Android
Android is the most popular operating system for mobile phones and tablets.
Contents
- Recommended Distribution
- Recommended Apps
- Verify Signature of Packages
- Send SMS Messages
- Android Studio
- External Links
Recommended Distribution
Most vendors have their own (slightly modified) distribution of Android.
Some distributions do not allow the user to remove preinstalled apps.
Luckily, there are devices available that support flashing alternative Android distributions.
- LineageOS
- Successor of CyanogenMod
https://lineageos.org/
Supported devices: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
Recommended Apps
As in 2020, there are approximately three million apps on Google Play.
If you need an app for something, you are possibly trying out some of them.
Some of them need access to personal data. Some of them are full of advertisements.
Here is a list of apps, I can recommend.
App Stores
- F-Droid
- App store with free and open source software (foss)
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid/ - Aurora Store
- Download apps from Google Play without Google Apps (GApps) installed
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.aurora.store/
Internet
- Fennec
- Internet browser based on Firefox
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/
In Fennec, popular Firefox add-ons can be used. - K-9 Mail
- Full-featured email client
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.fsck.k9/ - NewPipe
- Lightweight YouTube front-end
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.schabi.newpipe/ - Change Detection
- Automatically detects changes on websites
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.bernaferrari.changedetection/
Security
- KeePassDX
- Password safe
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.kunzisoft.keepass.libre/ - OpenKeychain
- Encrypts your communication
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.sufficientlysecure.keychain/
Camera
- Open Camera
- Feature-rich camera app
https://f-droid.org/packages/net.sourceforge.opencamera/ - Barcode Scanner
- QR code scanner
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.google.zxing.client.android/ - Fossify Gallery
- Gallery with photo editor
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fossify.gallery/
Navigation
- OsmAnd~
- Offline/online maps and navigation
https://f-droid.org/packages/net.osmand.plus/ - HERE WeGo
- City navigation
https://apkpure.com/here-wego-maps-navigation/com.here.app.maps
Calendar
- Etar - OpenSource Calendar
- Supports offline calendars
https://f-droid.org/packages/ws.xsoh.etar/ - Calendar Import-Export
- Import & export (backup) calendars using ics files
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.sufficientlysecure.ical/ - Birthday Adapter
- Shows birthdays of contacts in calendar
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.birthdayadapter/
Contacts
- Export Contacts
- Backup contacts in vCard 3.0 contacts file (*.vcf)
https://f-droid.org/packages/am.ed.exportcontacts/ - Share my number via QR code
- This app displays a QR code others can easily scan
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.characterdog.share_my_number/
Multimedia
- VLC
- Video and music player
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.videolan.vlc/ - eSpeak
- Text-to-speech (TTS) engine
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.reecedunn.espeak/
Since LineageOS 16 (Android 9), a TTS engine is no longer included. - RadioDroid
- Internet radio and alarm clock
https://f-droid.org/packages/net.programmierecke.radiodroid2/
Listen to online radio streams from https://www.radio-browser.info/ - Audile
- Music recognition app
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.mrsep.musicrecognizer/ - Zapp
- Watch German TV on your mobile
https://f-droid.org/packages/de.christinecoenen.code.zapp/
Reading
- MuPDF
- Lightweight document viewer
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.artifex.mupdf.viewer.app/ - LibreOffice Viewer
- Read various office file formats
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.documentfoundation.libreoffice/
Theming
- Muzei
- Live wallpaper of famous art
https://f-droid.org/packages/net.nurik.roman.muzei/
Games
- Apple Flinger
- Use a slingshot to shoot with apples
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.gitlab.ardash.appleflinger.android/ - Mindustry
- A factory-based sandbox tower defense game
https://f-droid.org/packages/io.anuke.mindustry/ - PPSSPP
- PSP emulator
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.ppsspp.ppsspp/ - lichess
- Play chess online against others or offline against Stockfish engine
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.lichess.mobileapp.free/
Science and Education
- Aard 2
- Offline dictionary
https://f-droid.org/packages/itkach.aard2/
Dictionaries: https://github.com/itkach/slob/wiki/Dictionaries - Graph 89
- Calculator emulator
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.Bisha.TI89EmuDonation/
ROM: https://www.ticalc.org/programming/emulators/romdump.html#12
Development
- Acode
- Text editor with syntax highlighting
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.foxdebug.acode/ - Termux
- Terminal emulation
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.termux/
On first start, the bootstrap zip file is downloaded and extracted to/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/
.
Terminal toolbar can be hidden by pressing volume up and q. - Termux:API
- Command line access to device API
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.termux.api/
Version 0.31 is the last that supports sending sms messages.
To install old versions, the F-Droid Archive repository needs to be enabled. - Hacker's Keyboard
- Keyboard with tab, ctrl and arrow keys
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard/
Verify Signature of Packages
Android packages (APKs) are signed with self-signed certificates.
