Maria Sophia wrote:
Best includes it does something useful, is free, no ads, no login.
Here's my file of 617 apps I personally installed on my free 64GB A325G.
If you know of other useful (free, private, no account, no ads) apps not on this list, please let us all know as that's the original goal.
Have we tested every free useful app on Android by now?
Dunno.
I probably tested 5 to 10 times the number of apps that are on my 64GB storage, but here is the current set of 617 apps that I didn't delete.
Maria Sophia wrote:I just realized that my new tablet doesn't have, on first boot, any user facing apps. Well, there is google play, obviously, the camera, I don't
Sometimes I use Muntashirakon App Manager, which I know you have, which
tells me what to debloat, but Canta would do it more gracefully for sure.
For someone starting fresh, I'd agree with you that they should use Canta
So how does one run Canta debloating on the PC (Linux, Windows or macOS)?
Since I operate the phone 100% from the PC, on the PC I downloaded the
Canta APK which comes from F-Droid so I could debloat without the PC.
Maria Sophia wrote:
I guess I'll try running Canta (with Shizuku) on the phone next.
Since I operate the phone 100% from the PC, on the PC I downloaded the
Canta APK which comes from F-Droid so I could debloat without the PC.
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/io.github.samolego.canta/>
<https://f-droid.org/repo/io.github.samolego.canta_225.apk>
Name: io.github.samolego.canta_225.apk
Size: 4698310 bytes (4588 KiB)
SHA256: 5A646D366905C0BE2033AA270B008B3EF79FDA99FBC95988445B0F430283A1ED
I already had Shizuku, but for others, you can pick it up over here.
<https://github.com/rikkaapps/shizuku>
<https://github.com/RikkaApps/Shizuku/releases/tag/v13.6.0>
<https://github.com/RikkaApps/Shizuku/releases/download/v13.6.0/shizuku-v13.6.0.r1086.2650830c-release.apk>
Name: shizuku-v13.6.0.r1086.2650830c-release.apk
Size: 2571773 bytes (2511 KiB)
SHA256: 6E273AB0E991C4E79BC8B1BBB9B9DD739CCAC1A8712A541A214078886B7B790F
Or, you can pick it up on the Google Play store if you like.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?hl=en_US&id=moe.shizuku.privileged.api>
Here is the Shizuku User Guide (which I've never read myself).
<https://shizuku.rikka.app/guide/setup.html>
Since you control the phone completely from the PC, run this
adb shell pm trim-caches 999G
adb install "C:\canta\io.github.samolego.canta_225.apk"
adb install "C:\canta\shizuku-v13.6.0.r1086.2650830c-release.apk"
Now you can run Canta on the phone from the mirrored image on the PC:
C:\> scrcpy-noconsole.vbs
Then operate Canta & Shizuku from the mirror image on your PC monitor.
The funny thing, surprisingly, is a *lot* more stuff was highlighted
in the Canta running on Android than in the Canta running on Windows.
I arbitrarily clicked on BBCAgent <com.samsung.android.bbc.bcagent>
and up popped "Shizuku Required" saying
"Canta uses Shizuku to uninstall apps without requiring root access.
Shizuku provides a secure way to access system=-level SDKs."
a. Start Shizuku service
b. Grant permission to Canta in Shizuku
When I pressed "Start Shizuku service" it gave me this command.
Which I ran in Windows, which started the Android Shizuku service.
C:\> adb shell sh /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/moe.shizuku.privileged.api/start.sh
Then I pressed "Grant permission to Canta in Shizuku" and it
removed the selected BBCAgent package from the Android device.
Unfortunately each time you delete an app, it asks you to
Donate, which is kind of a pain, but other than that, the
Android version of Canta seems to be just as easy to use
as the PC version of Canta, the only difference, apparently,
being that the Android version of Canta has a different GUI.
I'm pretty surprised that the Android Canta found more stuff
to debloat than did the Windows Canta, but other than that,
they're both easy to use to debloat your Android safely.
Both seem to work well, so I thank Jeff for his great ideas.
a. Canta on Android + Shizuku on Android
b. Canta on the PC + adb on the PC
Skeptic wrote:
Is messing around with Android phones one of your hobbies? Android OS is
owned by Google but used mostly by people who care about privacy! The
meaning of privacy must have changed recently.
