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There are quite a few quality open source apps available in the Google Play Store, and in this article, you’ll see some of the best ones. In the list below, we’ve placed 10 of our favorite open source applications that are available via the Play Store. Do note that some amazing open source apps are available via third-party app stores, such as F-Droid, but we’ve decided to focus on the ones that can be downloaded officially.
Open source apps have a lot of advantages. Everyone can see the code of such apps, which keeps things transparent. The community can have a great impact on such applications as well. Some of Android’s best and most popular apps are open source ones, as you’ll see in the list below. There are some very, very popular apps listed here, that you probably didn’t even know are classified as ‘open source’.
Best Open Source Android apps 2023
Below is a quick overview of the best open source Android apps for 2023, including any download and in-app purchase costs.
| Download Cost | In-app cost (per item) | |
| Lawnchair Launcher | ✕ | ✕ |
| VLC | ✕ | ✕ |
| Brave Browser | ✕ | $9.99-$99.99 |
| Firefox | ✕ | ✕ |
| Good Weather | ✕ | ✕ |
| Phonograph | ✕ | ✕ |
| LibreOffice & OpenOffice | ✕ | $0.99-$5.49 |
| ProtonMail | ✕ | ✕ |
| Open Camera | ✕ | ✕ |
| OsmAnd | ✕ | $1.63-$29.99 |
Best Open Source Android apps 2023 downloads
Below is a little more information on each app, and a direct link for easy downloading.
All download links go to the app’s Google Play Store listing. Users are always recommended to download apps from Google Play or an authorized app store.
Lawnchair Launcher
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: No
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars
Lawnchair Launcher, or as it’s officially called in the Play Store, ‘Lawnchair 2’, is one of the best launchers for Android. This app is much younger than the likes of Nova Launcher, for example, but it offers extremely buttery performance and a ton of customization options. It includes Google Now integration, it allows you to set custom icons, set your desktop grid size, and various other customizations.
Think of Lawnchair 2 as a souped-up version of Google’s very own launcher. If you feel limited by the launcher on Pixel phones, this may be a solution for you. The sheer level of customization options is crazy. Very few launchers can compete, with the exception of a few, like the aforementioned Nova Launcher. Lawnchair 2 is free to use, and it’s one of the best, if not the best, open source Android launcher app.
VLC
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: No
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
VLC is a well-known media player for Android, and other OS’, such as Windows OS. VLC has been around for a long time, and it managed to evolve quite a bit. This player can play basically any media that comes to mind, including a ton of unusual formats, such as DVD ISOs, for example. It has a ton of video and audio codecs, which enable all that. VLC is usually my go-to media player when a codec is missing on some other media player.
It comes with a range of useful features, while the company also cleaned up the design a while back. It has support for multi-track audio and subtitles, while it does support auto-rotation, aspect-ratio adjustments, and gestures to control the volume, brightness, and seeking. There are a ton of other, smaller tweaks, that you can make to this media player.
Brave Browser
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: $9.99-$99.99
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars
Brave Browser is a privacy-focused browser. This Internet browser comes with a built-in ad blocker, and a pop-up blocker. The app also offers anonymous browsing history, personalized private search, and so on. It also features script blocking, and 3rd party cookie blocking. The app does look quite nice, and it may not have as many features as some other browsers, but it has many privacy features that other browsers simply do not offer.
This browser will likely consume less battery than most other Internet browsers, mainly due to its privacy features. The company also claims that your personal data will remain private, so that you can use the app without worrying about it. Brave browser is free to use, and it has really good reviews in the Play Store, for a good reason.
Firefox
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: No
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Following Brave Browser comes yet another Internet browser, Firefox. Firefox is, without a doubt. more popular than Brave, and many of you are probably surprised it’s on the list. Yes, this is also an open source app. It’s also really well-rated on Android, as it’s simply one of the best Internet browsers on the platform. The app allows you to see all your open tabs displayed along with your recent searches, bookmarks, and favorite sites.
The app allows you to place the search bar where you prefer it, whether be it at the top, or at the bottom of the screen. It does come with some useful widgets, and you can even get add-ons for this browser, which creates a lot more utility for people. The design is modern, and the app looks really nice overall. It’s also very functional thanks to the new home screen layout.
