Mastodawn

What Are Your Favorite Hidden Gem Android Apps with Less Than 1 Million Downloads and 4+ Star Ratings?

https://reddthat.com/post/8618857

What Are Your Favorite Hidden Gem Android Apps with Less Than 1 Million Downloads and 4+ Star Ratings? - Reddthat

I’m on a quest to discover some of the lesser-known, yet highly-rated Android apps that have managed to stay under the radar. I’m particularly interested in those with less than 1 million downloads and a rating of 4 stars or more. I’m sure there are countless apps out there that are incredibly cool, interesting, or useful, but just haven’t hit the mainstream yet. Maybe it’s a productivity tool that’s boosted your efficiency, a unique game that’s kept you entertained for hours, or a niche app that’s catered perfectly to one of your hobbies or interests. So, my question is: What are some Android hidden gem apps with less than 1 million downloads, more than 4 stars, that you’ve used a bunch or think it’s really cool/interesting/useful? Please share your recommendations, and if possible, a brief description of what the app does and why you find it so valuable. Looking forward to uncovering some hidden treasures in the Android app world. Thanks in advance for your suggestions! As a final note, I will be copying all the responses to c/polls [https://reddthat.com/post/8618848] to create an easy-to-view list of all the recommended apps. This way, we can all benefit from the collective wisdom of this community.

luffylemmy85 Nov 24, 2023

Quillpad notes and Simple calendar

slazer2au Nov 24, 2023

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.boyle.…

Several puzzles in one app, no ads, completely free.

Simon Tatham's Puzzles - Apps on Google Play

40 classic single-player logic puzzles, playable offline, generated on demand

Hobart_the_GoKart Nov 24, 2023

Wow thanks! I play these on desktop all the time. I tried playing them from my phone browser and it wasn’t the same. Didn’t know there was an app! Thank you!

eco_game Nov 25, 2023

Github link incase you want to install it with Obtainium: github.com/chrisboyle/sgtpuzzles

GitHub - chrisboyle/sgtpuzzles: Android port of Simon Tatham's Puzzles

Android port of Simon Tatham's Puzzles. Contribute to chrisboyle/sgtpuzzles development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub

voxel Nov 26, 2023

also available on fdroid

I_Miss_Daniel Nov 24, 2023

Gravity Screen.

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plexnor…

Screen turns off when you put your phone into your pocket. No more pocket dials etc.

Might not work on newest devices.

Gravity Screen - On/Off - Apps on Google Play

Tired of pressing the power button? This app handles that automatically for you.

Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug Nov 24, 2023

I did this with automate, it checks the proximity sensor, then it checks device orientation against set values (so it knows its upside down)

It’s just fun for me to make this logic myself in automate, no real reason to do it this way unless you just WANT to.

LinkOpensChest.wav Nov 24, 2023

www.f-droid.org/…/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/

StreetComplete! You can contribute to OpenStreetMap while walking around and having fun. It’s super fun and satisfying to unlock achievements while contributing to a useful project.

StreetComplete | F-Droid - Dépôt d'applications pour Android libres et open source

Application d’arpentage OpenStreetMap

voxel Nov 24, 2023

yeah this app is not compatible with this device

rustyriffs Nov 24, 2023

I remember that one! I used it for quite a while on one of my old devices

I_Miss_Daniel Nov 24, 2023

Did you replace it with something? Or maybe newer devices are a bit smarter and it’s not necessary.

Thavron Nov 24, 2023

Yeah that’s mainly the reason. Most new phones (I think for at least 5 years now?) Have the function to detect being in a pocket. Mainly through the brightness sensor.

rustyriffs Nov 24, 2023

No, I don’t think I replaced it. If I remember correctly, I think I ended up having some small nitpick with it, so I uninstalled it or did something different. I still remember it fondly, however.

SnokenKeekaGuard Nov 24, 2023

I gotta shout out cloudstream, a streaming alternate. Foss, great app available on f droid.

While i’m on that i’ll add showly there too.

kratoz29 Nov 25, 2023

Both are excellent recommendations, add up Aniyomi too to that list 😆

DashboTreeFrog Nov 24, 2023

Simple Text Editor

FOSS text editor for when you just literally wanna write something down without any weird bloat and without having to deal with Google. Available on F-Droid.

Also, OpenBoard for a FOSS keyboard with swipe typing. Also available on F-Droid

You know what, I think F-Droid is actually my hidden gem app. I’m sure most Lemmy users use it, but I don’t think I know anyone else IRL who does, so hidden gem might not be accurate depending on perspective.