Android, when used with PlugOS [1], is a super awesome privacy device,
when additionally used with AEC [2] = Air Gapped Encrypted Communications
and a little air gapped GPD MicroPC [3] *with Windows 11*, which beats any online Linux box with outdated GnuPG or OpenPGP, when it comes to first
class secure and anonymous email communications, via the Nym Mixnet [4].
[1] https://plugos.net/plugmate
On 01/06/2026 21:12, Ch1ffr3punk wrote:
Skeptic wrote:
Is messing around with Android phones one of your hobbies? Android OS is >>> owned by Google but used mostly by people who care about privacy! The
meaning of privacy must have changed recently.
I would guess that most people who use a cellphone have no interest in privacy.
Jeff Layman wrote:
Is messing around with Android phones one of your hobbies? Android OS is >>>> owned by Google but used mostly by people who care about privacy! The
meaning of privacy must have changed recently.
I would guess that most people who use a cellphone have no interest in
privacy.
Hi Jeff,
I would disagree but I would half agree that 99 out of 100 people don't
know the first thing about privacy, so, half of those 99 buy Apple devices because Apple told them it's more private, even as iOS is not private.
My point is they care, but they don't know how to obtain any privacy.
By far, the most important act anyone could do on any computing device, is NOT put a mothership account on that device, which is easy for Android.
Android works better without the Google account than it does with it.
Android, when used with PlugOS [1], is a super awesome privacy device,
when additionally used with AEC [2] = Air Gapped Encrypted Communications >>> and a little air gapped GPD MicroPC [3] *with Windows 11*, which beats any >>> online Linux box with outdated GnuPG or OpenPGP, when it comes to first
class secure and anonymous email communications, via the Nym Mixnet [4]. >>>
[1] https://plugos.net/plugmate
Recent reviews:
<https://uk.pcmag.com/security/165179/i-was-sick-of-android-apps-spying-on-me-so-i-tried-grapheneos-and-plugos>
<https://www.clubic.com/actualite-598732-plugos-un-pc-android-dans-une-cle-usb-c-securisee-ne-tombez-pas-dans-le-piege.html>
(In French, but translatable with Firefox, or using DeepL or Google
Translate)
Since most USA-spec Samsung devices can't be rooted, GrapheneOS isn't available, but I didn't know about PlugOS until it was mentioned above.
a. You plug the PlugOS USB-C stick into your phone.
b. The phone treats it like an external display + input device.
c. PlugOS runs on the stick, not on the phone.
d. The phone is basically just a screen + power source .
So it doesn't matter that USA Samsung's can't unlock the bootloader.
PlusOS won't work for my Samsung because the phone must support DisplayPort Alt Mode, which mine doesn't support. But PlugOS even works on iOS so it's
a nice idea for those whose USB port supports it.
Jeff Layman wrote:
Recent reviews:
<https://uk.pcmag.com/security/165179/i-was-sick-of-android-apps-spying-on-me-so-i-tried-grapheneos-and-plugos>
Well, the author does not mention that it works also on Linux,
Windows and macOS... Does Graphene supports this? And my new
smartphone had cost me only 135 ? compared to a Pixels...
On 01/06/2026 22:55, Maria Sophia wrote:
Jeff Layman wrote:
Is messing around with Android phones one of your hobbies? Android
OS is
owned by Google but used mostly by people who care about privacy! The >>>>> meaning of privacy must have changed recently.
I would guess that most people who use a cellphone have no interest in
privacy.
Hi Jeff,
I would disagree but I would half agree that 99 out of 100 people don't
know the first thing about privacy, so, half of those 99 buy Apple
devices
because Apple told them it's more private, even as iOS is not private.
My point is they care, but they don't know how to obtain any privacy.
By far, the most important act anyone could do on any computing
device, is
NOT put a mothership account on that device, which is easy for Android.
Android works better without the Google account than it does with it.
