I have been using Android for more than a decade, and I never felt like switching to another ecosystem.
I’ll admit that it has become slightly boring, but I still love how my Android phone offers so much flexibility, which iOS still hasn’t been able to match.
Not only does Android have plenty of apps on the Google Play Store, but it also allows users to install apps from elsewhere. However, I prefer the Google Play listing over third-party sources.
While I never felt different other than this, there were times when I felt the temptation to install apps outside the Google Play Store.
I particularly felt like it when some of my favorite open source apps went missing from the Google Play Store. This was the biggest reason I kept searching on the internet about where else I could get those open source apps.
I still mourn about these five open source apps that vanished from the Play Store.
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AdAway
AdAway is a system-wide ad blocker. It’s free and open source, and you can still use it on your phone, but not in the traditional way of getting from the Play Store.
You can get it from F-Droid or from GitHub, and it works on both stock and rooted phones. However, AdAway works differently on rooted and stock phones.
On rooted Android phones, it blocks ads by modifying the system hosts file, while a VPN is required for AdAway to block ads on unrooted phones effectively.
The VPN method is slightly less effective than the root process, but its biggest advantage is that it doesn’t modify the system file. So, there is no risk of breaking OTA updates.
Regardless of the method you opt for, AdAway removes ads from most apps, games, and browsers, though the effectiveness might vary depending on which one you choose.
If you are an average user and not good at rooting and don’t want the manufacturer’s warranty to become void, the VPN method is the best for you.
AdAway is no longer available on the Google Play Store because Google removed it due to a violation of section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement in 2013.
The official AdAway website doesn’t explicitly say anything about whether they are working with Google to bring the app back to the Play Store.
Since a decade has passed since it was removed, I have no hope that it’ll ever return to Google Play.
Infinity
Infinity was another great open source app that I loved using. It was a third-party Reddit client, and it was available for free on the Google Play Store.
It offered ad-free browsing, plenty of customization options, Anonymous mode, automatic scrolling, and more.
I used all these features for free back in the day, and it was the best Reddit experience on Android.
Infinity for Reddit was removed from the Play Store and then was replaced by Infinity for Reddit Plus, which later became Infinity for Reddit++.
Infinity for Reddit++ is available on the Google Play Store and is free to download. However, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee to log in to your Reddit account.
The developer switched to the subscription model because of the high costs Reddit charges for third-party API access. However, the Anonymous mode is still free to access on Infinity for Reddit++.
I switched back to the official Reddit app after the original Infinity for Reddit disappeared from the Play Store and never switched to the Infinity for Reddit++.
However, I wish I could use the original free and open source Infinity app to access Reddit. I miss those days.
Syncthing
Syncthing is a free and open source file synchronization app, designed to sync files between devices without using cloud servers.
So, when you take photos on your Android phone, they will be copied to your laptop when both devices are on the same Wi-Fi. It’s a great option for privacy-conscious users who don’t want to use cloud subscriptions.
However, the official Syncthing app disappeared from the Google Play Store in 2024. This doesn’t mean you can’t run Syncthing on your phone.
Instead of Google Play, you need to get the Syncthing-Fork from F-Droid or get the official APK from GitHub. This makes it slightly trickier for users to install the app on their Android phones.
I still use it on all my phones, laptops, and desktops. However, it’s worth noting that Syncthing is peer-to-peer, so you need to run the app on both devices simultaneously to sync files.
I don’t miss the app because I still have it, but I miss those days when it was easy to manage app updates through the Play Store.
Cerberus Anti Theft
Cerberus Anti Theft once was one of the strongest free and open source security apps. The app was removed from the Google Play Store, but it came back again.
However, the Cerberus app that we now see on the Google Play Store today isn’t as powerful as its old version that disappeared.
Cerberus tracks your phone’s location, locks the phone remotely, rings a loud alarm remotely, takes a photo of someone who tries to unlock your phone with the wrong PIN, and more.
These are all useful features that help you find and recover a lost or stolen phone.
You’ll need to configure the app to use all its best features. However, as someone who used the old version of the app, the current Play Store version isn’t as powerful as the original one.
If you want to install the old version, you need to sideload the app manually. However, older APKs aren’t as safe as the latest version, so make sure to get it from a trusted source.
I no longer use it because Google’s Find Hub (previously known as Find My Device) has become powerful enough over the years, but I still miss the old, powerful one on the Play Store.
andOTP
andOTP is another widely popular free and open source software that I still miss. It was removed from the Google Play Store a long time ago.
While it is still available for download through GitHub, the app is no longer maintained. So, I have long moved on from it and switched to Google Authenticator.
However, I still remember the happy days when I used the andOTP app to generate six-digit 2FA codes, which you use to log on to services that have 2FA enabled.
It’s a shame that the app is no longer maintained.
The Google Play Store doesn’t feel the same without them
I love Google Play Store because of the sheer number of quality apps and games it hosts and how easy it makes it to manage the updates.
However, the Google Play Store isn’t always the best place to publish an app for developers. It has certainly become a lot more difficult than it was a few years ago.
It’s for Google to figure out how to strike the right balance between making it easier to publish an app and maintaining a tight security standard.
However, as a user, I would love more quality open source software on the Play Store, which offers plenty of useful features that you can use to better manage those apps.
While we may see more debuts on Google Play in the future, I still mourn the departure of the apps above.
