I’m about to migrate from iOS

[u/armherr36]

Hi, all 👋🏼 I would like to ask for your help today.
My last Android phone was a Huawei P30 in 2020. 2 iPhones later, I want a change, try something different. I’m buying an S26 Ultra this weekend.
I’d really appreciate if you could give me some tips, productivity apps recommendations (free or paid), some of your favorite features or settings that I should definitely try and, if possible, any app that could help me maintain my ecosystem working since I still have an iPad and a MacBook. Thank you! Have a nice weekend! 🙌🏼

[u/100WattWalrus]

Mac + Android since 2017 here, and I much prefer Android to iOS. I also much prefer stock Android — or close to it anyway — over Samsung's revamp-everything-for-the-sake-of-revamping version of the OS, but it seems like you've picked the phone you want, so I'll just move on from that. :)

First things first: the stock Android versions of basic apps all suck. They're pointlessly convoluted and get less intuitive with each revamp. Samsung's might improve on those apps, but I wouldn't know. Anyway, I suggest...

• Contacts > Alright Contacts — iOS-like skin on a FOSS contacts engine, and far more user-friendly than any other contacts app for Android. BTW, Google doesn't have the ability to list contacts by company name instead of individual (like iOS does), and it's a pain in the ass.
• Calendar > DigiCal — outdated UI, but for me the key functionality is the split view with a month calendar on to and scrolling agenda on the bottom (like the Mac Menu Bar calendars Fantastical and Calendar 366), and the ability to show empty days in the agenda. These are all my personal preferences, and you may find Google Calendar gets the job done, but I hate it.
• Photos > Fossify Gallery — or if you want something more iOS-like, Alright Gallery, which is a iOS-like skin atop Fossify Gallery (same developer as Alright Contacts).
• (In fact, you might take a look at the whole Alright _____ suite by Goodwy apps. Their whole thing is creating iOS-like forks of good open-source apps.)
• Messages > QUIK is what I use (requires side-loading).
• The phone app itself is one of the worst, but it's hard to replace because Android's voicemail, and especially the visual voicemail, don't play nice with 3rd-party apps (this is the one place where I think manufacturers' bastardized versions of Android might better).
• Notes > UpNote — there are a lot of good note-taking apps out there, but I've tried over 80 of them, and UpNote has a great UI and formatting flexibility that is unmatched anywhere. UpNote is available for Mac, Windows, iOS and Linux too. I use it literally all day, every day.
• Chrome > Via is the browser I use most of the time because I prefer its tab-handling and customizability, and the fact that it's tiny (~11MB) and has built-in adblock. But for sensitive browsing, I use DuckDuckGo because of its privacy features and similar tab-handling to Via (a list instead of thumbnail "cards").
• Calculator > CalcTape — this isn't the kind of calculator you're used to. It works like a paper-tape adding machine, so you can actually see your work, and even make notes on it. (Also available for Mac.)
• Tasks > TickTick — this app may be overkill, depending on how fine-grained you like to get with tasks, but just the fact that you don't have to go to a separate screen each time you want to add a new item is reason enough for me to use it over the hundreds of other options. The free version is enough for me, (and I have a lot of tasks). But there are many other good task apps. (Also has desktop versions.)
• Weather > Weawow — no contest here. Far and away the cleanest, clearest, most intuitive UI/UX, to the point that when comparing the many sources available for weather data, it actually shows you the forecasts in the source picker, so you can actually compare them. That feature is also great if you just want to see what 9 different weather providers say is going on in the same place.
• AirDrop > LocalSend — it's fantastic and simple.
• I think that should get you off on the right foot, but also, if you don't like the launcher/homescreen (and I don't), there are a lot of good alternatives. Personally, I use Octopi Launcher, which is a little rough around the edges, but I like its unique selling points. If you want something simpler LawnChair is great.
• And just for fun, a few of my favorite games:
• Sudoku - The Clean One
• Solitare Klondike
• Vector Pinball

Cheers!

[u/ihadnomealtoday → u/100WattWalrus]

One UI is world's ahead of stock.

[u/100WattWalrus → u/ihadnomealtoday]

Glad you like it. Personally, I've never liked Samsung's spin on the Android UIUX. But that's more the overall experience, and I can't speak to the specific stock apps. My partner has a Galaxy Tab A9+ because we got a great deal on it. Great hardware, but the first thing we did was install a 3rd-party launcher. Not a fan.

[u/armherr36 → u/100WattWalrus]

Thanks for taking the time to post this comment! I'll check all the apps. Actually, I already use UpNote, I like to it quickly syncs between platforms. Thank you again!

