LinuxPhoneApps.org - Blog
An App Directory for PinePhone, Librem 5 and other mainline Linux phones.
Zola
2024-02-24T23:57:00+01:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/atom.xml
A Talk at FOSDEM 2024: 'The Linux Phone App Ecosystem'
2024-02-24T23:57:00+01:00
2024-02-24T23:57:00+01:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/a-talk-at-fosdem-2024/A blog post about FOSDEM 2024's 'The Linux Phone Apps Ecosystem' talk<p> A blog post about FOSDEM 2024's 'The Linux Phone Apps Ecosystem' talk </p><p>The what, the how and a lot of addenda to the <a href="https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3303-the-linux-phone-app-ecosystem/">The Linux Phone App Ecosystem talk held at FOSDEM 2024</a> </p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="preface">Preface</h3>
<p>First things first: FOSDEM (Free Open Source Developers European Meeting) is a yearly event happening in Brussels, Belgium. It lasts only two days, but it has content for a about two weeks. It's a nice event, there's no sign-up, no admission - if you're involved with FOSS, and can make, it should just go. Yes, it's a health hazard and overcrowded. But it's such a boost, also.</p>
<p>After having attended FOSDEM 2023, I was sure to go again. Something made me believe that I should give a talk, and so, as the Call for Participation for the FOSS on Mobile devroom was taking place, I figured that it might be interesting to talk about the Linux Phone App Eosystem - not a bad idea. Also, I figured that my live would contain enough minutes and hours to prepare this well enough. This assumption was wrong, and led to a talk with last minutes slides; thankfully, I had somewhat prepared the rest. But as these things go, without time to rehearse, you will not deliver what you may have intended to deliver.</p>
<h3 id="the-contents">The contents</h3>
<p>I started out with a few puns and then went on to talk about the main players in the Linux Phone App Ecosystem; first trying to make clear, that Android is not the way to go. </p>
<p>I then went on a ride through Sailfish OS, Ubuntu Touch and what I called the "new contenders", the GNOME and Plasma Mobile efforts this very website focuesses on. Needless to say, if you want to get into the origins of these projects, and discuss a few highlights from their matters of app distribution, things become challenging in 40 Minute time slot, especially, if you're not a fast talker.</p>
<p>Enough said, maybe.. just watch it?</p>
<h4 id="watch-the-recording">Watch the recording</h4>
<p><a href="https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3303-the-linux-phone-app-ecosystem/">FOSDEM 2024 - The Linux Phone App Ecosystem</a></p>
<p>After that, here's where I think I could have done better.</p>
<h3 id="areas-where-the-talk-could-have-been-better">Areas, where the talk could have been better</h3>
<p>Aside from the obvious slide navigations mishaps, and the lack of visual demos, the following should have been said clearer:</p>
<h4 id="sailfish-os">Sailfish OS</h4>
<p>Sailfish is actually, aside from its stores, able to run flatpak apps. However, it's stack (AFAIR it's the wayland compositor) makes it so, that GTK-based apps can't be run. Still, this should make it possible to run Nheko (and thus have a decent enough) Matrix app.</p>
<h4 id="ubuntu-touch">Ubuntu Touch</h4>
<p>I dropped the ball here, when I did not mention the read-only-filesystem - in a way, Ubuntu Touch is the immutable OG. This is a major characteristic. Also, an image of that donation prompt was sorely missed.</p>
<h4 id="new-contenders">New contenders</h4>
<p>I am not too unhappy with this, but visuals, again, would have been good. </p>
<p>Interoperability issues when combining apps from different worlds, starting with what we the keyboard fun when running Qt apps on Phosh (non-automatic) and GNOME Shell Mobile (no keyboard at all), should have been mentioned. </p>
<p>The foreseeable issues when running Ubuntu Touch apps on any of the new contenders, that unlike Ubuntu Touch use a swipe up gesture for multi tasking, making it unavailable for in app menu things, also (with Sailfish's UI bits being proprietary, a "just build it and run it" approach is impossible, anyway. It will remain challenging and extra work to make an app feel native to each ecosystem, if it's feasible at all. Still, small as all these efforts are, collectively, we should at least try to make this better.</p>
<h3 id="where-to-go-from-here">Where to go from here?</h3>
<p>One of my goals with this talk was to name a few examples of apps that essentially work everywhere. I was also touching on the topic of donations and the user appreciation that they can signal in a world of angry bug reports or unfriendly worded feature demands.</p>
<p>Payments though - as I was contacted after the talk, that's likely not worth the hassle, the author of the SailfishOS app Fernschreiber told me, from first hand experience. Transaction costs ruin small payment money transfer - it's a sad fact. Still, if it a mechanism, that can also work for all Linux Desktop users (Flathub is working on this), results may be slightly better if expectations are realistic: This is not iOS, you are unlikely to make a living of one indy app (assuming that's still possible for unknown new-comers over in Apple world, even).</p>
<p>That's the big picture stuff. Personally, I hope to get more in touch with people from both Ubuntu Touch and Sailfish OS, to explore avenues of app interoperability in all directions. Both projects are the most ready for the everyperson, but it would be great if they could participate from the seemingly more energetic space monitored on this website.</p>
<p>Regarding LinuxPhoneApps.org, my 2024 goals include easier maintenance by submitting MRs/PRs to listed projects, so that they can take care of updating listings and are in control of the ways their apps are described (there's a lot more, but this is the most important one, as it can make this project less important, which would be a good thing). This does not mean that I do not intend on making the site better; or that I mean to retire it. New apps showing up are unlikely to be perfect on that metadata; and I don't even know if there are plans to add indicators regarding adaptivity to Discover, Plasma's app management solution.</p>
<h3 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h3>
<p>Overall, given the circumstances, I am fairly happy with my talk. I hope to publish an enhanced/augmented version of it on TilVids and it's huge competitor in March. If you have any <a href="https://pretalx.fosdem.org/fosdem-2024/talk/F3PAZY/feedback/">feedback</a>, or want to collaborate, do not hesitate to get in touch! (<a href="https://linuxrocks.online/@linuxphoneapps/111989058016448738">Public comments are best placed on Mastodon</a>).</p>
New Apps of LinuxPhoneApps.org, Q4/2023: 21 new apps, and a simpler way to add new apps!
