this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
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F-Droid

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F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device.

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Is there a feature you've recently discovered in an app available on F-Droid that might not be obvious to casual users of the app? This is your chance to share it!

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[–] donio@lemmy.world 43 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Here is mine: In AntennaPod you can add a local folder as a "podcast".

This is a great way to add audio files from other sources to your pod listening schedule. Files copied from your computer, drm-free audiobooks, audio tracks extracted using NewPipe etc.

It is also possible to have the files deleted when you are done playing them.

[–] Substance_P@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

This is perfect. Just 20 minutes ago I tried to start an audiobook using VLC. The scrubbing function on that app kinda blows - cheers for the tip.

[–] d_k_bo@feddit.org 5 points 1 month ago

For audiobooks, i can recommend Voice.

[–] donio@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Yeah, the ability to use the bluetooth or android auto forward/backward jump buttons to skip a few seconds instead of entire tracks makes AntennaPod nice for audiobooks or other long form audio.

[–] xiao@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago
[–] lgsp@feddit.it 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)
  • URL radio and antennapod have android auto integration

  • Firefox can be used for offline translations: just go to about:translations

    • now there is a separate app using the same engine that also has ocr "offline translator", check it out
  • handy news reader: you can set up filters for feeds. So if you are interested only to articles about a certain topics from a generalist website, you can use this feature

  • image toolbox has a very handy OCR integration

  • the best tetris version you can play on android: lemuroid emulator + apotris, an open source Tetris clone for GBA, maybe the best in existence

[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago

Oh damn didnt know about:translations!

[–] techsnob@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

For tetris you should also try this one: Falling Lightblocks (Not on F-droid, and you should import a theme)

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 26 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

WhoBIRD: identifies birds by sound

Irregular expressions: 🅺🅴🆈🅱🅾🅰🆁🅳 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝔡𝔬𝔢𝔰 𝓽𝓱𝓳𝓼

edit: just realised you're looking for obscure features not apps, oops.

[–] donio@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It's fun to try to make it recognize your own sounds as a bird. I was able to get an 82% as an Eurasian Collared Dove. I feel like one of the flock now.

[–] agentshags@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

That is awesome 😆

[–] Substance_P@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Good suggestions though, I'll give you a pass 👍

[–] KhanLee@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

𝓸𝓱, sᴉɥʇ ᶦˢ ʳᵉᵃˡˡʸ ç̷̖͉̣̮̰̳̞̙̻̖̳̺̊̆̒̀͊̇͑̅͂͒̓͟͠o̷̧͇̟̝̲̦̯̜͕̹͒̅̏̾̓̓̂̌̍̕͜ȏ̴̡̗̬̺̱̘͎̹͉̥̿̀̔̌̎̑̅̒̉̂̕͜͝͡l̸̥̞̿̊̽̾̓̉̍̒͋.̼

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

LocalSend can be used to share an app to another device and it'll export & share it as an apk file.

[–] pineapple@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I use local send and it's really great. When it works. Which is about 30% of the time. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong but I've seen heaps of people recommending it but it just doesn't work for me, most of the time I the devices just don't see each other when they are on the same network.

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 5 points 1 month ago

If an individual device has a VPN active it won't work. Also make sure the network doesn't have AP isolation turned on.

Besides that I tried using it at work on their network and it wouldn't find the other device for some reason.

Besides all that, it works great for me

[–] BootLoop@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If it's intermittent and you're on wireless, maybe one device is on 2.4ghz and one is on 5ghz? Sometimes the networks are kept seperate.

[–] pineapple@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Should it work going between a wired and wireless connection?

[–] BootLoop@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

This is all router dependent or course but the same default settings that prevent devices to communicate betwen 2.4 and 5ghz can also prevent a wired connection from communicating with a wireless device. It's been awhile and it'll be different for each router but I have seen that network isolation enabled by default on a router before.

[–] mat@linux.community 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The navigation app Öffi, which shows public transport times and journeys, has a whole map feature where it renders the journey if you turn your phone to landscape! I'd been using it for months when I found out by accident, made it even more useful.

[–] donio@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

That's crazy, I almost always have my screen locked into portrait, I would have never found that feature!

[–] lgsp@feddit.it 4 points 1 month ago

What? I'm reinstalling it right now!

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Does anyone know how to make it search properly? Because searching for apps on fdroid is a fucking hassle, since it only seems to look for the title and the short description of the app. For instance, searching "video player" on my moto g5 will only show:

  • Next Player
  • NOVA Video Player
  • Just (Video) Player

No signs of VLC anywhere. Searching for "Fediverse" shows only 4 apps: Fedilab, Fread, Fediphoto and koyu.space, despite several other apps being there. Seriously, their search fucking sucks

[–] dadarobot@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

i use droidify. has a better interface

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago

How does its search compare?

[–] SolarPunker@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
  • With Syncthing you can use Keepass also for personal notes
  • With SimpleX Chat you can also share any file to your contacts
  • With FreeTube you can search into any channel specifically and then open the video as embed on NewPipe
[–] bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Something I'd really like is a way to export a list of apps I have installed with FDroid so I can easily repkicate them to a new phone.

As for hidden features, you can share APKs directly to another person using fdroid. It's great for when your recipient doesn't have fdroid

[–] danglybits27@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

The Neo Store client for FDroid allows you to do this. I haven't actually used the install feature yet, but it exports a list to an .aps file and says it will load and download the list (dependent on the repos you have activated.)

[–] jinx@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago

AppListBackup is the closest i've found to this, but it can't filter by install source

[–] Lfrith@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

I like that lot of the apps you can also export the app data so you can restore it on a new devices. I didn't like that googles method was an all or nothing approach when it came to backing up apps, and didnt have offline back ups.

Was one of the biggest reasons I started moving to foss alternatives.

[–] fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Force Tor requests! Nice if you want to be sure your stuff isnt leaking data"

IPFS gate ways! IPFS is just really cool way to decrentalize storage (with metadata support making it a little longer living then a torrent link).

Nearby downloads! Nice when you want to share an app with a friend but internet is spotty.

Tracking antifeatures! I love that i can filter out network service dependcy or non-foss

[–] sudoer777@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You can listen to ListenBrainz recommendation playlists using Spotube's ListenBrainz plugin with their new plugin system

[–] Substance_P@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Wha?? Going to check this out.

[–] rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Is there an web browser on FDroid? Like a Firefox fork but where you don't have to use Aurora Store?

[–] je_skirata@lemmy.today 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] dadarobot@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

yeah i been using it about a week and love it

[–] sudoer777@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Ironfox, but I think you need to use a custom repo or use Obtainium

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Droid-ify has the IronFox repo built in as an option.

WebLibre is another option in the main F-Droid repo

[–] pineapple@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Obtainium is peak!

[–] FriendBesto@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago

Or just it directly from their GitLab.

[–] doubtingtammy@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I have a degoogled phone which apparently can't run firefox because of the lack of google play services. At least, I think that's what's going on (WTF, Mozilla). But Fennec is a great replacement. It feels just like firefox. I forget if it was default or not, but obviously ive got the ublock extension. I've noticed some webpages crash more often on Fennec, but maybe that's just because I'm looking for differences and getting confirmation bias.

[–] fin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

I'm using Waterfox for some reason