Good Weather
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: No
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 3.6 out of 5 stars
If you’ve been working for a good open source weather app, well, Good Weather is one of the best ones out there. This app looks really clean, and even though some people seem to be having issues with the app, based on the comments, it worked fine for us. The design is modern, and the app offers everything you may want from a weather app. It provides detailed weather for more than 200,000 cities and geo locations.
There are a number of different languages that you can choose from, while the app is free to download and use. You can check out the current weather, as well as a 7-day forecast, and 7-day forecast graphs. The app does support push notifications, while you can choose your preferred measuring unit. You won’t even find ads here, despite the fact the app is completely free to use.
Phonograph
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: No
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Phonograph is one of the more popular music players for Android, and yes, this is also an open source app. Phonograph offers a really clean UI, and it performs great. It tries to stay as simple as possible without hurting its utility. This app comes with Last.fm integration, and the UI colors change dynamically to match the main contents’ base color. Phonograph also has a built-in theme engine, which allows you to choose between a number of different colors.
It also comes with a tag editor, which allows you to edit the tags of your music files. You can edit the title, artists, album name, and so on. Phonograph can also automatically download missing album covers (via Last.fm), or you can choose some from your phone’s internal storage. The app also comes with a rather useful widget, and more. It is free to use, though in-app purchases are available.
LibreOffice & OpenOffice document reader
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: $0.99-$5.49
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Most of you have heard of LibreOffice and/or OpenOffice by now. Both of those apps are fairly popular documents editors. This app, even though it has both of those apps in the title, is not affiliated with them. It is really good, though. It allows you to open and modify Open Document Format (ODF) without a problem. It also offers great integration support for Gmail, Dropbox, and more applications.
The design of the app is simple, even after you open a specific document. It allows you to open password-protected documents as well, and it supports the full screen, no distractions view. You can easily format your articles, and this app will also work fine if you’re not connected to the Internet. It supports a wide range of formats, and it’s definitely worth trying out.
Download LibreOffice & OpenOffice document reader
ProtonMail
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: No
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars
If you’re looking for an open source alternative to Gmail, ProtonMail is a great option. This open source app is focused on privacy and security. It does come from the same team that created the ProtonVPN app, after all. The app looks fairly simple, and it’s highly functional, and performs well. With this app, you can get a new protonmail.com email address, and send and receive encrypted emails and attachments.
The app is free, though you can upgrade to a paid plan if you want. Thanks to the fact this app is open source, security experts around the world can expect its code, and thus help the app be even more secure. This app uses secure implementations of AES, RSA, along with OpenPGP. If you’re at all worried about your privacy and security while sending emails, this app is worth trying out.
Open Camera
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: No
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars
Open Camera has been around for a long, long time. This is a third-party camera application that has a lot of features. Truth be said, its UI design is not the most modern, but it definitely does the trick. The auto-level feature is included, and the same goes for scene modes, color effects, white balance, ISO, exposure compensation/lock, selfie with ‘screen flash’, and so much more.
The app also has support for Camera2 API. Manual controls are at your disposal, and so is burst mode. You can shoot in RAW format, while you can also utilize slow motion video if you want. Focus bracketing mode is a part of the package, while Open Camera has the noise reduction feature. Do note that it’s packed with features, though some of them may not be available on all devices.
OsmAnd
- Price: Free to download
- In-app purchases: $1.63-$29.99
- Size: Varies with device
- Google Play rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
To complete your collection of open source apps, here’s one navigation app you should check out. OsmAnd is an excellent mapping app that which uses OpenStreetMap for its maps. The app is free to use, and it supports turn-by-turn navigation, along with automatic route resets, if you stray away from the original path. This app does support offline use, which is what many people want from a mapping service.
A ton of data you’ll find in this app is provided by various individuals, and you will also get a customizable widget with this application. You can favorite specific places all around the world, while the night theme is also a part of the package. On top of all that, Android Auto support is here as well, and so much more. You can even grab OsmAnd Pro if you need more features.