2024-02-10T11:30:00+02:00
2024-02-10T11:30:00+02:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/new-listed-apps-q4-2023/<p>It feels like it is almost March, so let's have a long overdue look at what happened in the final quarter of 2023!</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="new-apps">New apps</h2>
<p>The following 21 apps where added to LinuxPhoneApps.org in the fourth quarter of 2023:</p>
<h3 id="october">October</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.kalm/">Kalm</a> - Breathing techniques. <em>Thank you, plata, for creating and adding the app!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/net.sf.metronomek/">Metronomek</a> - Trivial looking metronome with natural sounds and sophisticated possibilities. <em>Thank you, Agent Smith, for adding the app!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.semiprime.pygenda/">Pygenda</a> - Pygenda is a calendar/agenda application written in Python3/GTK3 and designed for "PDA" devices such as Planet Computers' Gemini.. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/dev.bragefuglseth.fretboard/">Fretboard</a> - Look up guitar chords. </li>
</ul>
<h3 id="november">November</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/app.drey.biblioteca/">Biblioteca</a> - Read documentation. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.snapshot/">Camera</a> - Take pictures and videos. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/garden.turtle.jellybean/">Jellybean</a> - Manage inventories of various things. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.diegopvlk.dosage/">Dosage</a> - Keep track of your treatments. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.tfuxu.halftone/">Halftone</a> - Give your images that pixel art-like style. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.gitlab.theevilskeleton.upscaler/">Upscaler</a> - Upscale and enhance images. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/rocks.koreader.koreader/">KOReader</a> - A document viewer for DjVu, PDF, EPUB and more. <em>Thank you, colinsane, for adding the app!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.vixalien.decibels/">Decibels</a> - Play audio files. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/net.nokyan.resources/">Resources</a> - Monitor your system resources and processes. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.merkuro.contact/">Merkuro Contact</a> - Manage your contacts with speed and ease. </li>
</ul>
<h3 id="december">December</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.adilhanney.saber/">Saber: Handwritten Notes</a> - The notes app built for handwriting. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/cafe.avery.delfin/">Delfin</a> - Stream movies and TV shows from Jellyfin. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.gitlab.idevecore.pomodoro/">Pomodoro</a> - Pomodoro is a productivity-focused timer. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/xyz.safeworlds.hiit/">Exercise Timer</a> - Timer clock for high intensity interval training. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.andym48.pinephone-wifi/">Wifi Connect</a> - Scan for Wifi SSIDs, connect, disconnect, and restart services on your linux phone. <em>Thank you, AndyM48, for creating and adding the app!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/de.k_bo.televido/">Televido</a> - Access German-language public TV. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.kwordquiz/">KWordQuiz</a> - Flash Card Trainer. </li>
</ul>
<h2 id="new-games">New Games</h2>
<p>As the games list remains unmaintained, it did not see much action. <em>Please step up if you're into games, <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/issues/?label_name%5B%5D=games">here are what's on the agenda (aside from adding/reviewing games)</a>!</em> </p>
<h3 id="maintenance">Maintenance</h3>
<p>Most listings were automatically updated, and many of them were additionally edited by hand and brought up to date.
And because information regarding services or frameworks can't be updated automatically ...</p>
<h2 id="please-contribute">Please contribute</h2>
<p>Since April 14th, 2023, the way this site is generated and thus also the ways to contribute to it have been simplified. All relevant parts now live in <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io">one repository</a>.</p>
<p>As a consequence, fixing existing app or game listings is now just one click away (provided you have a framagit account) - every listing has an edit link at the bottom of the page.</p>
<p><img src="https://linuxphoneapps.org/img/app-list-footer.png" alt="Footer on the bottom of the page" /></p>
<p>So if you see that something is wrong, take the time and help fix it!</p>
<h3 id="adding-apps">Adding apps</h3>
<p>If you want to add an app (if you don't know any, check <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/apps-to-be-added/">Apps to be added</a> ;-) ), </p>
<p>Fortunately, we now have a new and easy way to do this:</p>
<p><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lpa_helper.html">LPA helper</a> is ugly, but it works. We hope to integrate it properly and overhaul its UI soon - if you have questions or suggestions, do not hesitate to ask/get in touch!</p>
<p>See also:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/submit-app-on-gitlab/">Submit apps via GitLab</a></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/listings-explained/">Listings explained</a></li>
</ul>
<p>You can also send your prepared listing via email to the <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-devel">devel-list</a>.</p>
<h2 id="what-s-next">What's next?</h2>
<p>Stay tuned for a post with our plans and goals for 2024. If you can't wait for that - we do have a <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/issues">public issue tracker</a>!</p>
<h3 id="feedback-thoughts">Feedback, thoughts?</h3>
<p>Thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, please spread the word about this post and LinuxPhoneApps.org - it can also be useful for your friends or yourself if you only use the Linux Desktop, as we constantly check for new, awesome adaptive Linux apps!</p>
<p>If you want to contribute an/your app or work on the website itself, please see above or check the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/help/faq/#join-the-effort">FAQ</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> </p>
<p>And if you want to discuss apps with like minded persons, make sure to join <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">our Matrix group</a> or subscribe/post to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-discuss">discuss mailing list</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>If you are not aware of any new apps, check out apps listed in <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/apps-to-be-added/">apps-to-be-added</a>, test the app and add it!</p>
</div>
New Apps of LinuxPhoneApps.org, Q3/2023: 15 new apps, maintenance and more!
2023-10-08T19:40:00+02:00
2023-10-08T19:40:00+02:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/new-listed-apps-q3-2023/<p>It's October (and thus Q4): Let's have a look at what happened in the third quarter of 2023!</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="new-apps">New apps</h2>
<p>The following fifteen apps where added in the third quarter of 2023:</p>
<h3 id="juli">Juli</h3>
<p>No new apps :(</p>
<h3 id="august">August</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/me.kozec.syncthingtk/">Syncthing GTK</a>, a GUI for Syncthing. <em>Thank you for adding the app, Guido!</em> </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.lemmygtk.lemoa/">Lemoa</a>, a Gtk client for Lemmy.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/ml.mdwalters.lemonade/">Lemonade</a>, follow discussions on Lemmy. _Despite these additions, I think we need more good Lemmy/kbin clients for #MobileLinux.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.andym48.pinephone_mpv/">Pinephone MPV</a>, a simple wrapper for MPV for the Pinephone and other Linux mobile devices. <em>Thank you, AndyM48 for creating and adding the app!</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="september">September</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.andym48.pinephone_btconnect/">Bluetooth Connect</a>. Scan, add, edit and connect bluetooth devices on your linux phone. <em>Thank you AndyM48, for creating and adding the app to LinuxPhoneApps.org!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.giantpinkrobots.flatsweep/">Flatsweep</a>. Flatpak leftover cleaner.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.gitlab.gregorni.letterpress/">Letterpress</a>, create beautiful ASCII art.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.francis/">Francis</a>. Track your time</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/xyz.slothlife.jogger/">Jogger</a>: Track and view your runs, walks, cycles, swims, and other workouts on mobile Linux.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="maintenance">Maintenance</h3>
<p>Also, at the very end of the quarter, most listings were automatically updated, and many of them were additionally edited by hand and brought up to date.
