List of free and open-source Android applications

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Android phones, like this Nexus S, allow installation of apps from the Play Store, F-Droid store or directly via APK files.

This is an incomplete list of notable applications (apps) that run on the Android platform which meet guidelines for free software and open-source software.

See also: Ad blocking
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
AdAway Ad blocker No Yes
 GNU GPLv3 L16 / 4.1+
DNS66 Ad blocker No Yes
 GNU GPLv3 L21 / 5.0+
  1. ^ The API column is used to describe which versions of Android each individual application is compatible with. If API column shows "5.1" then the application is compatible with Android version 5.1 or higher; "L7" or "L14" mean specific Android API versions.

Browsers

Main category: Free web browsers
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Brave A Chromium-based web browser with an emphasis on speed, reforming ad blocking, and preventing tracking.[1] Yes No BSD 4.1+ Has in-built ad blocker
Chromium Web browser using Blink engine. No Yes 4.4+ Available via the GPLv3 installer app getChromium[2] (which can be found on F-Droid).[3]
Fennec F-Droid Web browser customizable with add-ons, uses Gecko engine. No Yes[4] MPL 4.1+ Same with Firefox for Android, but some proprietary code removed.
Firefox for Android Web browser customizable with add-ons, uses Gecko engine. Yes
 No[5] MPL 4.1+ Removed from F-Droid
Firefox Focus/Klar Privacy centered browser, uses the Android system webview. Yes
 Yes[6] MPL 5.0+
GNU IceCat GNU Project version of Firefox browser. No Yes[7] MPL 2.0 4.0.3+ IceCat contains features not found in mainline Firefox release and eschews all usage of proprietary components.
Orfox / Tor Browser Mozilla-based browser enhanced for use on Tor anonymity network Yes Yes[8] MPL 4.0.3+ Available in F-Droid by activating the extra Guardian Project repository[9]

Communication

Main category: Free communication software
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
ConnectBot SSH, telnet, and terminal emulator Yes Yes Apache 2.0 1.5+
CSipSimple SIP & VoIP client Yes
 Yes
 GPLv3 1.6+
Jitsi Videoconferencing and instant messenger No Pending LGPLv2.1 ? Android version is experimental Alpha release.
K-9 Mail Advanced email client Yes
 Yes
 Apache 2.0 2.2+ Supports OpenPGP integration with OpenKeychain
Linphone Video SIP/VoIP client Yes
 Yes GPLv2 2.2+
Sipdroid SIP/VoIP client Yes
 Yes
 GPLv3 2.0+ works on 1.5
WordPress Official WordPress client Yes No GPLv2 2.3+

Privacy/security focused

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
APG OpenPGP and key management Yes
 Yes
 Apache 2.0 1.5+ OpenKeychain available as more up-to-date alternative
Briar Peer-to-peer encrypted messaging and forums Yes Yes GPLv3 4.0+
Conversations Federated encrypted instant messaging and group chat Yes Yes GPLv3 4.0+ Interoperable with any Jabber/XMPP clients. End-to-end encryption using OMEMO, OpenPGP (and OTR for versions under 2.0 and the legacy version).
GNU Ring Softphone and messenger utilizing DHT and strong cryptography Yes[10] Yes[11] GPLv3 ?
I2P Anonymizing network layer ? Yes
 Apache 2.0 2.3+ Alpha release; do not rely upon it for strong anonymity. I2P also maintain their own F-Droid repo.[12]
Lantern Peer-to-peer internet censorship circumvention Apache 2.0
OpenKeychain OpenPGP and key management Yes
 Yes
 GPLv3 Integrates with K-9 Mail.
Orbot Client and proxy for Tor anonymity network Yes
 Yes
 BSD/GPL 1.6+
Psiphon Client for internet censorship circumvention system Yes No GPLv3 ?
Signal Encrypted instant messaging, voice and video calling Yes No GPLv3 2.3+ Also available for iOS. The Android client is a merger of the former TextSecure and RedPhone apps.[13] Use proprietary libraries.[14]
Surespot Encrypted instant messaging Yes Yes/No GPLv3+ Also available for iOS. F-Droid build is based on forked repo
Telegram Client for cloud-based messaging platform Yes Yes/No GPLv2 2.2+ Also available for iOS. F-Droid build is based on forked repo.[15] Server use closed source software.
Tox peer-to-peer instant-messaging Yes Repo GPLv3+ 4.0+ Alpha release
Wire Encrypted instant messaging, voice and video calling Yes No GPLv3 Also available for iOS, Windows and OS X. Server use closed source software.

