So I just got a Moto Razr and am going to start setting it up. I’ve been outside of the android ecosystem for a long time. Can I get some recommendations for anything and everything? I recently read the Nova launcher has gotten much worse since I last used it. I’m also not sure if I should do a launcher or just use the base OS. I know that there are loads of articles out there, but I’m getting really tired of wading through AI gen articles and would love your personal experience.
Thanks in advance!
After using iOS for around 3 years and going back to Android, Android has more simple, pragmatic and free apps.
I like droidify as a store for FOSS apps (comes with several repos enabled by default, including F-Droid and Izzy).
For the basics: Breezy Weather for weather, CoMaps for navigation, Markor or Fossify Notes for notes, Aegis for 2FA, Gadgetbridge for smartwatch.
As for launchers, people like Niagara, but it’s subscription for the pro version. Lawnchair is a classic-style customizable launcher. Other mainsteam apps are pretty much the same as iOS.
I appreciate it! Especially the store recommendation, because wow trying to use the stock store is crazy for me right now. If you switched recently do you mind me asking how you migrated all the saved passwords and such?
I use Sync in Firefox to sync favorites and site passwords, but outside of that, I usually start clean. Sometimes I need to manually copy notes, 2FA keys or such, but mostly I set things up as I need them.
I recently switched, here’s my mega list of awesome apps I found:
app store: F-Droid (for most apps. Droid-ify is a nice client if you want that) / Obtainium (for the apps that aren’t on F-Droid) / Aurora Store (Google Play Store without needing a Google account)
Browsers: Fennec (Firefox from F-Droid basically. Some people like IronFox for privacy reasons but I never used it), or if you want something based on Chromium, Cromite (I don’t use it as I like Firefox-based options and my custom launcher always asks whether I want to use private browsing or not with Cromite and not with Fennec and there is no option to disable this what)
SMS messaging app + contacts: Connect You (lots of people also like Quik SMS)
Dialer: Fossify Phone
Calendar: Etar (Fossify is fine but less functional in my opinion)
To Do List: Tasks(dot)org (syncing with Vikunja, which has support for CalDAV)
Local music player: Auxio / Lotus / CuteMusic (they have different UIs depending on your preference. Currently using CuteMusic but it doesn’t remember your shuffle/loop preferences which is kind of stupid I think, so I might switch to back to Lotus)
PDF reader: MJ PDF (very simple with no fluff)
file explorer: Material Files (the best you can get)
airdrop for everyone and a bit more: LocalSend (it’s cross platform, and there’s even a web version!)
photo gallery: Aves Libre (nice UI and super functional too)
clocks, timers, and alarms: Chrono (note the lack on an s, it’s got Material You theming and everything, very nice indeed)
2FA: Aegis (found out recently that you can enable show the next code! Very cool. Make sure to download the aegis icon pack as it’s not installed by default)
password manager: KeePassDX (I use KeePass on my computer, it only makes sense to use it here. If you use something like Bitwarden that also works)
weather app: Breezy Weather (it’s so fun, you have a bunch of information as well as a pretty cool background that changes depending on the weather)
custom launcher: Kvaesitso (search-based, it’s really good. If you want something more traditional lots of people like Lawnchair)
podcasts: AntennaPod (material you, it simply works!)
maps app: CoMaps (fork of Organic Maps because they weren’t listening to the community or something like that, and it’s already got a couple extra features over it. I also personally think the app icon looks nicer with the compass arrow. If you want something more feature rich OsmAnd has been suggested)
Fediverse apps: Summit (Lemmy, what I’m using right now to type this!), Moshidon (Mastodon), and PeerTube (the official client works fine for me)
YouTube client: LibreTube (Material You, looks really nice)
calculator: yetCalc / CalcYou (Both have scientific calculator functions as well as unit conversion. CalcYou is fun since you can create graphs like Desmos!)
email client: Thunderbird (or K-9 mail if you like red and dogs more than blue and birds)
translator: Offline Translator (works really well, has OCR, fully offline!)
document scanner: OSS Document Scanner (works well and looks nice)
keyboard: HeliBoard (super customisable. I have a larger phone so I have the bottom padding increased. I was also able to switch the position of the special characters to be more similar to the iOS keyboard I’m familiar with! Make sure to enable the dynamic colours since it makes Heliboard look super nice)
voice input for keyboard: FUTO Voice Input / Whisper (the FUTO one will install faster and is better if you only speak English, but Whisper will be better for multi lingual)
DAV5x is used for CalDAV and CardDAV sync.