Also, we prepared the site to list even more information: </p>
<ul>
<li>First, we are <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/issues/55">working on a new taxonomy</a> to also list whether/how well and app can work without a connection to the internet. </li>
<li>Secondly, but way more immidiate, App Images can now be linked to in our listings, so if you find one, let us know!</li>
</ul>
<p>And because information regarding services or frameworks can't be updated automatically ...</p>
<h2 id="please-contribute">Please contribute</h2>
<p>Since April 14th, 2023, the way this site is generated and thus also the ways to contribute to it have been simplified. All relevant parts now live in <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io">one repository</a>.</p>
<p>As a consequence, fixing existing app or game listings is now just one click away (provided you have a framagit account) - every listing has an edit link at the bottom of the page.</p>
<p><img src="https://linuxphoneapps.org/img/app-list-footer.png" alt="Footer on the bottom of the page" /></p>
<p>So if you see that something is wrong, take the time and help fix it!</p>
<h3 id="new-apps-1">New apps</h3>
<p>If you want to add an app (if you don't know any, check <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/apps-to-be-added/">Apps to be added</a> ;-) ), </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/submit-app-on-gitlab/">Submit apps via GitLab</a></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/listings-explained/">Listings explained</a></li>
</ul>
<p>You can also send your prepared listing via email to the <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-devel">devel-list</a>.</p>
<h2 id="what-s-next">What's next?</h2>
<p>Goals for the Q4 are the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Making it easier to add new apps: <a href="https://framagit.org/1peter10/lpa-new-app-helper/-/blob/main/lpa_helper.html?ref_type=heads">Integrate lpa_helper.html into the site</a>, [make it possible to generate listings from <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/merge_requests/51">metadata</a> or <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/merge_requests/52">flathub.org</a>.</li>
<li>Improve information and UI - make listings better (more readable) and improve listings findability.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="still-to-be-considered-and-fixed">Still to be considered and fixed</h3>
<p>Talking about ratings: The way apps are rated a thing we still are thinking about. They are a hard topic, not just because changes to the rating system would then have to be applied to more than 400 apps. Among the considerations for the future are new separate sections (apps and games are sections in <a href="https://getzola.org">Zola</a> terminology) for Tablet apps (how to rate those with form factors ranging from 7" to 13"?) or TUI apps (think <a href="https://sxmo.org">Sxmo</a>).</p>
<p>If you are willing to help with the concept, please describe it in an <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/issues">issue</a> - be prepared to contribute to the MR that adds it, though - also we should start out with at least 5 listings to make the section worthwhile.</p>
<h3 id="feedback-thoughts">Feedback, thoughts?</h3>
<p>Thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, please spread the word about this post and LinuxPhoneApps.org - it can also be useful for your friends or yourself if you only use the Linux Desktop!</p>
<p>If you want to contribute an/your app or work on the website itself, please see above or check the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/help/faq/#join-the-effort">FAQ</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> </p>
<p>And if you want to discuss apps with like minded persons, make sure to join <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">our Matrix group</a> or subscribe/post to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-discuss">discuss mailing list</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>If you are not aware of any new apps, check out apps listed in <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/apps-to-be-added/">apps-to-be-added</a>, test the app and add it!</p>
</div>
New Apps of LinuxPhoneApps.org, Q2/2023: 15 New Apps, Packaging Info and Tooling Improvements
2023-08-02T20:00:00+02:00
2023-08-02T20:00:00+02:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/new-listed-apps-q2-2023/<p>It's already August, so let's have a late look at the changes that happened in the second quarter of 2023!</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="new-apps">New apps</h3>
<p>The following fifteen apps where added in the second quarter of 2023:</p>
<h4 id="april">April</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/page.codeberg.drrac27.karoto/">Karoto Shopping List</a>, an advanced shopping list app.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.arianna/">Arianna</a>, an e-book reader app for Plasma Desktop and mobile.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.loupe/">Loupe</a>, a simple GTK4/libadwaita image viewer.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.gitlab.adhami3310.converter/">Converter</a>, a tool to convert and manipulate images.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.fkinoshita.telegraph/">Telegraph</a>, an utility to write and decode morse code.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.mrvladus.list/">List</a>, a simple To Do application.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/eu.fl9.hamlocator/">hamlocator</a>, "display a maidenhead locator".</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/dev.geopjr.collision/">Collision</a>, "check hashes for your files".</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="may">May</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.bavarder.bavarder/">Bavarder</a>, an app to chit chat with GPT.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="june">June</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/re.sonny.junction/">Junction</a> lets you choose the application to open files and links.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/page.codeberg.imaginer.imaginer/">Imaginer</a>, a tool to generate pictures with AI.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/net.mkiol.speechnote/">Speech Note</a>: Note taking and reading with Speech to Text and Text to Speech.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.gitlab.adhami3310.footage/">Footage</a>: Trim, flip, rotate and crop individual clips.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.nokse22.teleprompter/">Teleprompter</a>, ... well, a teleprompter! </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.dgsasha.remembrance/">Reminders</a>, an app to set reminders and manage tasks.</li>
</ul>
<p>In total, LinuxPhoneApps.org now lists 430 apps, yay!</p>
<h3 id="please-contribute">Please contribute</h3>
<p>Since April 14th, 2023, the way this site is generated and thus also the ways to contribute to it have been simplified. All relevant parts now live in <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io">one repository</a>.</p>
<p>As a consequence, fixing existing app or game listings is now just one click away (provided you have a framagit account) - every listing has an edit link at the bottom of the page.</p>
<p>Adding new apps (or games) has hopefully not become too much more difficult - you now have to create a new markdown file to add an app. Lately, I've come up <a href="https://framagit.org/1peter10/lpa-new-app-helper">with a tool to come up with a bare draft</a> of a new listing, which can then be augmented by running the existing <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/tree/main/checkers">checkers</a>. </p>
<p>We have initial documentation describing the new contribution flow:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/submit-app-on-gitlab/">Submit apps via GitLab</a></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/listings-explained/">Listings explained</a></li>
</ul>
<p>You can also send your prepared listing via email to the <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-devel">devel-list</a>.</p>
<p>Documentation and tooling should improve over time, contributions to both are duely appreciated.</p>
<h3 id="a-useful-new-feature">A useful new feature</h3>
<p><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/better-packaging-information/">As already announced</a>, we've added a way to make it easier to find out whether an app is packaged for your distribution (or available on Snapcraft or Flathub).</p>
<p>On section overview pages (<a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/">apps</a>, <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/games/">games</a>) and all taxonomy term pages (all pages linked on pages like <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/services/">services</a>, <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/categories/">categories</a>, you can now easily grasp if/how you can install an app. The underlying change also makes the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/packaged-in/">Packaged in taxonomy</a> more useful. The data is provided by <a href="https://repology.org/">repology.org</a>, and will be updated about monthly - the last update was done on July 15th, 2023. For more current data, we still embed the current svg from Repology on the individual app listings.</p>
<h3 id="still-to-be-considered-and-fixed">Still to be considered and fixed</h3>
<p><em>The first part of this section was already part of the previous progress report:</em></p>
<p>Talking about ratings: The way apps are rated a thing we still are thinking about. They are a hard topic, not just because changes to the rating system would then have to be applied to more than 400 apps. Among the considerations for the future are new separate sections (apps and games are sections in <a href="https://getzola.org">Zola</a> terminology) for Tablet apps (how to rate those with form factors ranging from 7" to 13"?) or TUI apps (think <a href="https://sxmo.org">Sxmo</a>).</p>
<p>If you are willing to help with the concept, please describe it in an <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/issues">issue</a> - be prepared to contribute to the MR that adds it, though - also we should start out with at least 5 listings to make the section worthwhile.</p>
<p>For the remainder of Q3/2023, adding apps, work on UI and documentation will be the key focus - if time allows. Expect a report on what has been achieved early next quarter!</p>
<h3 id="feedback-thoughts">Feedback, thoughts?</h3>
<p>Thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, please spread the word about this post and LinuxPhoneApps.org - it can also be useful for your friends that only use the Linux Desktop!</p>
<p>If you want to contribute an/your app or work on the website itself, please check the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/help/faq/#join-the-effort">FAQ</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> </p>
<p>And if you want to discuss apps with like minded persons, make sure to join <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">our Matrix group</a> or subscribe/post to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-discuss">discuss mailing list</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>If you are not aware of any new apps, check out apps listed in <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/apps-to-be-added/">apps-to-be-added</a>, test the app and add it!</p>
</div>
Better packaging information: Thank you, Repology!
