Category: Uncategorized

Go FOSS: Android

homegrowntechie

This past year I’ve made some great strides in relying more off FOSS (Free and Open Source Software). A few reasons for moving toward an all-foss software stack are:

  • Free – Of course we like free! I wanted to avoid monthly subscriptions for simple services.
  • Privacy – I’d prefer to not have my data on large company servers – Also why I prefer Self-Hosting.
  • Auditable code – I don’t often audit the code, but on occasion I do!
  • Contributable code – If i want a feature, I can contribute it – or easily request it on a git repository

To aid my future self (and others) in moving more toward FOSS alternatives, I’ve began compiling a list of FOSS android apps on github.

For the most up to date list see: https://github.com/meichthys/go_foss_android

For reference, here is the list as of 2024-01-16:

📱 My FOSS Andriod Apps

After much search and peril I have compiled this list which I believe to be the best set of FOSS Android apps that support my (and hopefully most people’s) full software requirements.

⚠️ This list does not try to list ALL foss android apps (see offa/android-foss), but rather the best app in each category that fits <i>my</i> daily use case.

📋 The List

App Type Shields Permission<sup>1</sup> Notes
Obtainium App Store GitHub Repo stars GitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🌐<br />🔔 Use this to Install the rest
AndBible Bible GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🌐<br />🔔
Firefox Browser GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📷📍🎤🌐🔔 Extensions make this browser very powerful – and we need Firefox to survive!
SimpleCalendar Calendar GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🗓️🔔📇 Nice compact month view<br />Use with DavX5
OpenCamera Camera SourceForge Last CommitSourceForge Downloads 📷🎤 Currently No FOSS cameras support live/motion photos
Nextcloud Cloud Storage GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📷🌐🔔 Requires DAV Server (Nextcloud)
FairEmail Email GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🗓️📇🌐🔔 So. Many. Features.
DavX<sup>5</sup> DAV Sync GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🗓️📇🌐🔔 Requires DAV Server (Nextcloud)<br />Use with Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks
Desktop Integration GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🗓️📇📂🌐🔔📞
OSSDocumentScanner Document Scanner GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📷🌐
SimpleFileManager File Manager GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub License 📂
Aves Gallery GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🌐🖼️
OpenBoard Keyboard GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📇
Kvaesitso Launcher GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🗓️📇📍🌐 Also seethis great comparison of other foss launchers.
Signal Messaging GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📷📇📍🎤🌐🔔📞🖼️
NextcloudNotes Notes GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🌐 Requires Nextcloud Server<br /><br /><br />Non-Server Alternative: OmniNote
Bitwarden Password Manager GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📷🌐🔔 Requires Bitwarden Server Instance (SeeVaultwarden)
SimpleDialer Phone / Dialer GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📷📇🎤🌐🔔📞
AudioBookshelf Podcast / AudioBooks GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🌐 RequiresAudiobookshelf Server Instance<br /><br /><br />Non-Server Alternative: Podverse
Nextcloud News RSS Reader GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🌐🔔 Requires Nextcloud instance<br /><br />Non-Server Alernative: ReadYou
QKSMS SMS GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📇🌐🔔📞 Project may be abandoned(?)
Tasks Tasks GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 🗓️📍🌐🔔 Use with DavX5 to sync CalDav Tasks
omWeather Weather GitHub Repo starsGitHub LicenseGitHub last commit (branch) 📍🌐 Extended Forecast & Radar
  1. 🗓️:Calendar 📷:Camera 📇:Contacts 📂:Files 📍:Location 🎤:Microphone 🌐:Network 🔔:Notifications 📞:Phone 🖼️:Photos/Videos

📢 Acknowledgements

Much of my perilous search was improved by the following resources:

🛠️ Contributing

Contributions are welcome, but please keep in mind, this list is an ‘opinionated’ list on which I will make the final determination. Suggestions for different apps are highly recommended since I may have missed some apps (or app features) in my perilous search.

🗒️ License: MIT

~ If you had to guess, what percentage of software that you use is FOSS? My rough estimate is about 80%.

Free and OpenSource Photo Libraries

homegrowntechie

Overview

In my quest to reduce my reliance upon proprietary software applications, I’ve begun to focus some more time in finding a good Google Photos or Apple Photos alternative. As began looking at the alternatives, I discovered that there were way more options that I had originally anticipated. Each alternative had a different feature set and I found it difficult to compare the different options. To solve this dilemma for myself (and hopefully for many others), I’m compiling a list of free and open source photo libraries that can be self-hosted or run locally without any need for cloud services.

Google/Apple Photos Alternatives

My alternative comparison list looks like the following (Be sure to visit the github repository for the most up to date comparison.

** This page was last updated on 2023-06-05

Free and OpenSource Photo Libraries

There are many great free and open-source alternatives to paid photo libraries. This project aims to track and compare the feature set between the many different options with a focus on ‘Gratis’ (free as in free beer) open source photo libraries. ‘Libre’ (free as in free speech) projects are also welcome, but will likely need to be submitted via a pull request since the time in testing each different project is significant.