The command line tool apksigner
is part of the Android SDK Build Tools:
https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/apksigner#usage-verify
In Termux, apksigner
can be installed using the following command:
pkg install apksigner
To verify the signature of an APK, execute the following command:
apksigner verify --print-certs org.fdroid.fdroid_1010000.apk
- F-Droid
Signer #1 certificate DN: CN=Ciaran Gultnieks, OU=Unknown, O=Unknown, L=Wetherby, ST=Unknown, C=UK Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest: 43238d512c1e5eb2d6569f4a3afbf5523418b82e0a3ed1552770abb9a9c9ccab Signer #1 certificate SHA-1 digest: 05f2e65928088981b317fc9a6dbfe04b0fa13b4e Signer #1 certificate MD5 digest: 17c55c628056e193e95644e989792786
- HERE WeGo
Signer #1 certificate DN: CN=CodeSigning for HERE Global BV, OU=Android Signing, OU=Android Signing, O=HERE Global BV, L=Veldhoven, ST=Veldhoven, C=NL Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest: f3fa1a6eb3f8bace3662e83ab167a90462d1a78240e64cf24675887c5d78cb13 Signer #1 certificate SHA-1 digest: 6d256640c0eff26ccb3a8b817cdc901f3d1d77b4 Signer #1 certificate MD5 digest: 528eab01b512151498f89f5e88767bf9
- Magic Earth
Signer #1 certificate DN: CN=ROUTE 66, OU=ROUTE 66 Switzerland GmbH, O=ROUTE 66 Switzerland GmbH, L=Brasov, ST=Romania, C=RO Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest: fa91bd3a8bfa2b03bda48422b238d584f23921154a5279e721f2f90a74d38806 Signer #1 certificate SHA-1 digest: 3705ba93d86f9566cdb440977e65c8df660514ae Signer #1 certificate MD5 digest: 82380142088327f4d4a14c9547ff46de
- Tor Browser
Signer #1 certificate DN: C=US, ST=WA, L=Seattle, O=The Tor Project, CN=Tor Browser Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest: 20061f045e737c67375c17794cfedb436a03cec6bacb7cb9f96642205ca2cec8 Signer #1 certificate SHA-1 digest: 6e9d890dcf0d5ca0d7c8f28c822ed228da5f3490 Signer #1 certificate MD5 digest: e8ee59c262de3d867b015afbae38e061
Send SMS Messages
Using Termux:API
termux-sms-send -n "+1234567890" "Just a test!"
- Requires Termux:API version <= 0.31
- The sent message is logged in the messages app
Using ADB
Functions of service interfaces are declared in
the Android Interface Definition Language (AIDL).
There is a service interface to handle SMS API requests:
/* ... */
interface ISms {
/* ... */
void sendTextForSubscriber(in int subId, String callingPkg, String callingAttributionTag,
in String destAddr, in String scAddr, in String text, in PendingIntent sentIntent,
in PendingIntent deliveryIntent, in boolean persistMessageForNonDefaultSmsApp,
in long messageId);
/* ... */
}
Functions of the service interfaces can be called via adb shell
.
The follwing shell command calls the 5th function of the isms
service interface:
adb shell service call isms 5 i32 0 s16 "com.android.mms.service" s16 "null" \
s16 "+1234567890" s16 "null" s16 "'Just a test'" s16 "null" \
s16 "null" i32 0 \
i64 0
Android Studio
The Android Studio is the official Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
for Android. The IDE based on IntelliJ IDEA.
The installer is available on the developer pages of Android:
https://developer.android.com/studio
External Links
- Termux
-
https://termux.com/
https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/releases - microG Project
-
https://microg.org/
https://lineage.microg.org/ - Fossify
- https://github.com/FossifyOrg
- Privacy Firendly Apps
- https://secuso.aifb.kit.edu/105.php
- Dominik Schürmann
- https://www.schuermann.eu/about/#android
CONTENT.html | source | 2024-06-16 | 16.4 KB |
adaway_hosts.sh | source | 2023-11-05 | 941 B |
adaway_hosts.sh 2023-11-05 by Gernot Walzl This script is used to block advertisements on Android phones. It does the same as running AdAway with root privileges but without giving |
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com.termux.api_31.apk | sha256 | 2022-06-06 | 1.7 MB |
com.termux_118.apk | sha256 | 2022-01-11 | 97 MB |
feiertage_at.py | source | 2024-07-16 | 4 KB |
feiertage_at.py 2024-06-16 by Gernot Walzl Generate an iCalendar (*.ics) file of public holidays in Austria https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feiertage_in_%C3%96sterreich |
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setup_termux.sh | source | 2022-03-23 | 666 B |
setup_termux.sh 2022-03-11 by Gernot Walzl The intention of this script is to describe how Termux can be set up. The package termux-api requires the app Termux:API to be installed. |
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sms.sh | source | 2021-12-27 | 819 B |
sms.sh 2021-12-27 by Gernot Walzl Sends personalized form text messages by replacing the variable $NAME to a list of recipients using termux-sms-send. |
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termux_clean-install_apt-mark_showmanual.txt | 2022-06-06 | 607 B | |
apt bash bzip2 ca-certificates command-not-found |