2023-06-04T16:45:00+01:00
2023-06-04T16:45:00+01:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/better-packaging-information/<p>Thanks to <a href="https://repology.org">repology.org</a> LinuxPhoneApps.org now lists distributions that package certain apps. We came up with a script, that checks listings against repology's API. If an app is known to be available via Flathub or Snapcraft (meaning, someone manually found this and put the URL into the listing), the script also adds a tag to list these methods of app distribution as well.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>We really hope this helps making LinuxPhoneApps.org more useful. Please note though, that we are not updating constantly - since most distributions are not constantly changing, we plan to run the script that queries repology monthly.</p>
<p>Interested in how this was done/what changed? <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/merge_requests/34">Check out the Merge Request that added the feature.</a></p>
<p>If you've got feedback or further ideas to implement this better, make sure to get in touch!</p>
New apps of LinuxPhoneApps.org, Q1/2023: Easier Editing Edition
2023-04-16T10:00:00+02:00
2023-04-16T10:00:00+02:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/new-listed-apps-q1-2023-easier-editing/<p>It's mid April, and here, are the news and changes of LinuxPhoneApps.org in early 2023, starting with the added apps.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="new-apps">New apps</h3>
<p>The following nine apps where added in the first quarter of 2023:</p>
<h4 id="january">January</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.enjoyingfoss.feeel">Feeel</a>, a cross-platform Flutter home workout app that respects your privacy.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.krawieck.lemmur/">Lemmur</a>, a mobile client for Lemmy - a federated reddit alternative. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.texteditor/">GNOME Text Editor</a>, a simple text editor focused on a pleasing default experience.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="february">February</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/nl.v0yd.capsule/">Capsule</a>, a medication tracker for GNOME.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.gitlab.zehkira.monophony/">Monophony</a>, a GTK4/libadwaita app that facilitates streaming music from YouTube</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.alexkdeveloper.easter/">Date of Catholic Easter</a>, a program for calculating the date of Catholic Easter</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/codes.loers.punchclock/">Punchclock</a>, track time for your tasks.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="march">March</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.tractor.carburetor/">Carburetor</a>, a GTK and Libawaita app for connecting to Tor network. <em>Thanks to danialbehzadi for creating and adding this app!</em> </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/de.somefoo.powertrack/">Powertrack</a>, a tool to track battery statistics. <em>Thanks to somefoo for creating the app and <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-discuss/%3CCAMBPg2d%3D7oke53D1Vzxr%3DPR+akwrV5kpuJTuyakS3sX-Gdw8zQ%40mail.gmail.com%3E">telling us about it</a>.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="simplifying-the-way-this-site-is-generated">Simplifying the way this site is generated</h3>
<p>Since April 14th, 2023, the way this site is generated and thus also the ways to contribute to it have been simplified. All relevant parts now live in <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io">one repository</a>.</p>
<p>As a consequence, fixing existing app or game listings is now just one click away (provided you have a framagit account) - every listing has an edit link at the bottom of the page.</p>
<p>Adding new apps (or games) has hopefully not become too much more difficult - you now have to create a new markdown file to add an app. </p>
<p>We have initial documentation describing the new contribution flow:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/submit-app-on-gitlab/">Submit apps via GitLab</a></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/listings-explained/">Listings explained</a></li>
</ul>
<p>You can also send your prepared listing via email to the <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-devel">devel-list</a>.</p>
<p>Documentation and tooling should improve over time, contributions to both are duely appreciated.</p>
<h3 id="tiny-new-features">Tiny new features</h3>
<p>Aside from this big change, the way to list flatpaks has been improved. Whether it's Flathub, another repo or download option, or just a .yml file to use with flatpak-builder, we have a custom TOML frontmatter value for each that then gets <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/blob/main/templates/apps/page.html#L168-182">displayed accordingly</a>. This was also <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/blob/main/templates/apps/page.html#L183-200">implemented</a> for snaps in a similar fashion.</p>
<p>New values that are supposed to help understanding the limitations of an app better have also been introduced.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/blob/main/templates/apps/page.html#L122-124"><code>intended_for_mobile</code></a> is supposed to signal whether an app is intended to work with small touchscreens, going by its description and appstream metadata.</li>
<li><a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/blob/main/templates/apps/page.html#L114-121"><code>all-features-touch</code></a> could be called "the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.seahorse.application/">Seahorse</a> feature": With some apps, functionality will remain behind a right click and not accessible when using just a touch screen.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="future">Future</h3>
<p>Talking about ratings: Ratings are a thing we still are thinking about. They are a hard topic, not just because changes to the rating system would then have to be applied to more than 400 apps. Among the considerations for the future are new separate sections (apps and games are sections in <a href="https://getzola.org">Zola</a> terminology) for Tablet apps (how to rate those with form factors ranging from 7" to 13"?) or TUI apps (think <a href="https://sxmo.org">Sxmo</a>).</p>
<p>If you are willing to work on the concept, please describe it in an <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/issues">issue</a> - be prepared to contribute to the MR that adds it, though - also we should start out with at least 5 listings to make the section worthwhile.</p>
<p>For the remainder of Q2/2023 maintenance is a focus, alongside with work on usability/UI and documentation. Expect a report on what has been achieved early next quarter!</p>
<h3 id="feedback-thoughts">Feedback, thoughts?</h3>
<p>Thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, please spread the word about this post and LinuxPhoneApps.org!</p>
<p>If you want to contribute an/your app or work on the website itself, please check the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/help/faq/#join-the-effort">FAQ</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> </p>
<p>And if you want to discuss apps with like minded persons, make sure to join <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">our Matrix group</a> or subscribe/post to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-discuss">discuss mailing list</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>If you are not aware of any new apps, check out apps listed in <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/apps-to-be-added/">apps-to-be-added</a>, test the app and add it!</p>
</div>
New apps of LinuxPhoneApps.org, Q4/2022
2023-02-26T19:00:00+01:00
2023-02-26T19:00:00+01:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/new-listed-apps-q4-2022/<p>It's almost March, and here, finally, is the post about the apps that have been added in the last quarter of 2022.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="new-apps">New apps</h3>
<p>The following 6 apps where added in Q4 of 2022:</p>