RandomGuy613 Nov 24, 2023

Do you need to root phone to use F-Droid?

rustyriffs Nov 24, 2023

Nope

sock Nov 24, 2023

r ur notes available on every device u log into?

DashboTreeFrog Nov 24, 2023

Nope, just a simple app for writing text files. If you want you can save those files to the cloud but for myself, there’s a lot if times where I just want to draft something quick on my phone and it’s my go to

xttweaponttx Nov 26, 2023

Oh my god thank you!! I’ve been out of luck looking for an open swipe keyboard, I’m so excited you found one and shared it!!! WOOT!

xttweaponttx Nov 26, 2023

On second thought… Seems they haven’t finished their glide type function for release yet, though it’s planned! Are you on a beta version or something to get the swipe function? Or were you talkin the backspace & spacebar swipe gestures? 🙂

DashboTreeFrog Nov 26, 2023

Really? I don’t think I’m using a beta release and I’m glide typing this message. I might have gotten the apk off of Github rather than F-Droid but I honestly don’t remember, been using this keyboard for a few months now.

Magister Nov 24, 2023

As a French guy, this is a gem play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leconju…

Le Conjugueur - Apps on Google Play

All French verb conjugation without Internet.

Otter Nov 24, 2023

Consider crossposting to [email protected]

LinkOpensChest.wav Nov 24, 2023

www.f-droid.org/…/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/

StreetComplete! You can contribute to OpenStreetMap while walking around and having fun. It’s super fun and satisfying to unlock achievements while contributing to a useful project.

StreetComplete | F-Droid - Dépôt d'applications pour Android libres et open source

Application d’arpentage OpenStreetMap

Magister Nov 24, 2023

If you’re a little bit nerd, this is interesting play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.merckgr…

EMD PTE - Apps on Google Play

The periodic table interactive and at a glance – entirely free of charge.

u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)Nov 24, 2023

I prefer this periodic table app: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mendeleev.r…

B4tid0 Nov 24, 2023

Is newpipe a hidden gem? It was to me until 6 months ago.

burgersc12 Nov 24, 2023

This version with sponsorblock is definitely a hidden gem!

GitHub - polymorphicshade/NewPipe: A fork of NewPipe with SponsorBlock functionality.

A fork of NewPipe with SponsorBlock functionality. - polymorphicshade/NewPipe

GitHub

kratoz29 Nov 25, 2023

until 6 months ago.

It depends, how long have you been a Lemmy user?

viking Nov 25, 2023

Been using it for 5 years, back when everybody was hyped up about vanced. Newpipe (especially the fork with sponsorblock) was always superior imho.

B4tid0 Nov 25, 2023

There is a sponsor block version O.O dope. Thanks

Poringo Nov 24, 2023

NeverTooManyBooks.

I have several books cases and shelves where I store books, this has helped me a lot to have a catalogue of them.

I just scan the book code, the app gets book info, and I assign it to a place where it is physically stored, like, bookcase 1 in office room, shelf 3 on main room, etc.

I have it installed from Droid-ify which is like an app to have more sources for f-Droid.

apt.izzysoft.de/…/com.hardbacknutter.nevertoomany…

„NeverTooManyBooks“ – IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

keep track of your books and comics

IzzyOnDroid Repo Browser

SanguinePar Nov 24, 2023

Ooh, saving this for later. I’m gradually reclaiming all our books from storage and this sounds very handy. Thanks for the tip!

Poringo Nov 24, 2023

Also I want to recommend Birday, it is a very simple birthday manager, and you can import birthdays from your calendars.

I intend to use this to remember birthdays and actually call people on their phones.

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.minar.b…

Birday - Birthday Manager - Apps on Google Play

A simple yet useful birthday / event manager. Birday is adfree and open source!

Hobart_the_GoKart Nov 24, 2023

This is incredible. I’ve been looking for something exactly like this. Thank you!!

kratoz29 Nov 25, 2023

Doing inventory of your physical stuff seems like a chore, but a very rewarding one for sure.

This is a pretty neat idea to be honest, I wonder if it exists for other kinds of media?

Baku Nov 25, 2023

Strangely enough I find a bit of joy in doing things like that. I’ve got several books of paperwork I’ve been gradually scanning and organising in a paperless ngx setup. It’s a big hassle that ultimately doesn’t help me much at all (95% of the things in there are random things I could just get rid of and would never miss), but yet I do it anyway, and enjoy doing it

kratoz29 Nov 26, 2023

Yeah, I have actually thought about using paperless as well, but just the idea of beginning keeps me away lol.

I also think it is a chore because inventory used to be one of my work functions in a former job.

