We all know that some pre-installed applications are not used by /e/OS users.
Others are more or less controversial (like Browser with its WebView update defaults and security issues).
So I thought of making this survey.
I think this can be useful to get an idea of which apps are most used/popular and which ones are not liked and maybe need to be changed/updated/upgraded/abandoned.
Whatever you guys do keep it user-friendly. /e/os is the easiest de-googled ROM to recommend to a tech novice who just wants privacy. One of the best novice-friendly features is App Lounge privacy ratings (not perfect but not bad either) and that you can’t accidentally install google services like you can on Aurora Store. If I accidentally install google services, I know how to fix it. If a novice accidentally does it, they’re screwed.
Clock → Deskclock
Camera → Nikita GCam
Gallery → Simple Gallery
Music → VLC
Notes → Editor
I was on the brink of (falsely) claiming “there was/is no default Music app”, but realized upon checking that I had deactivated Music early on – with a 200+ GB music library on your SD card, you just don’t want a music app that keeps auto-scanning your SD storage. Love VLC.
VLC scans my SD card always when I switch Bluetooth on and notifies me about that. Haven’t tried to suppress that until now, could have a look at it. My normal music player is SicMu (see F-Droid), which is folder based. I think folder based is the only principle that really works in large music libraries, where you have normally a total mess in the internal tags data.
Yes, that’s what I do in VLC, too (I changed VLC settings to stop auto-scanning). The album cover artwork alone would keep making the app stuck otherwise.
I’m not sure this survey really adds any value. Of course, the Contacts app is used the most, but that’s mainly because everyone has contacts on their device and there’s hardly anything to improve.
Ultimately, you can replace any pre-installed app, since all apps are forked versions of existing apps.
I would like it if you could choose which apps you want to install and which not.
(And: The apps should be updated more regularly. The Notes app and the PDF app, for example, are outdated).
Notes → I use colornote because it has an “offline” mode (the native /e/OS one can only be used with an online account)
Tasks, PDF reader and Sound Recorder - I have had no need to use any of these apps yet (these apps get used on my phone less than once a year) so haven’t figured out if I want/need a replacement or the default app is ok.
This is a good point that I wanted to clarify. When I ask which apps you use, I meant which ones you haven’t replaced with another.
Indeed “sound record” is not necessarily used but I did not replace it.
Yes, the goal is to see which ones have been replaced. There may be several reasons for this.
But if we focus on Browser in particular it is very interesting to see that it is not used much (so replaced). Why is this? I think /e/ must be wondering (and it is):
It helps to see which applications to optimize so that users are satisfied with the basic pre-installed apps
I find it interesting to see if people use the more controversial apps (e.g. outdated browser/pdf viewer?). I don’t de-Google my phone to use a Google controlled browser, for instance.
Ultimately, you can replace any pre-installed app
Can you? I can’t uninstall the pdf viewer and the browser, I believe. And I don’t know if I can ask apps to run the webview from my current browser instead of (again) the outdated one. Did I miss something?
In my opinion, the best would be to have the choice at first boot (e.g. “Do you want one of the following browsers, or do you want to install one later?”) and then to have a way to uninstall/properly replace system apps. But I get that it’s maybe not that easy to do.
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