<h4 id="october">October</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.todo/">Endeavour</a>, an intuitive and powerful application to manage your personal tasks.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.nautilus/">GNOME Files (Nautilus)</a>, a file browser for GNOME.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/de.schmidhuberj.flare/">Flare</a>, an unofficial Signal GTK4 client.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="november">November</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/dev.geopjr.tooth/">Tooth</a>, a GTK4 Mastodon Client - Fork of Tootle.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.tenderowl.frog/">Frog</a>, an utility to extract text from anywhere.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="dezember">Dezember</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/space.quietfeathers.wince/">Wince</a> provides search for restaurants and businesses with a GTK4/libadwaita UI powered by Yelp. <em>Thanks, wildeyedskies, for creating and adding this app!</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="maintenance">Maintenance</h3>
<p>Some maintenance happened, to make maintenance more easy, we now have a <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io#checks">set of scripts</a> - help with running the scripts and fixing issues (many need manual intervention) is welcome!</p>
<h3 id="feedback-thoughts">Feedback, thoughts?</h3>
<p>Thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, please spread the word about this post and LinuxPhoneApps.org!</p>
<p>If you want to contribute an/your app or work on the website itself, please check the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/help/faq/#join-the-effort">FAQ</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> </p>
<p>And if you want to discuss apps with like minded persons, make sure to join <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">our Matrix group</a> or subscribe/post to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-discuss">discuss mailing list</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>If you are not aware of any new apps, check out apps listed in <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/apps-to-be-added/">apps-to-be-added</a>, test the app and add it!</p>
</div>
Help us achieve self-maintaining App Listings by adding AppStream Metadata!
2022-12-24T16:45:00+01:00
2022-12-24T16:45:00+01:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/please-help-adding-appstream-metadata/<p>With the festive season upon us, and the end of 2022 approaching, we have a big ask: Help us keep app listings up to date by working with upstream projects!</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>In the past months, not many apps were evaluated or added to LinuxPhoneApps.org. But still, things were done: The technical stack was much improved. While most of this work is not directly user-facing, as it's about restructuring the underlying .csv files and adding more and more automatic content checkers, we've now arrived at a stage where we can update listings without a lot of the time-intense churn this was.</p>
<p>As the main contributor of these efforts<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> put it in the Matrix group:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Help wanted: upstreaming metadata</strong></p>
<p>The last weeks, I created a script which allows us to automatically update outdated information in the apps.csv file based on AppStream metadata: <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/blob/master/check_via_appstream.py">https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/blob/master/check_via_appstream.py</a>.</p>
<p>This massively decreases manual maintenance overhead and allows us to instead focus on adding additional value like testing the apps, storing mobile compatibility scores and so on.</p>
<p>In order for that workflow to work out, we need your help:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Make sure each repository has an <a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/chap-Metadata.html">AppStream metadata file</a>.</em> <a href="https://framagit.org/darkdragon-001/linmobapps.frama.io/-/jobs/1819530">This job</a> will list you the missing ones.</li>
<li><em>Add missing values:</em> <a href="https://framagit.org/darkdragon-001/linmobapps.frama.io/-/jobs/1819529">This job</a> will show you where we have more information that reported upstream -> just earch for "missing in upstream AppStream file. Consider contributing it upstream"</li>
</ul>
<p>See <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/issues/27">this issue</a> for further info. You can also comment links to upstream issues and merge requests there.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3 id="want-to-help-great-please-be-polite-and-helpful-to-upstream">Want to help? Great! Please be polite and helpful to upstream!</h3>
<p><strong>As always: Please don't bomb upstream here, be polite, don't just go around and create a ton of issues on upstrean projects!</strong> </p>
<p>Try to be helpful instead: If you've ever dealt with HTML or other XML things, you'll be able to understand AppStream files well enough without much effort to create a Merge Request (MR) or Pull Request (PR), to take the initial load of this task from the individual developer. Be kind in the description of your PR or MR, after all it's a request you are making and politeness does not cost you money.</p>
<p>In order to reduce duplicate effort, make sure to briefly mention your MR or issue to <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/issues/27">the issue that tracks progress</a>. If you don't want to sign up with Framagit for that purpose, sending an email to upstream-appstream@linuxphoneapps.org will do the same once I (linmob) get to it.</p>
<h3 id="more-on-appstream-metadata">More on AppStream Metadata</h3>
<p>If this is the first time you've heard of AppStream Metadata, you may wonder: Ok, what is this good for? Is all this XML not a little much just to support this dumb LinuxPhoneApps.org website? Yes, it would be, you're not mistaken. But this is a well established specification, it makes listings in GNOME Software, KDE's Discover and other 'app store'-ish apps.look have nice content. </p>
<p>Still not convinced? Well, it also provides the data for websites like</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://flathub.org/">Flathub</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://apps.gnome.org/">Apps for GNOME</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://apps.kde.org/">KDE Applications</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="if-you-don-t-like-xml-here-are-other-ways-to-help">If you don't like XML, here are other ways to help</h3>
<p>Pretty cool, huh? If you still don't think so, and don't want to help us this way, you can help in other ways:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/submit-app-by-email/">Submitting apps by email</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/contributing/submit-app-on-gitlab/">Submit apps on GitLab</a>,</li>
<li>or just by writing a nice 'Thank you' mail/toot/tweet to the developers of your favorite apps!</li>
</ul>
<p>And if you don't want to help at all, that's fine too. ;-) And even if we are a day late: Happy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus">Festivus</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Who doea not even want to be named - still: Thank you so much for your work on LinuxPhoneApps, and thanks for putting up with me (linmob) being difficult!</p>
</div>
New apps of LinuxPhoneApps.org, Q3/2022 - 400! π
2022-10-08T11:07:00+02:00
2022-10-08T11:07:00+02:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/new-listed-apps-q3-2022-400/<p>It's October, its time for another quarterly update! Let's get started with some good news:
LinuxPhoneApps.org now lists over 400 apps, and hit the 400 apps milestone before the end of the quarter. Now how did we get there?</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="new-apps">New apps</h3>
<p>The following 14 apps where added last quarter:</p>
