Ooh, good one! I'll try to stick to the very basics that I've installed, different strokes for different use cases and all.
MicroG — a non-Google framework to circumvent annoying GSF dependencies.
DAVx5 — will sync calendars and contacts from your own cal/cardDAV instance.
ICSx5 — helps add external ICS calendars into your calendar.
Syncthing — keeps documents, pictures, etc synced between devices.
KISS launcher — search based launcher. No bloat, no muss, no fuss. Everything else seems to try too hard after KISS.
Fossify apps. There's a whole suite but I only use
Fossify calendar,
Fossify contacts,
Fossify SMS messenger.
Fennec — a Firefox that passes F-droid privacy muster.
K-9 mail — um, is this top grade email app named after the robot dog in Doctor Who? Affirmative.
Open camera — so much better than a basic Android camera app.
Authenticator Pro — 2-factor authetication (dunno why it's called "Pro", it's not like there's a paid tier)
Obtainium — another app manager, for the fringe cases where an app isn't on F-droid but you trust its source enough to download it from there.
Edited to add:
NewPipe! — third party YouTube player that puts a stick in Google's tracking and profiling.
Additional repositories
F-droid is great and all but its best feature really is that you can add other app repositories alongside the flagship one. IMO you absolutely need to add the following repos for the best selection (ie., adapted to my list above 😉)
Nice list. Note MicroG doesn't appear in F-Droid's default repository. It probably cannot be installed as a regular app, or requires adding a different repository.
Oh, good catch! They have their own repository that can easily be added to the F-droid app. I think repos deserve special mention, editing my op.
RE: Open Camera
Not seeing an option to remap the photos button (bottom right) from opening Google Photos
That would be in your phone main settings I guess, and specific to your device? In no Android stock or custom ROM I've used have I seen a "photos button (bottom right)".
To be clear, here's a screenshot. I'm on a Pixel 5 running Android 11. I checked the default apps page in settings but there's not an option for photos unfortunately.
If you uninstall (or disable) Google Photos, that button should ask what app you want to open.
When I tried that the button takes a photo and asks me where to save the JPG. But then when I select a folder it errs saying the image doesn't exist.
Ooh, good one! I'll try to stick to the very basics that I've installed, different strokes for different use cases and all.
Edited to add:
Additional repositories
F-droid is great and all but its best feature really is that you can add other app repositories alongside the flagship one. IMO you absolutely need to add the following repos for the best selection (ie., adapted to my list above 😉)
Suggestions for more repos?
Fennec -> Mull
DivestOS Personally I use Mulch (chromium fork) and Google maps webview wrapper
Hmmm, so DivestOS supports bootloader relocking, huh? I'll have to give that a look.
https://divestos.org/pages/devices check support for your device
Nice list. Note MicroG doesn't appear in F-Droid's default repository. It probably cannot be installed as a regular app, or requires adding a different repository.
Oh, good catch! They have their own repository that can easily be added to the F-droid app. I think repos deserve special mention, editing my op.
RE: Open Camera
Not seeing an option to remap the photos button (bottom right) from opening Google Photos
That would be in your phone main settings I guess, and specific to your device? In no Android stock or custom ROM I've used have I seen a "photos button (bottom right)".
To be clear, here's a screenshot. I'm on a Pixel 5 running Android 11. I checked the default apps page in settings but there's not an option for photos unfortunately.
If you uninstall (or disable) Google Photos, that button should ask what app you want to open.
When I tried that the button takes a photo and asks me where to save the JPG. But then when I select a folder it errs saying the image doesn't exist.
I guess I'll stick with the stock camera app