Is there any proprietary Android app for which you wish there would be an open-source alternative?
Is there any proprietary Android app for which you wish there would be an open-source alternative?
Basically, what the title says. Do you use any app, that is proprietary, but either has no OSS alternatives or they're all not good enough? If there is an alternative, what keeps you from switching?
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There are so many. By usage however:
Smart Audiobook Player: None of the apps I tried had all the features in one, like reading my complex audiobooks folder structure and auto grouping the books based on that. Timer to pause audiobook that is automatically reset by moving the phone.
Maps: No foss solutions work better where I live than GMaps
YTMusic: So this is a tough one to beat because of the nature of the platform itself.
Notes: I am looking for a P2P syncable note app that can also have a web interface or atleast a Linux version of the App. Allows drawing your notes on an android phone or tablet using stylus, and other usual features. Can also use cloud storage as a backup or sync source. I know this one is a really tall order.
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If you live in an area that's missing the data, it doesn't matter how good the app is. I regularly upload in my area, but it will be years before it is reliable as a primary app. I usually search in Organic Maps first, then in Google Maps. OSM gets me where I need about 10-20% of the time at most. Google Maps is about 99%.
There are multiple front-ends for YT Music. Song Tube is good, Libre Tube is good, Inner Tune, Musify, Vibe You, etc. I haven't used them all so I can't testify to them, but it is a deep bench.
There are always people claiming Organic Maps or other OSM apps are perfect replacements for GMaps and I'm just curious what other tool these people were using for location based searches. Because it apparently wasn't GMaps?
If you live in a big liberal city with a lot of tech people, then you probably have a really well organized team creating detailed maps. In that case, there's no reason to think that Google is any better than osm. In a lot of cases it's worse, especially for walking and cycling.
If you're in a smaller, poorer city or a rural area, there's a good chance that 80% or 90% of the addresses are just not there yet. Compare this random park in Berkeley, CA with labels for individual trees to this neighborhood in nearby Stockton, CA, which is assuredly more than 3-4 houses.
OSM usability really depends on where you live.
OSMand is amazing for the most part but trying to locate a business is next to impossible. Then if you do, the store hours are either not there or incorrect. I'm trying real hard to make it my primary map app but too often I find myself having to open google maps in the end.
Edit: They also combined Caravan POI's with Tourist destinations, which really really fucked things up for people wanting to just see those and not thousands of other locations they want nothing to do with. Why are churches also mixed in there too? Makes no damn sense.
Yeah, Osm is really good where I live, actually sometimes better/more up to date than Google Maps but finding businesses is more difficult.
I resolve this for my self by going to the website of the business, finding the address and putting it manually into Osm. Yes it's more work but it works and is worth it for me.
I use OSMand alongside GMaps WV (a webview for Google Maps, wipes all data automatically after closing). Works well enough for me, but in GMaps you can't rotate the map or provide your location
They also combined Caravan POI's with Tourist destinations, which really really fucked things up for people wanting to just see those and not thousands of other locations they want nothing to do with. Why are churches also mixed in there too? Makes no damn sense.
You can edit those out, though I agree them being there by default is fucking stupid, full stop
@Sir_Kevin Have you ever corrected the incorrect store hours?
Not while driving a 30 foot RV in the middle of the night, no.
@Sir_Kevin missing the point on purpose?
Yes you're missing the point. If I'm on the freeway in the middle of the night and take an exit to some town I've never been to only to find out the location is closed the app has failed. I needed accurate information in that moment. Not years later when the community gets around to correcting the hours. I absolutely need to be able to depend on the data the app is presenting. If I can't I'm not going on a crusade to fix all the errors, I'm using a different app.
@Sir_Kevin I never said "Have you ever corrected the store hours while driving off a highway in another city" - obviously that would be a stupid question, don't assume I'm stupid. I asked if you ever came back home, rested in front of Netflix and opened the app to update the store hours that you noticed during the day - because that's the only way they will be updated, and if you aren't doing it, then somebody will have to do it for you, so you owe them.
I fucking owe them??? They presented me with wrong info and wasted my time, fuel and stress. I don't owe anyone shit! Make a good product and I will gladly pay for it. Send me off to a dead end, I owe nothing. What kind of stupid ass logic is that? Fuck out of here. That argument is fine if we're talking about a video game or some shit. What if we were trying to find a hospital?
I'll mention organic maps and rimusic.
There's a lot of FOSS music apps that just use YTMusic, like ViMusic or the ones other people mentioned in their replies. For maps, I use Organic Maps, the only thing I feel like is missing from it is traffic jams but I think you can see why that would be hard to add. It does have features that Google Maps doesn't have tho.
For ytmusic you can try innertune
Logseq and syncthing could work for your notes. Logseq has a whiteboard feature that can be used with a stylus, and syncthing is p2p.
I use audiobookshelf. You need to have some (self hosted or not) server to use the client, but I find that software incredibly well made.