<h4 id="july">July</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.yoavmoshe.pidif/">Pidif</a>, a lightweight PDF viewer built for touch interfaces, with GTK4 and Rust. <em>Thanks to bjesus for creating and adding this app!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/chat.quadrix.quadrix/">Quadrix</a>, a minimal, simple, multi-platform chat client for the Matrix protocol (ReactXP, Electron). <em>Thanks to alpabrz for evaluating and adding this app!</em></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="august">August</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.ranfdev.lobjur/">Lobjur</a>, a GTK4 client for lobste.rs.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/me.hacktivis.badwolf/">BadWolf</a>, Minimalist and privacy-oriented web browser based on WebKitGTK. <em>Thanks lanodan for creating and adding this app!</em></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="september">September</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.gitlab.zehkira.myuzi/">Myuzi</a>. Free Spotify alternative for Linux with no ads. <em>Thanks to Cara for telling us about this app on Twitter! Please note: This is not a Spotify client!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.rocksandpaper.syndic/">Syndic</a>, a convergent feed reader for Plasma and Android.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/app.drey.eartag/">Ear Tag</a>,https://github.com/knuxify/eartag,Small and simple music tag editor that doesn't try to manage your entire library,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.gitlab.azymohliad.watchmate/">WatchMate</a>, a PineTime smart watch companion app for Linux phone and desktop.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.gradienceteam.gradience/">Gradience</a>, an app to change the look of Adwaita, with ease.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.adbeveridge.raider/">File Shredder</a>, a simple shredding program built for the GNOME desktop.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/de.zwarf.picplanner/">PicPlanner</a>, an app to calculate the position of the Sun, Moon and Milky Way to plan the position and time for a photograph,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.calendar/">GNOME Calendar</a>, Calendar application for GNOME. <em>With release 43, this app has been redesigned to be mobile friendly. In initial testing (flathub), it misses this goal by a few pixels.</em> </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.hakkropolis.keepasspq/">KeePassPQ</a> is a Python and QML based application to open KeePass (v4) databases on mobile devices
and finally</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.liferooter.textpieces/">Text Pieces</a>, Transform text without using random websites.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="maintenance">Maintenance</h3>
<p>I also want to take the time to thank everyone who helped with keeping the list up to date via <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=merged">Merge Request</a> or email:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>alphabrz</em> updated Nota, Calindori and Quadrix</li>
<li><em>BigB</em> updated Sonically</li>
</ul>
<p>and <em>jumpexy</em> sent a first mail to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/errors">Errors list</a> pointing out an error that has since been fixed. </p>
<p><mark>!</mark> If you find an error or something outdated in a listing, please scroll down and hit the link after "Something wrong?" at the bottom of the listing. Assuming you have a mail client set up on your system, a new new compose window will open that already has a subject, and some text to make us know what this is about. All you need to do is to describe the error and hit send - it helps a lot! </p>
<p>Please use this method and not social media to point out errors - social media is just too ephemeral, and your report may be missed (or cause some unneccessary mental load for maintainers ;-) ).</p>
<h3 id="help-with-maintenance">Help with maintenance!</h3>
<p>Overall, maintenance could be better. Sadly my personal life has changed in ways that I (1peter10) have a lot less time to maintain the listings - and at the same time, with more and more listings, there are more projects to watch and maintain. This requires better tooling (e.g., a checker for dead links, or a simple way to follow project releases / commits on "unreleased" projects via RSS/ATOM feeds), that's almost impossible to build for me in the few scraps of time I have in an average work week.</p>
<p>Sadly, due to spammers, framagit has enabled account moderation - signing up for a new account is not instantaneous and may take days. But you can of still contribute quickly: Just clone the repo, create a patch and send it to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-devel">devel mailing list</a>! </p>
<h3 id="the-way-forward">The way forward</h3>
<h4 id="now-more-ways-to-contribute-and-communicate">Now: More ways to contribute and communicate</h4>
<p>As mentioned above, we've added another way to contribute. Signing up for yet another code forge is something you may not want, and you don't have to. While you could also send patches via email before, there's now an official way for that documented on the <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-devel">devel mailing list</a>.</p>
<p>If you've developed an app (or found an app that's not listed) and don't want to bother with the arcane csv file, feel free to write about it to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-discuss">discuss mailing list</a>. </p>
<h4 id="replacing-csv-toml-metainfo-xml">Replacing CSV? TOML? metainfo.xml?</h4>
<p>Stay tuned for a post later this quarter that will contain my ideas to move beyond the current way which is somewhat convoluted - yes, I wrote "ideas" here, because I need the input of more savvy people to come up with an actual plan. The goal is to form a plan in 2022 and to then implement it in early 2023.</p>
<h3 id="also-hacktoberfest">Also: Hacktoberfest</h3>
<p>Lastly, we briefly want to mention <a href="https://hacktoberfest.com/">hacktoberfest</a>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> While contributing LinuxPhoneApps.org won't help you get a t-shirt, there are a few listed Linux Mobile projects that are accepting contributions during hacktoberfest:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/nanu-c/axolotl">Axolotl</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/IBBoard/cawbird">Cawbird</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/GradienceTeam/Gradience">Gradience</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/zehkira/myuzi">Myuzi</a>, and</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Nheko-Reborn/nheko">Nheko</a></li>
</ul>
<p>(Thanks to <a href="https://mastodon.online/web/@JJS_10/109112281121899562">@JJS_10 for helping with compiling this list</a>!)</p>
<h3 id="feedback-thoughts">Feedback, thoughts?</h3>
<p>Thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, please spread the word about this post and LinuxPhoneApps.org!</p>
<p>If you want to contribute an/your app or work on the website itself, please check the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/help/faq/#join-the-effort">FAQ</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup> </p>
<p>And if you want to discuss apps with like minded persons, make sure to join <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">our Matrix group</a> or subscribe/post to our <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.org-discuss">discuss mailing list</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Hacktoberfest has a bad reputation from leading to spammy commits, but after reading <a href="https://hacktoberfest.com/participation/">their guidelines for this year</a>, I think they have addressed this.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>If you are not aware of any new apps, check out <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/blob/master/apps-to-be-added.md">apps-to-be-added</a>, test the app and add it!</p>
</div>
New apps of LinuxPhoneApps.org, Q2/2022 π
2022-07-07T22:10:00+02:00