If we only talk about Android phones, at least at the start, with
probably little knowledge, they buy them on recommendation by the sales assistant in the phone shop based on price and (perhaps) what they want
to use the phone for. Maybe the customer has specific interests such as wanting a good camera and screen for viewing.
I'm pretty sure that if they don't have a Google account when they walk
in, by the time they leave the shop they'll have one with the help of
the sales assistant! They'll then be shown how to use Google's cloud
storage and how to backup to it. Location, wifi, and Bluetooth will be switched on.
I really doubt that privacy will be mentioned (and the way some people
talk on their phone with the volume on full so you have no problem
hearing what they and the other party are saying, means they have no interest in spoken privacy either!).
Android works better without the Google account than it does with it.
If we only talk about Android phones, at least at the start, with
probably little knowledge, they buy them on recommendation by the sales >assistant in the phone shop based on price and (perhaps) what they want
to use the phone for. Maybe the customer has specific interests such as >wanting a good camera and screen for viewing.
I'm pretty sure that if they don't have a Google account when they walk
in, by the time they leave the shop they'll have one with the help of
the sales assistant! They'll then be shown how to use Google's cloud
storage and how to backup to it. Location, wifi, and Bluetooth will be >switched on.
I really doubt that privacy will be mentioned
(and the way some people
talk on their phone with the volume on full so you have no problem
hearing what they and the other party are saying, means they have no >interest in spoken privacy either!).
Bear in mind when I transfer a phone's apps, I transfer the exact
homescreen (icon names and locations exactly) which people will never get with the Google transfer.
The instant we put any account, let alone a mothership account, on any >computing device, our privacy has disappeared from that computing device.
Luckily, all common consumer platforms (other than iOS) actually work >*better* without the Mothership Account on that device, which is a bonus.
Privacy?? Unless you live in a cave your life is already online.
That's simply not true.
Only people who don't understand privacy would say what you said.
My point is the only people who say you can't have privacy are people who >don't understand what privacy is.
Go to the
doctor? Have a credit card? Have a drivers license? Pay taxes to various
governments? Pension and/or SS deposits? Etc, ect, ect.
I think that logically you are in much more privacy danger there
than being picked out of Google's billions of accounts for surveillance.
These are not related to the phone.
AJL wrote:
The instant we put any account, let alone a mothership account, on anyPerhaps from the device but not from the modern world. So why worry just
computing device, our privacy has disappeared from that computing device. >>
about the device?
I have to agree with you that if I were hiding from a TLA, they'd have me whether or not I have my phone set up to be private, but, as you noted, it wouldn't be the phone that threw me under the bus, but other things.
My Google AI says: "Information Privacy: The right to control how personal >> data (like medical records, financial details, and browsing habits) is
collected, stored, and shared by organizations or governments."
Do you control your online medical records? Or online tax records? Where
they are stored? Who gets to see them? And even if you owned no computing >> devices you likely will still have little online privacy according to that >> definition.
I'm not sure I have any "online tax records" but certainly the fact I pay property taxes is online and readily available to anyone who looks it up.
I don't have online medical records, that I am aware of, although I'm sure that the medicare folks have on-line information about me somewhere.
Basically, I never create an account online unless someone holds a gun to
my head.
AJL wrote:
The instant we put any account, let alone a mothership account, on anyPerhaps from the device but not from the modern world. So why worry just
computing device, our privacy has disappeared from that computing device. >>
about the device?
I have to agree with you that if I were hiding from a TLA
My Google AI says: "Information Privacy: The right to control how personal >> data (like medical records, financial details, and browsing habits) is
collected, stored, and shared by organizations or governments."
Do you control your online medical records? Or online tax records? Where
they are stored? Who gets to see them? And even if you owned no computing >> devices you likely will still have little online privacy according to that >> definition.
I don't have online medical records, that I am aware of, although I'm sure that the medicare folks have on-line information about me somewhere.
| Sysop: | Jacob Catayoc |
|---|---|
| Location: | Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines |
| Users: | 4 |
| Nodes: | 4 (0 / 4) |
| Uptime: | 496008:18:12 |
| Calls: | 178 |
| Files: | 605 |
| D/L today: |
7 files (18,398K bytes) |
| Messages: | 70,124 |