Emulators

Main category: Free emulation software
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Dolphin Nintendo GameCube and Wii No
 Yes
 GPLv2+ 5.0+ Requires device with support for arm64-v8a ABI and OpenGL ES 3 or above
Mupen64Plus Nintendo 64 emulator Yes Yes GPLv3 2.0+ Unofficial port as Mupen64 Plus AE.
openMSX MSX Yes No GPLv2+
PPSSPP PlayStation Portable Yes
 Yes GPLv2+ 2.3+
RetroArch Emulates multiple platforms Yes Removed GPLv3[16] 2.3+
ScummVM Emulates multiple gaming engines Yes
 Yes
 GPLv2 1.5+
VICE Commodore hardware Yes
 No GPLv2

Games

See also: List of open-source video games
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
2048 Mathematics sliding block puzzle Yes [1] Yes[2] MIT 2.2+ Port of 2048
Angband Text-based roguelike Yes No GPLv2 ?
Battle for Wesnoth Turn-based strategy game in a fantasy setting Partial No GPLv2 2.3+ Ported to Android with SDL
Brogue Roguelike No No GPLv3 ?
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup Roguelike Yes
 No GPLv2+ Text-based version also available
Fish Fillets NG Underwater puzzle game. Yes No GPLv2 1.6+ Port of Fish Fillets NG
Freeciv A turn-based strategy game similar to Sid Meier's Civilization Yes No GPLv2 2.0+
Frozen Bubble Knock the bubbles down by making clusters of three or more bubbles in the same color. Yes
 Yes
 GPLv2 1.6+ Port of Frozen Bubble
GLtron Lightcycle racing game. Yes
 Yes
 GPLv2 2.2+ Port of GLtron
H-Craft Championship SciFi 3D racing game. Yes No
 zlib 3.2+ Media is proprietary, but free for personal use.
OpenArena First person shooter similar to Quake 3 (see: id Tech 3) Yes No GPLv2 1.6+ Unofficial port by "pelya" using SDL 1.2[17]
OpenTTD Business simulation game similar to Transport Tycoon Deluxe Yes No GPLv2 1.6+ pelya SDL port[17]
OpenTyrian Vertical shoot 'em up Yes No GPLv2 1.6+ pelya SDL port[17]
robotfindskitten A "Zen Simulation" Yes
 Yes
 GPL 1.6+
Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection Collection of puzzle games Yes
 Yes
 MIT 2.1+
Warmux A turn-based artillery game Yes No GPLv2 2.0+

General

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Dasher Accessible text-input method Yes Yes GPLv3 ? Also available for iOS
Google IO App for Google IO conference Yes No Apache 2.0 4.0
OpenLP Worship presentation software Yes Yes GPLv2 ?
ownCloud Client for synchronization server Yes Yes GPLv2 4.0+
Nextcloud Client for synchronization server Yes Yes GPLv2 4.0+
The White House The official White House app Yes No MIT 2.2+

Multimedia

Main category: Free multimedia software
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
AntennaPod Podcatcher Yes Yes MIT 2.3.3+
Kodi (formerly XBMC) Media player and center Yes No GPLv2+ Multi
NewPipe YouTube and SoundCloud Client No Yes GPLv3+ ?
Popcorn Time Media player utilizing BitTorrent protocol No No GPLv3+
(AGPL exception)[18]		 ? In Nov. of 2015 PopcornTime.io ceased operations after court order from the MPAA issued in Canada.[19]
Ringdroid Ringtone maker Yes
 Yes
 Apache 2.0 4.1+
Rockbox Media player ? ? GPLv2+ ?
Tribler Decentralized video sharing Yes No LGPL v2.1+ 3.0+
Tux Paint Simple drawing program for children Non-free Yes GPLv2 ? Version on Google Play is published by a 3rd-party & contains proprietary ad libraries in violation of upstream developers' license
VLC Media player Yes
 No GPLv2+ 2.1+
Wikimedia Commons Client for free media repository Yes Yes
 Apache 2.0 2.3+ Original no longer maintained.[20] Community developed fork has attempted to revive project[21]

Navigation

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Avare GPS aviation application Yes
 Yes Apache 2.0 2.2+
MAPS.ME Offline mapping using OpenStreetMap data Yes Yes Apache 2.0
Mozilla Stumbler Data gathering for Mozilla Location Service Yes Yes MPL2 2.3.3+
OsmAnd Offline mapping using OpenStreetMap data Yes Yes GPLv3 2.3+ Only parts of the software are available at no cost, this cause the software to get a few arbitrary limitation as limited portion maps of openstreetmap may be loaded. There is an unlimited paid version.