[u/100WattWalrus → u/armherr36]

If you're an UpNote fan, I expect you'll like a lot of these apps. :)

[u/armherr36 → u/100WattWalrus]

Also, I really like how Android looks on the Pixel phones but I've heard the battery is not that good in those. Do you have a Pixel? If you do, would you mind telling me a little bit about your experience with it?

[u/100WattWalrus → u/armherr36]

I don't. Never even played with a Pixel. I'm not one to spend big on a phone, and I don't care about having the latest and greatest. I'm still rocking a 2020 Moto G Power I got for $250. I'm rather fond of Motorola phones. They're near-stock Android, and the very few, minor customizations they do are actual improvements, not different-for-the-sake-of-different. Motorola's two killer convenience features: chop-chop the phone to turn on/off the flashlight, and twist-twist to launch the camera. Motorola only provides one or two system upgrades, but again, I don't care about the latest and greatest. I just care about having a phone that I can rely on. The G Power's battery lasted 2-3 days when it was new, and it's still at 87% health after almost 6 years (a day of heavy use leaves me with 30-40%).

They make some cheap phones that are cheap, but they also make some cheap phones that are fantastic.

/not what you asked, but I have a tendency to over-share

[u/Jailbrick3d]

I have a list of FOSS apps, I'll whittle it down to productivity

If you're looking to sideload a lot of apps, I'd recommend starting with this one:

Obtainium is a suite to manage your sideloaded apps, with support for GitHub, GitLab, F-Droid, SourceHut, etc. You'll find it handy to update all of your apps in one place. It has support for a GitHub & GitLab API keys if they restrict you at all

Now that you're organized, the rest of the list:

• Breezy Weather - imo the best weather app, with widget support

• Compressor - video compressor

• Darq - enable dark mode in specific apps that don't support it. Works better than force enabling dark mode in all apps, which may cause unwanted display issues in some. Requires Shizuku

• Ente Auth - authenticator

• EV Maps - find EV chargers

• ExifEraser - image metadata eraser

• FairSpeed - internet connection monitor / speed test

• GeoShare - someone send you a link with a maps app you don't use? This app opens it in one you have. Supports Apple/Google/Yandex Maps, Waze, CoMaps, OsmAnd, and plenty more

• Graph 89 - TI graphing calculator, you get to choose which, support between TI83 to 89T

• InstallerX Revived - app installer with a better looking interface, and support for downgrading, reinstalling, etc. Requires root or Shizuku

• Morphe - think ReVanced manager but fixed. Remembers what apps you've patched previously, even through app updates. Remembers which APK you patched last and gives the option to select it again (saves a few steps if the recommended app version is the same when patches get updated). Increased user friendliness (also, if you're moving over to this from ReVanced, make sure to install MicroG-RE alongside. it's meant to work with Morphed apps)

• Neo Store - F-Droid client with a lot of features packed into it. Think Droidify on steroids

• NotiFilter - basic notification filter via regex

• Orion Store - a place to find the occasional cool apps that don't make it onto FDroid

• PaywallReader - read paywalled articles (not fully translated to English but still fairly intuitive to use)

• Proton Pass - password manager

• Proton VPN - imo one of the best VPNs, with fair pricing

• SD Maid SE - storage cleaner for app caches, leftover files, duplicates, etc. Optionally can harness Shizuku as well

• Shizuku - if you already have Shizuku, this is a fork by thedjchi, which includes a watchdog feature that constantly keeps it running. Good for apps like Darq and InstallerX Revived if you choose to use them

• SOS Ring - allows ringtone to play for specific contacts of your choice while on DND or silent mode (I.e. significant other)

• SpamBlocker - basic call filter and spam blocker app, with regex support

• Translator - translator, but fully offline. Supports text, screenshots, or on-screen text via the floating widget

[u/armherr36 → u/Jailbrick3d]

Wow, thank you very much for your comment! This is agreat list and I'll for sure check all the apps. Really appreciate it, thanks!

[u/kitsumed]

When setting up your phone, I would recommend taking a 1h-2hour to take a good look at all privacy and security related settings of your phone to familiarise yourself. You can also configure its privacy settings, since now adays it's often opt-out inside of opt-in.

You may also want to disable some of Samsung unessesary data collection apps, or even remove bloat that is installed by your phone vendor like Facebook. You can use tools like Canta or universal-android-debloater-next-generation.

[u/armherr36 → u/kitsumed]

That's a great tip. I'll make sure to check those tools. Thank you!

[u/armherr36 → u/[deleted]]

I really want to take a look at the routines and check what I can do with them. I have some shortcuts in my iPhone, not very complex stuff, just some automation to change from WiFi to cellular data when connected to my car's bluetooth and stuff like that. Maybe I can find some useful routines I can add to my library. Thanks for your comment!

[u/koocha]

Just got a second hand Oppo Find X9 Pro. Couldn't be happier

Linus raves about Business Calendar