Keith Nov 24, 2023

WallMan at the moment

„WallMan“ – IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

Beautiful app to get beautiful wallpapers

IzzyOnDroid App Repo

glennglog22 Nov 24, 2023

Sadly it's not on the playstore anymore, but I've had a free Tetris clone app on my phone for years that has served as a good time killer or a distraction from awkward silence. It's called Tetra Classic. I think you can still find the APK somewhere, hopefully in reputable sources.

mrjfilippo Nov 24, 2023

Falling Lightblocks, available on his own website or GitHub.

kurcatovium Nov 24, 2023

KISS launcher, I can’t imagine using a phone without it.

kratoz29 Nov 25, 2023

Interesting concept, but I just can’t stand the animations that are not from the stock launcher.

xyguy Nov 25, 2023

Kiss is exactly what I want in a launcher. I use it but it seems to crash a lot and/or fail to run the search properly or render my icons.

Have you noticed that at all? It’s happened across 2 phones for me but I may be unlucky or doing something wrong.

kurcatovium Nov 25, 2023

I’m using it for years on 2 phones and it works well. It crashed here and ther, but I’d say it’s about as stable as original one overall. I used to have problem with arcticons, butanual restart helped it. It’s sad you encounter problems.

xyguy Nov 27, 2023

Funny you mentioned articons. I have actually had a lot fewer stability problems when I switched away from articons.

kurcatovium Nov 27, 2023

But they look good and are very minimalistic. Do you know something similar to replace them?

xyguy Dec 1, 2023

I switched to Delta Icons, also open source also on F-Droid. They aren’t as minimalist but they’re neat and flat and pastel.

Delta Icon Pack | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

Minimalistic pastel icon pack for Android

kurcatovium Dec 1, 2023

I’ll give it a try. Although I must admit I’m pretty used to my monochrome setup right now. Will se how it goes.

CCatMan Nov 26, 2023

Need this for my Google TV

Free Palestine 🇵🇸Nov 24, 2023

Droid-ify is a much nicer client for F-Droid.

Obtanium for downloading apps from various other sources.

Aurora Store for anonymously downloading apps from the Play Store without a Google account

LibreTube or NewPipe for watching YouTube videos without ads or tracking.

Seal for downloading YouTube videos.

Retro Music Player - probably the best looking music app for Android.

Pano Scrobbler - a FOSS app for Last.fm, Libre.fm and Listenbrainz. (I recommend Obtanium to download it from GitHub.)

Murglar for downloading Music in full quality from Deezer.

Molly - a better Signal client. (You can use Obtanium to download it from GitHub, you can add their F-Droid repo or download it using Accressent, a new experimental app store that seeks to replace F-Droid.)

Gallery - a simple gallery app that looks good and respects your Material You theme.

Element X is a much better Matrix client than the standard Element app. (I recommend downloading it from GitHub using Obtanium.)

LinkSheet - a small app that restores the old Android URL link chooser. It has many great features like the ability to remove tracking parameters from URLs or using FastForward to annoying bypass URL shorteners.

UntrackMe - a tool that can redirect YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, etc. links to privacy-friendly alternative frontends like Invidious or Piped for YouTube, Nitter for Twitter and LibReddit or Teddit for Reddit

Thunder, the best Lemmy client I ever used.

Most of the apps I mentioned are free and open source and many of them are available on F-Droid. They don’t collect or sell any of your data.

The last one is not an app, but an entire OS that can replace the spyware-infested ROM that’s preinstalled by your phones’ manufacturer. I’m talking about GrapheneOS. No ads, no tracking, no proprietary Google services. Just free and open source software with maximum privacy and security. It’s so great!

Droid-ify | F-Droid - Référentiel d'applications Android libres et open source

Clutterfree F-Droid client

LinkOpensChest.wav Nov 24, 2023

Hi, have you switched to using Accressent? Do you like it more than Droid-ify?

Free Palestine 🇵🇸Nov 24, 2023

It’s in a very early stage of development, it currently only offers 11 apps. I really hope it succeeds though, it has better security than F-Droid so I would love to switch to it once it supports more apps.

LinkOpensChest.wav Nov 24, 2023

I’ll keep an eye on it, thanks!

s38b35M5 Nov 24, 2023

Excellent list

Free Palestine 🇵🇸Nov 24, 2023

I’m glad you like it

s38b35M5 Nov 24, 2023

I didn’t know about most of these, and am playing with several now. Thx!

Free Palestine 🇵🇸Nov 24, 2023

Have fun! I hope some of the tools are useful for you.