Reading

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
DuckDuckGo Widget for privacy focused search engine Yes Yes Apache 2.0 2.2+
FBReader e-book reader Yes
 Yes
 GPL 1.5+
iFixit Official iFixit reader Yes Yes GPLv3 2.2+
Kiwix Offline Wikipedia reader Yes Yes GPLv3 4.0+
MuPDF PDF and XPS viewer Yes Yes AGPL 2.2+
Wikipedia Access to Wikipedia Yes Yes GPLv2 2.2+
Wiktionary Client for crowd-sourced dictionary Yes Yes GPLv2 2.2+
XOWA Offline Wikipedia reader Yes No AGPLv3 4.4+

Science and Education

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
BOINC Participate in distributed grid computing initiatives Yes No LGPL/GPLv3+[22] 2.3+
Galaxy Zoo Classify galaxies in crowdsourced astronomy project Yes Yes GPLv3 3.0+
GCompris Educational activity suite for children aged 2–10 Yes No GPLv3 ? Member project of KDE
micro:bit Interact with a micro:bit device via Bluetooth Yes[23] No[24] Apache 2.0[25] ? Developed by Samsung.[26] Depends on proprietary Google frameworks.[24]
PressureNET Crowd-sourced barometer network Yes No GPLv3 Multi
SageMath Client for mathematical software Yes Yes GPLv3 2.0+
Sugar environment One Laptop per Child learning platform Yes Yes Apache 2.0 2.3.3+ Ported as Sugarizer.

Security

Main category: Free security software
Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
Google Play F-Droid
Haven Monitoring system to protect against evil maid attacks Yes Yes[27] GPLv3 4.1+ Developed by Edward Snowden under the auspices of The Guardian Project, and Freedom of the Press Foundation[28]
KeePassDroid Password manager Yes Yes GPLv3 1.5+ Port of KeePass
PasswdSafe Password manager Yes
 Yes
 Artistic License 2.0 1.6+
Prey Anti-theft and monitoring Yes No GPLv3 4.0+

Utilities

Application name Description Availability License API[a] Note
APK Google Play F-Droid
Barcode Scanner Barcode and QR Code reader Yes Yes Apache 2.0 4.0.3+
Impress Remote Presentation remote control for LibreOffice ? Yes Partial MPL2[29] 2.3+

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The API column is used to describe which versions of Android each individual application is compatible with. If API column shows "5.1" then the application is compatible with Android version 5.1 or higher; "L7" or "L14" mean specific Android API versions.

References

  1. ^ Brave overview
  2. ^ https://github.com/andDevW/getChromium
  3. ^ https://f-droid.org/app/com.anddevw.getchromium
  4. ^ "Fennec F-Droid". F-Droid. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Firefox". f-droid.org. F-Droid. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  6. ^ "Firefox Klar". f-droid.org. F-Droid. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Firefox Klar". f-droid.org. F-Droid. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Guardian Project Fdroid repo". guardianproject.info. Guardian Project. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  9. ^ "F-Droid wiki page on known repositories". f-droid.org. F-Droid. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  10. ^ Ring on Play Store
  11. ^ Ring on F-Droid
  12. ^ https://f-droid.i2p.io/repo/
  13. ^ Greenberg, Andy (2 November 2015). "Signal, the Snowden-Approved Crypto App, Comes to Android". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  14. ^ "FOSS gradle build flavor · Issue #6568 · WhisperSystems/Signal-Android". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  15. ^ https://github.com/Telegram-FOSS-Team/Telegram-FOSS
  16. ^ RetroArch / COPYING. github.com. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  17. ^ a b c https://github.com/pelya/commandergenius
  18. ^ Popcorn Time Foundation. android / LICENSE.md. git.popcorntime.io. Retrieved 19 August 2015. Archived September 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Gardner, Eriq (3 November 2015). "MPAA Touts Big Legal Success Against Popcorn Time". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 November 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ Hartman, Derk-Jan WikimediaMobile Pulling the Commons app lists.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  21. ^ "Commons mobile app". commons.wikimedia.org. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  22. ^ Anderson, David Pope (8 August 2008). "boinc / COPYING". github.com. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
    Rom Walton (7 November 2015). "boinc / README.md". github.com/BOINC/boinc. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  23. ^ "micro:bit application page on Google Play".
  24. ^ a b "Request for adding the official BBC micro:bit application". 2018-07-26. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  25. ^ "License text in source code repository". Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  26. ^ "Samsung Launches the Official BBC micro:bit App". 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  27. ^ https://guardianproject.info/fdroid/
  28. ^ https://freedom.press/news/introducing-haven-open-source-security-system-your-pocket/
  29. ^ F-Droid - Impress Remote. f-droid.org. Retrieved 3 September 2015.


External links

There are a number of third-party maintained lists of open-source Android applications, including:

  • PRISM Break, curated list of security focused open-source alternatives.
  • Droid-Break, curated list of general purpose open-source alternatives. Inspired by PRISM-break.
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