Personalising Android

Introduction

This is meant in large part as a reference to myself but others may find useful. I switched from apple to android phones a few years ago and am very happy to have done so, I prefer the android ecosystem much better. The only thing I still miss about apple is their convenient AirDrop feature and Safari’s ability to view pdf files in the browser without having to download them. I owned a Ulefone Armor 9, which had a custom OS from the manufacturer with some awesome features (having a sim card slot for extra storage, and especially the ability to regulate wifi and cellular access of each app individually through settings) but also some annoying quirks.

I then switched to an Oppo Find X5 Pro which is a marvellous phone that I would recommend to anyone and is still what I use to this day. The phone uses ColorOS, which I quite like. I have considered switching to a more secure, open source option such as Graphene or Calyx OS but their limited availability (only work on specific phone models) means that I haven’t had the chance to play around with them yet.

Setup

The first step when you (/I) get a phone is to go through the setting methodically and change every single option to your liking (privacy settings, dark theme, display settings etc etc). Enable developer settings to allow file trasfer via usb.

Download F-droid. Disable playprotect and download Aurora from f-droid as a replacement frontend for the google play store. Uninstall /disable all apps that you do not need. Download a VPN (PIA used to be my choice but currently have a personal VPS set up and use wireguard). Download Keepass2Android Offline, transfer .kbdx password file from computer via usb, use to get all account passwords. While you’re at it, transfer any important files you may need. Download “App Manager - Android package manager” (version 3.1.0 is broken for me but 3.0.4 works). This is a useful tool for further purging your phone of google bloatware.

Uninstall the stock browser and install Bromite from F-droid (based on chromium, has an inbuilt adblocker and darkmode, great browser). Download youtube Revanced (or Newpipe if you prefer) and use it instead of stock youtube.

Personalisation

Download all the apps you may find useful (I will mention some favourites later on) from aurora and f-droid.

I recommend using a custom launcher as it makes your system a lot prettier. I use Nova launcher together Arcticons Dark for my icons. Download LWP+ to set up custom android dynamic colours. I also use “Digital Clock Widget” as a nice clock widget for my home screen. My system currently looks like this:

There is only one screen worth of apps that you use often, and if you disagree then you are in denial. The others can be accessed by swiping upwards and using the app search bar. Text clutters the home screen and makes it look messy so I prefer to just have icons. Customise the quick setting dropdown menu to your liking:

I have notifications disabled for all but a few apps. This is of course a personal preference but I much prefer my phone this way.

Apps

A list of some of the apps I find useful. Where possible I try to avoid adware and aim for maximum functionality, FOSS apps are ideal.

• Aliucord (github) - An alternate discord client that supports some customisation and plugins, can be run alongside the standard discord app (which can also be duplicated with an app cloning program) for easy use of multiple discord accounts simultaneously.

• App Manager Android package manager (f-droid) - Package manager for removing bloatware.

• Audio extractor (play store) - Extract audio from video files. Not the nicest app but gets the job done. Haven’t been able to find a FOSS alternative.

• Aurora (f-droid) - Privacy-focused play store frontend.

• Book Reader (f-droid) - Can read djvu and epub files which the native pdf reader can’t do. Nice and simple.

• Bromite (github) - Browser, very nice.

• CalcES (play store, get a cracked apk online) - Best phone calculator imo. Can download a cracked pro version apk from online.

• Croc (f-droid) - Convenient tool for transferring large files from computer to phone and vice versa in case you don’t have a USB cable on hand.

• F-droid (github) - FOSS application store.

• Imagepipe (f-droid) - Draw on images, smudge tool, greyscale, rotate, some basic useful features. FOSS but less functionality than iMarkup:

• iMarkup (play store, get a cracked apk online) - Very useful image editing and markup tool, allows you to blur, add text, objects, overlay other images and a lot more.

• Keepass2Android Offline (play store or github)- Password manager based on keepass.

• LWP+ (play store) - Custom android dynamic colours utility.

• microMathematics Plus (f-droid) - computer algebra system and more advanced features for mathematics.

• Revanced (github) - better version of youtube vanced, blocks ads, returns youtube dislike button, and countless more features.

• Semitone (f-droid) - Tuner, piano and metronome application.

• SpotiQ (play store, get a cracked apk online) - Best simple equaliser application I have found, sadly no good FOSS alternatives.

• TapBPM (play store) - Tap with finger to determine BPM, useful for taking heartrate and seeing BPM of a song.

• Termux (f-droid) - Terminal emulator, high functionality.

• VLC (f-droid) - Video and audio player, supports every format under the sun, high functionality.

• Voice Pitch Analyser (play store) - Analyses voice pitch.

• Video Compressor (play store, get a cracked apk online) - Video compressor, basically the android equivalent of handbrake (ok not quite), can also extract audio from videos, sadly not FOSS (you could also use ffmpeg directly through terminal if you are a psychopath)

• YAAB and Pixel Filter (f-droid) - Both are for reducing screen brightness to lower than what your phone natively allows.

I hope that was useful, thanks for reading :)