2022-07-07T22:10:00+02:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/new-listed-apps-q2-2022/<p>Let's have a quick and dirty blog post listing all the additions to our app list in the second quarter of 2022!</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="april">April</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/xyz.mx_moment.moment/">Moment</a>,a ustomizable and keyboard-operable Matrix client, written in Qt/QML and Python. <em>This is the continuation of <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.github.mirukana.mirage/">Mirage</a>, which has been inactive for a bit.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.firmware/">GNOME Firmware</a>, GNOME's mobile friendly fwupd frontend.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.gitlab.cheywood.iotas/">Iotas</a>, a simple note taking with mobile-first design and a focus on Nextcloud Notes sync.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.diamondburned.gtkcord4/">gtkcord4</a>, a GTK4 Discord client in Go.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/chat.delta.desktop/">Delta Chat Desktop</a>, an Email-based instant messaging client for Desktop. <em>And phones, duh!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.bit-shift-io.qweather/">Quick Weather</a>, a QML Qt application for desktop and mobile, that uses BOM weather for Australia.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.tabos.roger/">Roger Router</a>, a utility to control and monitor AVM Fritz!Box Routers.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.gitlab.caveman250.clans/">Clans</a>, a WIP Gtk4 / libAdwaita Discord client. <em>Warning: Use at your own risk. Using a third party Discord client may result in your account being banned.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.signal.signal/">Signal Desktop</a>, the official Signal app for desktops, works pretty well - except for suffering from the common Electron issues: Blurriness, or non-working virtual keyboards (partially on Phosh, totally on Plasma Mobile) when enabling the ozone wayland backend. <em>Sadly, Signal does not provide official ARM64/aarch64 binaries, so that unofficial builds must do: Builds for Debian are listed on the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230921192857/https://wiki.mobian.org/doku.php?id=signaldesktop">Mobian Wiki</a>, builds for Arch are available on <a href="https://privacyshark.zero-credibility.net/#howto">privacy-shark</a> and there's also a distribution-independent <a href="https://elagost.com/flatpak/">flatpak build</a> that should work on every distro.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.bassi.amberol/">Amberol</a>, a small and simple sound and music player that is well integrated with GNOME.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/net.jami.jami/">Jami-qt</a> is the cross platform client for Jami, a privacy-oriented voice, video, chat, and conference platform. </li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.coasts/">Coasts</a>, a nice and simple map viewer.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.tasks/">Tasks</a>, a simple task list application.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="may">May</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.ranfdev.geopard/">Geopard</a>, a Gemini client written in Rust, using the GTK4 toolkit</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/app.drey.warp/">Warp</a> allows you to securely send files to each other via the internet or local network by exchanging a word-based code.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/it.mijorus.smile/">Smile</a>, a simple emoji picker for Linux with custom tags support.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/io.posidon.paper/">Paper</a>, a pretty note-taking app for GNOME.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/ro.hume.cosmin.shoppinglist/">Shopping List</a>, a shopping list application for GNU/Linux mobile devices.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="june">June</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.marinm.songrec/">Songrec</a>, an open-source, unofficial Shazam client for Linux, written in Rust.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.neithern.g4music/">G4Music</a>, a fast, fluent, light weight music player written in GTK4, with a beautiful, adaptive user interface, so named G4Music.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/ca.andyholmes.valent/">Valent</a>, securely connect your devices to open files and links where you need them, get notifications when you need them, stay in control of your media and more. <em>Valent is an implementation of the KDE Connect protocol, built on GNOME platform libraries.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.avojak.iridium/">Iridium</a>, a native Linux IRC client built in Vala and Gtk for elementary OS.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.sigxcpu.mobilesettings/">Phosh Mobile Settings</a>, a settings app for Phosh and related components. <em>Really neat tool that tackles everything I always wanted to add to <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.postmarketos.tweaks/">postmarketOS Tweaks</a>.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.emersion.goguma/">Goguma</a>, an IRC client written in Flutter for mobile devices.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.raggesilver.blackbox/">BlackBox</a>, a beautiful GTK4 terminal.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks to everyone involved in developing and submitting these apps!π</p>
<h3 id="other-noteworthy-changes">Other noteworthy changes</h3>
<p>There also have been a some nice updates to already included listings - shout out to BigB, Maeve and alpabrz for their contributions!</p>
<p>Overall, I would have hoped to get more done in the past three months. My day job has been challenging at times, so maybe more progress was just not possible. That said, especially progress on site features like <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/linuxphoneapps.frama.io/-/issues/29">app authorship</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> or others that you can find in the <a href="https://framagit.org/groups/linuxphoneapps/-/issues">issue tracker</a> (or in my head) has been way to slow for my liking.</p>
<p>So if you think you can help out, please do get in touch!</p>
<h3 id="feedback-thoughts">Feedback, thoughts?</h3>
<p>Thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, please spread the word about this post and LinuxPhoneApps.org!</p>
<p>If you want to contribute an/your app or work on the website itself, please check the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/help/faq/#join-the-effort">FAQ</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup> </p>
<p>And if you want to discuss apps with like minded persons, make sure to join <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">our Matrix group</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>This is the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/app-author/">current state</a>, in case you were curious.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>If you are not aware of any new apps, check out <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/blob/master/apps-to-be-added.md">apps-to-be-added</a>, test the app and add it!</p>
</div>
New apps of LINMOBapps, Q1/2022 π
2022-04-07T23:00:00+02:00
2022-04-07T23:00:00+02:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/new-listed-apps-q1-2022/<h3 id="january">January</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.janbar.osmin/">Osmin</a>, a GPS Navigator On-Road/Off-Road for Android, Sailfish and Linux phones. <em>A great QtQuick maps app. Itβs available in Manjaro's repos, so if you are using Manjaro or Arch,<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> do give it a try. Thanks Karry for contributing this app!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.fdservices.storecards/">Store Cards</a>,a Tk based utility to keep all your store cards on your linux phone.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.strike/">Strike</a> is Maui's simple minimal IDE for the Linux phones. Code, build, and run from the phone!</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="february">February</h3>
<p>No apps were added in February.π§</p>
