These 9 Android apps can’t be downloaded from the Google Play Store

Part of the beauty of the Android platform lies in its relative openness. Google’s mobile phone and tablet operating system is rooted in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), with documentation and source code available for anybody to sift through.

Another major Android perk comes in the form of its software distribution model — though Google would prefer you to discover, download, and install apps via its own Play Store, there are other ways to get apps up and running on the OS.

A number of alternative Android app stores are available on the market, and the ability to sideload (bypass storefronts altogether) is also possible on the platform. Notable app stores include the Samsung Galaxy Store, the Amazon App Store, the Epic Games Store, among others.

Perhaps the most ubiquitous non-Google app marketplace of them all is F-Droid, which offers access to repositories filled with free and open-source (FOSS) Android software. F-Droid is a reputable source for high-quality mobile apps, many of which can’t be found anywhere else. Here are nine of my personal favorites.

1 Droid-ify

A far more attractive F-Droid experience

Droid-ify

As an F-Droid client, Droid-ify focuses on providing a clean Material Design-inspired user interface, as well as fast repository syncing and updating.

Through the F-Droid application itself, you can actually download a number of alternative clients that provide access to the same Android app repositories. The main reason to consider switching from F-Droid to a third-party client comes down to the user experience: F-Droid isn’t the most visually pleasing piece of software, and its layout isn’t particularly inviting, either.

Personally, my favorite F-Droid client of the bunch is one called Droid-ify — it offers a beautiful design language that better fits in with modern Android user interface guidelines, and it works like a charm for keeping apps updated, organized, and accessible.

Aside from Droid-ify, some other popular F-Droid clients include:

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2 Chrono

A clock app that truly ticks all the boxes

Chrono

Chrono is an alternative clock, alarm, timer, and stopwatch app for Android that offers significantly more features than most stock clock apps do.

Google’s default Clock app is perfectly functional, but it’s a rather bare-bones experience overall. The same can be said for most custom clock apps from other Android Phone makers, including from the likes of Samsung, OnePlus, and Motorola.

Thankfully, Chrono exists: this F-Droid-exclusive app is filled with tons of customization options, setting configurations, and advanced themeing tools. Best of all, the app maintains a clean and attractive interface design, which makes it a joy to navigate through.

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3 Clima

Minimalism meets weather forecasting

Clima

Clima is a minimalistic weather application for Android that offers an attractive and clutter-free design language, Material You theming support, and more.

Personally, I find the majority of weather applications overly busy and cluttered. When I (inevitably) glance at upcoming forecast conditions throughout my day, I find myself appreciating a no-nonsense approach to visual design.

Clima fits this bill perfectly: it’s not the most advanced weather app in terms of providing in-depth climatic metrics, but it’s easy on the eyes, it’s blazing fast, and, in my testing, it’s both accurate and reliable.

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4 Seal

The best way to download video and audio files

Seal

Seal is an audio and video downloader that lets you save media you find around the web to your Android phone.

Seal is one of the best-known F-Droid applications out there, and its notoriety is warranted. The app makes it easy to download video and audio files from across the web, without having to jump through hoops, paywalls, or watermarks in the process.

Seal provides a number of useful configuration settings, including options to embed subtitles, to adjust file format and compression quality, and to adjust video thumbnail previews. And, unlike so many other media downloader apps, Seal is crafted with an aesthetically pleasing design language that always keeps me coming back.

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5 Trale

Weight-loss tracking doesn’t have to be cluttered

Trale

A privacy-focused weight loss tracking app that’s a minimalist’s dream, with its attractive and simple user interface.

As is the case with weather applications, I find the majority of fitness and weight-tracking apps to be cluttered, pushy with account sign-up prompts, and generally filled with fluff. Trale is built differently: it’s minimalistic, and it follows Android’s Material Design interface guidelines.

Trale makes it easy to track weight loss over time, displaying metrics in a simple-yet-effective graph format. The app doesn’t collect any data, it doesn’t require a login, and it doesn’t ask for any permissions whatsoever.

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6 Fennec

Mozilla Firefox, but without the telemetry

Fennec

Fennec is a free and open-source alternative web browser for Android, and is based on the underpinnings of Mozilla Firefox, but without the telemetry.

It’s no secret that modern web browsers are bloated, memory-hungry, and filled with trackers for targeted advertising purposes. Even the once-humble Mozilla Firefox, often rooted for as an industry underdog, recently turned its back on privacy via its revised terms of use and privacy notice policy update.

Fennec, then, is the perfect antidote: it’s a web browser that’s based on the Firefox source code, therefore benefiting from broad add-on, ad blocker, and page rendering support. The differentiating factor with Fennec is that it guts out the telemetry and tracker software that otherwise runs amok on more mainstream browser apps.

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7 Connect You

Privacy-first contact management and SMS texting

Connect You

Connect You is a contacts and SMS texting app alternative that provides a clean Material You interface design, and focuses on offering a privacy-first experience.

Connect You is a simple contact management and SMS texting application that focuses on providing a fluid, responsive, and visually pleasing user experience. The app taps into Android’s default APIs, meaning that it’s full-featured and able to sync across other apps, but it’s also privacy-first by design.

There’s no tracking or unnecessary permission requests to speak of here, and I like that it provides me the option to decouple my digital phone book from Google’s servers. Unfortunately, while SMS messaging is built-in, Connect You currently lacks integration with the encrypted RCS texting standard.

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8 NewPipe

The YouTube experience, without being shackled to Google

NewPipe

NewPipe is a YouTube alternative that streamlines the app its replacing to focus on watching videos and downloading videos to watch later.

If you’re tired of incessant ads, Google’s pushy YouTube Premium sales pitches, and the need for a Google Account to access basic functionalites, then NewPipe is the perfect solution. The app serves as a lightweight YouTube frontend, and it works independently of Google Services.

Big tech companies are under increased scrutiny for monopolistic behavioral practices, and Google’s ownership of YouTube has raised several anti-trust-adjacent eyebrows over the years. NewPipe is an excellent free and open-source alternative — there’s a reason why the app isn’t readily available on the Play Store.

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9 KOReader

An e-reader app that looks and feels the part

KOReader

KOReader is an ebook reader application for Android that is optimized for E-Ink displays, and that provides broad book file format support.

If you’re looking to get some quality reading time in on your Android device, a solid ebook reader app is essential. Most solutions, including Amazon Kindle and Google Play Books, attempt to lock you into their respective ecosystems via digital rights management (DRM) software locking, and through the use of proprietary digital book formats.

There are several excellent free and open ebook apps out on the market, but I particularly love KOReader squarely due to its interface design. The app is actually optimized for E-Ink displays, and so the aesthetic closely resembles that of more traditional ereading software. With E-Ink Android devices like the Boox Palma 2 and the Minimal Phone gaining some semblance of traction, KOReader is a fun and forward-thinking bookworm alternative.

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