pay far less attention to how it sounds and feels.

With Honeyboard, I wanted to explore what it means to redesign a keyboard specifically for screens, and build the best possible writing experience around that. I focused on the essential core features that define what a virtual keyboard actually is:

• Write in your native script. Honeyboard ships with 122 languages and 295 layouts.
• A coherent experience for your senses. Organizational structure, visual, haptic, and auditory feedback all work together to make typing genuinely feel satisfying.
• Adapts to any device. Phone, foldable, or tablet — it looks and works perfectly on all of them, so it feels like a native part of your system.
• Fully local. It runs entirely on-device, with no special permissions required.
• Public domain. The code is contributed to the public domain, with a modular, clear structure, thorough tests, and documentation — so it's easy to contribute to or adapt yourself.

This isn't just another keyboard. It's a vision of what digital typing could look like in the future — and it already works today.

There's still some polishing and optimization to do, especially on the sound design, the layout sources, and the layouting algorithm, but none of that gets in the way of everyday use.

I'd love to hear what you think.

Greetings, would like some recommendations for a good weather app, i'm in Europe if that's a needed criteria.

Tried some and they are hit and miss and some like Windy want way too much personal data

Currently tried:

AccuWeather, Weawow, Weather Underground, Windy,

Looking for apps that aren't that invasive (if there are any) and accurate.

Since EDS client for Android is discontinued, there has not been any Veracrypt clients available until I found these two apps...

https://github.com/jmccoy600/androidCrypt

Pros

• Small app size
• On F-Droid

Cons

• Basic features

https://github.com/AlsatianConsulting/CryptoContainer

Pros

• Many features

Cons

• Not on F-Droid

I hope CrypoContainer gets on F-Droid and both apps get the ability to mount to a directory on the "main internal drive" simular to EDS client. Please help these apps out and spread the word.

I posted a few weeks ago (in ask lemmy) about an android app I was working on. At the time I didn’t have a google play account, but I do now! They allow for internal testers. I thought maybe I'd got some better traffic here.

Well, my post got a little traffic in ask lemmy, but no one volunteered. Here’s the thing though. I can’t find the issues, or crappy workflows, I need someone else to put eyeballs on it. I’m not a big company so I can’t offer much, but I can offer a free copy of the app if that’s a selling point.

Anyway, I’m going to take a real big leap here and just toss the link for testing out in the open.

I have an Amazon Echo Show (1st Generation) that I've installed LineageOS onto and am using it as a desk clock. I'd love to be able to have basic stats displayed on it, such as Masto stats and word count for my writing.

Are there any apps that match that description?

Looking for an Android keyboard with a tab-space function...

Hi all, I've created my first Android app and in order to get it published in the play store, I need some closed beta testers. If anyone would be willing to test out the app I would be very appreciative! The app is a digital adaptation of the card game Kalooki, a Gin/Rummy variant using 2 decks of cards, 2 Jokers and a specific ruleset. You do not need to know anything about the game already, there are tips that display on first-run (can be re-enabled from the settings screen if you want to view them again) as well as a full rules screen from the main menu, and a Quick Reference popup that is available from the game screen itself. To join the closed beta, you will need to join the associated Google Group and then I can add your emails to the tester list - https://groups.google.com/g/kalooki Currently the app is only available in UK/US/NZ/AUS but if there is interest from elsewhere I can expand the beta Thanks!

I've been wanting to Curb my Doom Scrolling Habits as of Recent as I've been wasting waaaay to much time opening the Same Apps 5 Times in 10 Minutes.

One Method thats been Said to Work wonders in that Regard is to have Apps only be accessible after typing in a Password. After doing a bit of Light research it seems I'll need an App for this as I don't wanna deal with Samsungs "Safe Folder" needing a Samsung Account stuff.

Do any of you have Suggestions for Trust Worthy Apps for this?

:schenklradio: Google warnt vor neuer Gefahr für Android-Nutzer

:loading: Google arbeitet an einer neuen, tiefgreifenden Funktion für Android-Nutzer, die den Umgang mit dem Smartphone verändern könnte. Unter dem Namen „Screen Automation“ soll die Gemini-KI in der Lage sein, selbstständig Aktionen in bestimmten Apps auszuführen, wie etwa eine Fahrt buchen oder eine Bestellung aufgeben. Google spricht allerdings auch eine deutliche Warnung aus.

https://www.giga.de/tech/google-warnt-vor-neuer-gefahr-fuer-android-nutzer--01KGMR0J9Z4HK7ANTQ3F2X31V5

@Gigade

@androidapps

All of the music apps I've found are pretty anemic. I just want a nice app with good features to stream my music from my home server.

The best I've found for the TV is Jellyfin, which is... Passable. But it's hard ro search the library to find specific songs or artists, etc. I'd like to have one with good playlist support (maybe even smart playlists?) And easily searchable. It should be able to play a genre, album, artist, easily.

I am willing to move my library from Jellyfin to navidrome, etc. if there is a TV app that is really worth it. Open source is preferred, but actually not absolutely necessary.