Comparison

✅ = Feature exists in at least a limited fashion
🚧 = Feature may exist but may not be practical or officially released
❌ = Feature does not yet exist
#️⃣ = Subjective measure of feature quality (on scale of 0-10)
Tip: Hover over icons for missing/incomplete features for more information (link to repository issue, etc)
Feature Damselfly HomeGallery Immich Librephotos Lychee Nextcloud Photos Nextcloud Memories Photonix Photofield PiGallery2 Photoprism Photoview Piwigo
Github Stars ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Active Contributors 1 1 4 2 3 3 1 1 1 1 4 1 3
Source Language C# JavaScript / TypeScript Dart / TypeScript Python PHP JavaScript PHP / Vue Python Go / Vue TypeScript Go Typescript / Go PHP
License ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Demo ❌ ✅6️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ✅4️⃣ ✅4️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅9️⃣
Freeness ✅🔟 ✅🔟 ✅🔟 ✅🔟 ✅🔟 ✅🔟 ✅🔟 ✅🔟 ✅🔟 ✅🔟 🚧7️⃣ ✅🔟 ✅🔟
Automatic Mobile Upload ❌ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅6️⃣ ❌ ✅7️⃣
Web App ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣
Android App ❌ ❌ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ✅3️⃣ ✅3️⃣ ✅4️⃣ ❌ ❌ 🚧4️⃣ 🚧3️⃣ ✅7️⃣
iOS App ❌ ❌ ✅8️⃣ 🚧3️⃣ ❌ ✅3️⃣ ✅3️⃣ ✅4️⃣ ❌ ❌ 🚧4️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅7️⃣
Desktop App ✅9️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅2️⃣ ✅2️⃣ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
LivePhotos Support ❌ ❌ ✅9️⃣ ❌ ✅6️⃣ ✅️3️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ❌
Video Support ❌ ✅6️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ✅3️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅4️⃣
Photo Map ✅7️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅4️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ❌ ✅8️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣
Photo Discovery ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅6️⃣ ❌ ✅1️⃣
Albums ❌ ❌ ✅8️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅4️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ❌ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣
Slideshow ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅5️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ❌ ✅6️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ❌ ✅5️⃣
Timeline ✅5️⃣ ✅3️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ❌ ✅4️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅3️⃣
Photo Sharing ❌ ❌ ✅4️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ❌ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅5️⃣
Photo Search ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ✅4️⃣ ✅4️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅5️⃣ ✅7️⃣
Duplicate Handling ❌ ❌ ✅6️⃣ ❌ ❌ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ❌ ❌ ✅5️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ❌ ✅6️⃣
User Defined Tags ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ❌ ✅5️⃣ ✅️3️⃣ ✅️3️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ❌ ✅5️⃣ ❌ ✅7️⃣
Docker Installation ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣
Object/Face Recognition ✅8️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ❌ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅5️⃣
Basic Editing ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅6️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
EXIF Data ✅9️⃣ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ✅8️⃣ ✅7️⃣ 🚧3️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ✅6️⃣
Multiple User Support ✅7️⃣ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ✅8️⃣ ✅6️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅9️⃣ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ✅7️⃣ ❌ ✅6️⃣ ✅8️⃣

Note: This list is by no means comprehensive. For links to other photo library projects, see the Awesome Self-Hosted list and the Awesome Privacy list.

An HTML version of this comparison table is here: https://meichthys.github.io/foss_photo_libraries/

Contributing

Please contribute additions and corrections! When contributing, please add links to the source of the information. (i.e. link to an issue that indicates that a feature does not exist)

~ Don’t give away your photos to the largest data collection entities in the world! Your photos document your life better than any other kinds of data. Pictures are worth more than a thousand words to advertisers!

Bad Chrome Bad!

homegrowntechieLeave a comment

Overview

I’ve never been a big fan of the Chrome browser because of it’s privacy implications, but I’ve also begrudgingly have had to use it on occasion for certain web services like some video chat services that don’t work on other browsers.

Situation

Today I was updating my wife’s macbook when I realized her machine was almost out of storage space (also probably why things were a bit sluggish). After looking at the storage settings it became apparent that over 23GB of storage was being used by none other than Google Chrome!

Bad Chrome, that’s un-called for! Looking at the .app bundle it became immediately apparent that Chrome was hoarding old versions of itself!

6 years of Chrome versions!

Wow, I’m not sure if I should be impressed that the same Chrome .app bundle survived 6 years on the mac or if I should be ashamed of myself for letting it survive that long 🤷‍♂️. Either way, it was time to clean house. After deleting all but the most recent version folder we reclaimed almost all of the storage originally claimed by Chrome.

Moral of the Story

The moral of the story is:

  • Chrome doesn’t clean up after itself like I would expect the #1 market share browser should.
  • I need to bit the bullet and ditch chrome for good one of these days 😝
  • It might be a good idea to remove .app bundles and re-download them on occasion to re-fresh things – who knows what else could have been floating around in there for the past 6 years!