.. meta:: :description lang=en: Android™ applications "for the lock-down" in 2020 :description lang=fr: Applications Android™ "spéciale confinement" en 2020 ################################################### Android™ applications "for the lock-down" in 2020 ################################################### The list of applications given here corresponds to the applications I have installed on my (two) Android™ smartphones in 2020, and that I opened and used every day during the "coronavirus lock-down" (at least one month). I list them by categories, following the categories already used on my phones. .. note:: This page is about applications for Android™. For more details, it may be useful to go elsewhere for more information: * for example at `en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android `_, * or at `www.cnetfrance.fr/Android/ `_. .. todo:: Add link to `Google Play Store `_ for each application! I should define a role ``:apken:`apken```. Messages ~~~~~~~~ .. image:: .apk-list-messages.jpg :scale: 50% :align: center :alt: List of apps related to Messages :target: https://www.Messenger.com/ - 📧 🐕 K-9 Mail: the best mail client I know ``#dog`` ``#mail`` ; - 📧 `Messenger lite `_ (*lite* version which is more than enough) ``#messenger`` ; - 📧 `Facebook lite `_ (*lite* version which is more than enough) ``#fb`` ; - 📧 `WhatsApp `_ ``#WhatsApp`` ; - 💿 🎮 `Discord `_ : my colleagues and I use Discord to `continue our teaching activities learning (during the coronavirus epidemic) `_ ``#discord`` ``#gaming`` ``#geek`` ; - 🇨🇭 `ProtonMail `_: best encrypted mail (free, Swiss, reliable) ``#suisse`` (my ProtonMail address is ``firstname.lastname@ProtonMail.com``). Meeting people ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - 🛋 🏄 `CouchSurfing `_: I use it to lodge people in my home, and to get people to lodge me in other people's homes, when I travel ``#couch`` ``#canape`` ``#surf``; - 👻 `SnapChat `_: to play "spies" with your friends ``#ghost`` ``#snap``; .. sidebar:: Might be out of date! I wrote this list in *April 2020*, so it might be obsolete... Audio ~~~~~ .. image:: .apk-list-audio.jpg :scale: 50% :align: center :alt: List of apps related to audio :target: https://www.YouTube.com/ - FM radio: to listen (with headphones); - `YouTube `_ of course; - `YouTube Music `_: to listen to unlimited music in streaming (with a subscription, at 10€ per month, and free one to four months); - Tape recorder: to record sound with your phone in one click. Very handy to record a bird and try to find its name after (e.g., a chicken) ; - `Duolingo `_ : to learn another language! In confinement, nothing like 20 minutes every day to learn Portuguese, for example! - CM (Classic Music) : hundreds of free classical music pieces that can be listened to in one click (in streaming). Useful apps ~~~~~~~~~~~ .. image:: .apk-list-daily_useful_apps.jpg :scale: 50% :align: center :alt: List of daily useful apps :target: https://www.WordPress.com/ To use websites easily on mobile (registered account, easy to use) : - `WordPress `_ : to manage a blog under WordPress, e.g., `Actuel Moyen-Âge `_ ; - `LeMonde `_ for current events (in France). I think it is essential to read the news quickly in the morning on AT LEAST ONE digital newspaper. .. sidebar:: Other languages? I also read `The Times `_, `The NY Times `_, `The Guardian `_ and `El Pais `_ in Spanish. - `Doctolib `_ to make an appointment with one's health practitioners (doctor, dentist, etc); Three tiny applications, just to access a phone sensor: - **Barometer**: with the help of the Internet, and the possible internal sensor, gives the current pressure (useful for predicting the weather); - **Sonometer**: current volume, very well done! - **Pedometer**: any good application will do it. If you have a "connected watch" it can talk to the application! I like to use a software which allows to automatically reduce the lightness of my screen, and its blue light. I use `"Bluelight Filter for Eye Care - Auto screen filter" `_ on Android since many years, and I'm happy about it. Sadly the free version does not allow to change the lightness automatically at a chosen time in the night (like `Redshift `_ does on Linux), but it's not so bad. And finally: - Your favorite app that offers a **VPN** (e.g., **NordVPN**); - Your favorite weather app; - Your favorite application to edit text files, I have been using since 2012 `Jota Text Editor `_ (to which I had contributed a little by proposing syntax highlighting for OCaml and a few other languages) ; - `Language `_: online dictionary. .. sidebar:: What is an application? An application (*app*) is a program for a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone powered by the **Android™** OS. These programs are distributed as compressed archives, with the ``apk`` format, which means "*Application PacKage*", as the *EXEcutable* program for **Windows™** with the ``.exe`` format, or the *Disk iMaGe* for **Mac OS X™** with the ``.dmg`` format. To (not) travel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. image:: .apk-list-travel.jpg :scale: 50% :align: center :alt: List of apps related to travel :target: https://www.Trainline.fr/ To use websites easily on mobile (registered account, easy to use) : - `Trainline EU `_ to book and pay (and keep) train tickets. Now works in the (western) half of Europe! - `(Google) Maps `_ to calculate routes and locate yourself. I also suggest Waze for car routes. .. sidebar:: An open-source, free alternative to Google Maps ? In addition to being free and open source, `OpenStreetMap `_ is created and managed by the community. With `OSM And `_ you can download maps in advance and access them easily without an internet connection. - `Rome2rio `_ to calculate routes that mix train, car, plane, etc.. Very reliable, very efficient everywhere in Europe, I don't know about the rest of the world. In France, it knows bus and train timetables better than Google Maps! - `BlaBlaCar `_ to book and manage his carpool trips with the most popular platform in France (several million users) ; - `Booking.com `_ to book accommodation, whether rental apartments (like AirBNB), hotels, etc. Online stores ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. image:: .apk-list-shops.jpg :scale: 50% :align: center :alt: List of apps related to shops :target: https://www.CouchSurfing.com/ To use websites easily on mobile (registered account, easy to use) : - `LeBonCoin `_ that I use a little, to resell and buy video games, books, and also flats or bikes ; - `Fnac `_ that I use when needed to buy university books in particular ; - `GitHub `_ which now works very well ! - your bank's app (e.g., Boursorama, La Banque Postale, BNP PariBas, etc). .. warning:: I am actively **against Amazon**! Inquire! `Amazon destroys jobs `_... Amazon's hegemony has almost killed independent booksellers. Excessive delivery is toxic to the planet. Amazon hardly pays taxes in Europe. Amazon employees cannot unionize (in the US) and are paid the minimum hourly rate in almost all countries. If the boss of Amazon is one of the richest men in the world, it's probably for the wrong reasons ... I share some of these arguments against Microsoft, but at least they're less guilty of tax evasion and exploitation of their employees. Google, Apple and others are just as bad and evil as Amazon. Just ban them from your life, don't give them money! To relax ~~~~~~~~ .. image:: .apk-list-zen.jpg :scale: 50% :align: center :alt: List of apps related to zen activities :target: https://Generative.fm/ - **Petit Bamboo** : to initiate yourself to meditation; - **Daily Yoga**: to learn yoga; - **Calm**: to help daily meditation, and offers free ambient sounds like forest or birds; - **Forest**: to help disconnect from your phone; - **Drink Water Reminder**: super simple but effective; - **Sleep Monitor**: suggests to go to sleep in the evening, effective alarm (soft but persistent) in the morning... The app also offers very precise statistics, if you think about indicating the beginning and end of sleep ; - *Bonus*: the website `Generative.fm `_ offers dozens of pieces of background music, random, composed by... programs (neural networks and everything)! It's ideal for work, I love it ! For food ~~~~~~~~ .. image:: .apk-list-food.jpg :scale: 50% :align: center :alt: List of apps related to food :target: https://www.TooGoodToGo.com/ Two very similar applications, which propose in large cities to recover lunch baskets or other that will be thrown away: - **Phoenix App**; - **TooGoodToGo**. Other apps : - **OpenFoodFacts** gives a lot of curious information about all kinds of food products; - **Season** to know the fruits and vegetables in season; - **Pumpkin** to pay his friends, I use it because it was used by the association at the ENS in Rennes which manages the AMAP. *Soundboxes* to have fun ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. image:: .apk-list-soundboxes.jpg :scale: 50% :align: center :alt: List of apps related to soundboxes - Instant Kaamelott; - Kaamelott replicas & GIF; - Soundbox Kaamelott; - We got a lot of them; - **The Soundbox** is by far the best, because it contains a lot of cult movies! - Instant Louis de Funès; - Naheulbeuk Chiantos Box; - **Naheulbeuk MP3** is great, download the episodes on the fly from `the Naheulbeuk website (penofchaos.fr/donjon) `_. To study and write programs and code on an Android phone ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - `PyDroid 3 `_ (or `QPython 3L `_) to code in `Python 3 `_ on your smartphone or tablet; - `OCaml Toplevel for Android `_ to code in `OCaml 3.12 `_ on your smartphone or tablet. It was written in 2011 by `a friend of mine `_, when we were in L3 (3rd year of bachelor) at `ENS Cachan `_! See `this app for iOS or Mac OS `_? - `Coding C `_ to develop tiny programs in the C language, from your smartphone or tablet (offline, doesn't require Internet, the compiler is integrated); - **Banque Exo (MP CCP)** and **ExoSupSpé** for maths problems and solutions (should not be available anymore). - There are others like it, but this one looks well done: `JDoodle `_ allows you to access from your phone to `JDoodle.com `_ an online multi-language IDE (Internet request). .. seealso:: `My old list of apps `_. .. (c) Lilian Besson, 2011-2021, https://bitbucket.org/lbesson/web-sphinx/