The Play store is full of garbage where even basic apps have a ton of ads or even malware, one of the best things that Android has is the support for FOSS apps, free, open source, no shady malware or ads, just apps that do exactly what is on the tin. I’ve compiled a list but open to your suggestions too!
These are all open source, the code is available to analyse and extremely safe. I would recommend installing the first one and search the apps but have also provided github links to the rest.
1: Droid-Ify : This is the place to start, it is like a Play Store alternative but for FOSS apps, lets you install and update apps from github repos and even search the popular ones, recommended for sure!
You can build the source or just download the APK from their releases page
2: Mindful : Wellbeing app made by an Indian dev, stops you from mindlessly scrolling youtube shorts and insta reels after a time limit, no ads, no nonsense just pure functionality and a gorgeous UI design!
app is available on the play store
3: OuterTune : Material Design 3 based Youtube Music alternative, no ads, lyrics work, great smooth interface and just all around fantastic
4: Aegis : 2 Factor Authentication app similar to Authy / Google Authenticator, save your 2fa codes but also securely export them and restore if you switch phones, honestly a must have imo
5: Aves : Really fast gallery app that has built in video player
- Seal : Fantastic app to download videos from fb / insta / reddit / etc
- NewPipe : Alternative to YouTube, no ads
- MJ PDF : Fast free foss pdf reader so you dont need that shitty adobe bloat just to open a bloody pdf doc!
9: TrackerControl : Lets you block apps from sending receiving tracking data, also ads blocked, very robust but takes a long time to configure
10: Unchained : Real Debrid client, for downloading or streaming your RD content
11: Tasks.org : Task List with widget support, can use Dav5x to sync to Next cloud for great note syncing
Please add yours too!