<h3 id="march">March</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/de.beaerlin.gadgetcontroller/">GadgetController</a>, a pythonic GTK/libhandy utility to use your PinePhone as an USB gadget.</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.benpocalypse.huely/">Huely</a>, an app to control WiFi lights compatible with the Android Magic Home app using this simple app. <em>Sadly it seems to be a few pixels to wide, so it's not a <strong>5</strong>.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.dejadup/">DΓ©jΓ Dup Backups</a>, a duplicity based simple backup tool that uses GTK4/libadwaita for a convergent UI,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.x.warpinator/">Warpinator</a>, an utility allowing you to easily connect multiple computers on a local area network and share files quickly and securely, developed for Linux Mint,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.rnd2.cpupower_gui.desktop/">cpupower-gui</a>, a graphical program that is used to change the scaling frequency limits of your CPU,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/de.schmidhuberj.diebahn/">DieBahn</a>, a GTK4 frontend for the travel information of the german railway,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/dev.atoft.reactions/">Reactions</a>, written in Zig, GTK4 and libadwaita, it uses the GIPHY search API,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/me.sanchezrodriguez.passes/">Passes</a>, a simple GTK4/libadwaita tool that allows you to import and take your digital passes (.pkpass files) with you,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gnome.polari/">Polari</a>, a simple IRC Client that is designed to integrate seamlessly with GNOME, working on mobile since its GTK4/libadwaita overhaul for release 42, <em>There's a bug with quick nickname editing, not sure whether Polari or Squeekboard are at fault here, - but it generally works, which is awesome, as [mobile friendly IRC clients|(https://linuxphoneapps.org/categories/irc-client/) are rare!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.martijnbraam.powersupply/">Powersupply</a>, a PinePhone power status tool that should have been added forever ago,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.doycho.euterpe.gtk/">Euterpe GTK</a>, a convergent desktop and mobile client for Euterpe, a self-hostable music streaming server, realized with GTK3/libhandy,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.mil.mepo/">Mepo</a> a fast, simple, and hackable OSM map viewer for Linux, designed with the Pinephone & mobile linux in mind; realized with Zig and SDL, <em>Thanks milesalan for creating and adding this amazingly performant little maps app!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/page.codeberg.foreverxml.random/">Random</a>, a GTK4/libadwaita utility that make randomization easy so you don't need to flip a physical coin,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/lakoliu/Furtherance">Furtherance</a>, a time tracking app written in Rust with GTK 4/libadwaita, <em>Unfortunately ciirca 40 pixels too wide, sadly crashes while adding tasks on aarch64.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/noappid.alefnode.mobile-whatsweb/">WhatsWeb</a>, an Electron frontend for WhatsApp Web for Mobile Linux Devices, that makes web.whatsapp.com responsive,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/de.manic.friendiqa/">Friendiqa</a>, a Qt/QML App for Friendica, a federated, decentralized social network,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.gabmus.swatch/">Swatch</a>, a color palette manager utilizing GTK4 and libadwaita, and finally</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/codes.loers.karlender/">Karlender</a>, a GTK4/libadwaita, mobile-friendly calendar application written in Rust supporting CalDAV. <em>Karlender is really nice, as it supports a day view - something GNOME Calendar (be it in its GTK4/libadwaita non-mobile friendly <a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-calendar">upstream</a> or its <a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/debs/gnome-calendar">adaptive port by Purism</a>) just does not offer.</em></li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks to everyone involved in developing and submitting these apps!π</p>
<h3 id="other-noteworthy-changes">Other noteworthy changes</h3>
<p>The re-evaluation of archived apps in the process of launching this site was really worth it: Turns out that the only Discord app we ever listed, <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/com.github.diamondburned.gtkcord3/">gtkcord3</a>, once abandoned, was revived by its developer and is definitely better than no option for all you Discord users!</p>
<h3 id="feedback-thoughts">Feedback, thoughts?</h3>
<p>Thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, please spread the word about this post and LinuxPhoneApps.org. While we're still in an early state, the page should only become more useful from here on.</p>
<p>If you want to contribute an/your app to the list, please check the <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/docs/help/faq/#join-the-effort">FAQ</a>!</p>
<p>And if you want to discuss apps with like minded persons, make sure to join <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">our Matrix group</a>!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>The <a href="https://gitlab.manjaro.org/manjaro-arm/packages/community/osmin/-/raw/master/PKGBUILD">PKGBUILD</a> should also work for other Arch-based distributions</p>
</div>
Hello World π
2022-03-28T20:00:00+02:00
2022-03-28T20:00:00+02:00
https://linuxphoneapps.org/blog/its-better-to-launch/<p>Note: It's not all ready, and things aren't super great. But, after such a long process, launching in a "not fully baked" state feels a lot better than launching never.</p>
<h3 id="what-s-missing">What's missing?</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Individual app listings</strong> are here, but they aren't quite what we were aiming for:
<ul>
<li>We don't have screenshots yet, soon we might incorporate some for images uploaded somewhere else. Hosting too many images in a git repo is not a good idea, and it would make things more complicated - this way, every listing is just a markdown file that follows a certain logic.</li>
<li>The markdown files can't be edited directly yet.</li>
<li>We can't reuse contents from structured appstream metadata yet.</li>
<li>Other considered features, such as some kind of user comment system, have not been tackled at all yet. Merge requests for a system that requires some kind of authentication, be it ActivityPub, Matrix or else, are very welcome, though!</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>No new representation of the Games List.</strong> It's going to land, once apps are "done".</li>
<li><strong>Docs/Resources.</strong> We have some, but especially developer resources aren't more than a bunch of links, which makes sense given that I am not a developer, despite the <a href="https://framagit.org/linuxphoneapps/appscsv2tomlmd">pythonic mess</a> I've created to get this effort to this point.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="why-are-we-launching-anyway">Why are we launching anyway?</h3>
<p>There's no regression compared the previous state: The original JavaScript heavy lists are still here:<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/apps-classic">Apps</a> (dubbed "Classical App List" π)</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/games">Games</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/lists/archive">Archive</a>, which has been partly re-integrated into apps.csv (with the status set to archived or inactive) and now only lists two apps for which re-integration did not make any sense.</li>
</ul>
<p>We're also not loosing any Git history, as the original .csv lists are not only meant to stay here, but their <a href="https://linmobapps.frama.io">repo</a> is still intact and a part of this project. It really should be moved to be part of the same organization, but in order to make this transition easier it will remain where it is. Also, a single source of truth, such as apps.csv, has its benefits - it can be reused in <a href="https://github.com/Speiburger/LINMOBappsBrowser">third party</a> <a href="https://framagit.org/1peter10/simple-applist">projects</a> easily. Yes, CSV is ugly, but as long as there's no replacement (e.g. in XML), we'll have to keep it around.</p>
<p>Also, with all the caveats applied, this should be a lot better then what we're had before, for repology integration alone!</p>
<h3 id="what-s-next">What's next?</h3>
<p>Aside from what's in the <a href="https://framagit.org/groups/linuxphoneapps/-/issues">issue</a> <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobaapps.frama.io/-/issues">trackers</a>, there's a lot of design work that will need to happen. Several overviews are far from perfect, and I am not even happy with how the app listings are looking right now. They need to be reordered and polished, which will happen over time.</p>
<p>There's a lot of work ahead, but hey, at least we're launched now! π₯³π</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>They work exactly the same way as they always did β except for some unfixed regressions when dark mode is active.</p>
</div>