Replacing a mainstream app is not always easy. Popular apps are likely to receive frequent updates and feel a lot more polished than their not-so-popular rivals, even if they cost a fortune. But how many subscriptions can you survive? Not many, and with that thought, I’ve been trying more and more open-source apps with an aim to cut down on my subscriptions.

After trying a bunch of them over the last couple of months, I replaced at least five big-name apps with their open-source rivals, and I don’t plan to go back anytime soon.

OSS Document Scanner

A free scanner app that actually works

Have you ever paid for a document scanner? It’s one of those utilities that you think are available in abundance, but hardly any of them work well, and those that do have a subscription model. OSS Document Scanner is a free and open-source document scanner app for Android that quietly does more than apps like CamScanner.

By default, the app has automatic document capture turned on. You point your camera at a document, and it captures it after a short delay, though you can switch to manual mode if that doesn’t work for you. This is particularly useful when you need to scan multiple pages, like school notes or assignments, without tapping the shutter every time.

The scanned images are auto-cropped, though you can adjust the crop area in post-scan editing. Apart from cropping, you can rotate, change the brightness and contrast, and choose from different filters to improve the quality. Tap Enhance, and the app automatically adjusts the contrast and brightness to make details easier to read.

OSS Document Scanner also features a built-in OCR feature, though you need to download the OCR model the first time you use it. You can copy the detected text to the clipboard or save it to a file. And you can export scanned documents to PDF with a single tap, print them, or share them directly through WhatsApp or email.

RedReader

An open-source Reddit client that survived the API purge

Reddit’s official app is barely usable. Between the promoted posts, irrelevant recommendations, and UI changes that make it feel like a social media feed, reading Reddit feels like a chore. Reddit had some excellent third-party alternatives like Apollo that were shut down after Reddit’s new API pricing went into effect. However, the only app to survive that entire fiasco was RedReader.

While it still uses Reddit’s API, RedReader is an open-source tool that’s free and widely used by people with disabilities, which is partly why Reddit kept it around. At first glance, RedReader doesn’t look anything like the polished alternatives that are gone now, and the UI isn’t something to boast about either. But a few tweaks in the settings improve the usability and appearance noticeably.

Personally, I like the dark/night theme, but you can choose from multiple color schemes. Another change I made was enabling left-handed mode, which moves comments to the left side. You can choose to show or hide comments, change font style and size, control when images load, and mute videos by default. You can also use RedReader with Tor for additional privacy, though that requires Orbot installed on your phone.

Breezy Weather

A polished weather app that asks for nothing

Most good Android weather apps are not free, because they often pack in features that most people never use. Breezy Weather is a free and open-source weather app for Android that’s available on GitHub, Obtainium, and F-Droid, so you won’t find it on the Play Store.

You get started by allowing the app to access your location, and then it pulls the necessary data to show the weather. If you trust a specific weather source, you can change the default one (Open-Meteo) in the settings. Breezy Weather lets you choose from over 10 sources, including Open-Meteo, AccuWeather, MET Norway, and OpenWeather.

The interface is polished and shows everything you need to know about today’s weather at a glance. By default, it shows conditions for the week, but you can also see the Air Quality, Wind, UV Index, Precipitation, and Sunshine as you scroll down. You can also rearrange and hide anything you don’t need to keep the clutter low.

There are two quirks, though. First is that the app isn’t on the Play Store, so you’d have to download it from GitHub or F-Droid. Second is the lack of weather radar. If you can live with those two quirks, Breezy Weather offers everything most people need from a weather app, and does it while looking pretty.

LocalSend

Cross-platform file sharing without sign-ups

I’ve used QuickShare to share files between my Android phones as well as my PCs. But it’s not very reliable and can be slow. Blip is another solid file-sharing alternative, but you need to sign up before you can use it. LocalSend is a free and open-source cross-platform file-sharing app that works on all major platforms, and it doesn’t ask you to create an account.

There’s no mystery in how the app works. Devices recognize each other when they are connected to the same network. Select a file from your gallery or file manager, tap Share, choose LocalSend, and pick the receiver’s device. All files are encrypted over the network, so your transfer is safe.

By default, the app needs the receiver’s permission to accept a transfer, but you can turn on Quick Save to automatically accept files. There’s a risk with that, since anybody on the network could send you files. Instead, I prefer the Quick Save for Favorites option, which only accepts files from devices in my favorites list. It’s a small but smart distinction that saves time without compromising security.

Linkora

A self-hosted bookmark manager that won’t lose your links

I often need to save articles from multiple sources to read later. Some have interesting takes that I’ve no time to read at that moment, and others have ideas I can use for my next project. I primarily used Raindrop to collect all these URLs as Bookmarks and sync them across devices, until it stopped working. One fine day, the app logged me out of my account, and all of my saved URLs were gone.

So I switched to Linkora. Linkora works much the same way as Raindrop, except it’s self-hosted and doesn’t need an account to get started. If you don’t want sync, you can use it as-is without setting up a server.

Linkora features a clean interface that shows your most recent saves with options to copy and share links. You can create unlimited folders, subfolders, and tags. It supports grid, list, and staggered layouts for different screen sizes. More importantly, Panels lets you pin any folder for quick access from the home screen.

You can also group different folders under each other and access them instantly. Opened links are saved in the history, so even if you delete the original link, it’s still accessible. Extras include search, sort, auto title and image detection, export or import as JSON or HTML with auto backup, and the ability to save pages as standalone HTML files with local processing.

Open-source Android apps have come farther than you think

Open-source apps on Android have come a long way in the last few years. From being purely utilitarian to now looking as polished as their paid counterparts, many of these apps get consistent updates and offer the same features you’d expect from a paid tool.