RSS feeds: CapyReader / Feeder (I use the former since capybaras are cute)
Signal client: Molly (Molly-FOSS is a version that doesn’t use Google’s notification systemm I like Molly, it works well and it’s got some additional features over the standard Signal client. It can be installed through F-Droid, while standard Signal requires using the Google Play Store / Aurora Store, which is another benefit for me since I like F-Droid)
self-hosted stuff: Nextcloud, Immich (file and image backup respectively. I have already mentioned Vikunja with Tasks(dot)org)
Additional tools that are the kind of thing you use occasionally but come in clutch:
Image Toolbox: Has all the cropping, EXIF data editing, collaging, file format conversion, etx. you want (something like over 100 tools, hence “toolbox”)
EtchDroid: Handy if you don’t have your laptop with you and need to flash an ISO to a USB drive
App Manager: Nice to check the package names of each app when using ADB to uninstall bloat
Termux: Terminal basically, I use it for occasionally sshing into my laptop server when I’m out (using Tailscale to access my local network)
Fossify Voice Recorder: Neat if I want to record some audio clips
Saber: I think this is more meant for Android tablets, since it’s for handwritten notes and diagrams. Occasionally useful if I need to draw a quick sketch for something
This is amazing! Thank you so, so much!
No problem!
Biggest recommendation is to install the F-droid app store. Not just because foss ideology, but like, it’s just a great first place to look for any type of app first. Especially simple things like podcast players. The apps may not be as fully featured, but they’re free, ad free, and typically no bs.
For YouTube with no ads, download revanced manager and use it to patch a YouTube apk. I believe the current recommended version is v20.14.43. Use microG to log in to your account.
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/youtube/youtube-20-14-43-release/
Or, newpipe via fdroid works well for yt as well.
Just start with the base launcher. They’re all decent nowadays. If you really want to change it after a while Lawnchair is one of the favorites.
Really though each side is more and more similar. It’s a phone, it isn’t all that different anymore. Phones are boring now.
With the Razr I will say get in the habit of using the outside screen as much as possible.
Thanks, that was what I was thinking. I’m looking forward to getting used to both the new OS and the hardware side of the second outside screen
DO NOT TRUST APPS.
iOS is more strict about “reining in” apps that burn battery tracking/spamming you in the background, but (last time I used it) Android is more unruly. Restrict permissions and backgrounding for everything unless it’s absolutely essential.
I didn’t get if you’re using the preinstalled OS or trying to install a custom ROM? It makes quite the big difference for recommendations
Right now I’m using the stock Moto launcher.
But what OS? Thats not the same as the launcher
Not sure what launcher Moto Razr uses, but in case it is a typical AOSP-like launcher that the other models use (I have used moto Z, mot g 5g+, g85) then you might want to keep it. It is fine as is.
Set up Smart Connect if you like its functionality. Enable Quick Share and maybe Smart tag tracking. Check out gestures and customizations in Moto app. Chop for flashlight and twist for fast camera are my favorites. Been using those since the first motorola I had.
As for apps, Firefox with uBO extention, YT music revanced and YT revanced is a must. Maybe set DNS resolver to something like dns.adguard.com to filter out ads. For Lemmy I suggest Thunder. If you use Linux with KDE, KDE Connect is also quite a tool to have. Other ones choose be by taste.
For a yt music app, you can also use metrolist.
I’m currently a fan of YAM Launcher. I seem to change my launcher every few years, just to mix things up a little. I’ve been using YAML for over a year now and I don’t really think about it. Minimalist, nothing flashy going on, just works.
Stock launcher is fine. Everyone feels the need to be “special” from the general population… Gimme a break 🙄
Nova launcher is still fine. I’ve used most of the others and keep coming back.
