Kelson<p>Remember the "Simple Mobile Tools" suite of Android apps? It <em>used to be</em> a great collection of basic apps that didn't slurp up your data, clog up your apps with advertising, or charge exorbitant prices. It isn't anymore.</p><p>At the end of 2023, the suite was <a href="https://tgrush.bearblog.dev/simple-mobile-tools-falls-victim-to-zipoapps/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">sold to ZipoApps</a>, who proceeded to do all of those things. (This appears to be their business model: buy an app with a large install base and squeeze every last bit of monetization out of it while destroying its usefulness, fun, and credibility.)</p><p>Seriously: They replaced the $2.99 one-time payment for the Pro version of Calendar with a <strong>$15/week subscription</strong>.</p><p><strong>Fortunately the apps were all GPL</strong>, and there's a <a href="https://github.com/FossifyOrg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">complete fork called Fossify</a>. They're still slowly rolling apps out to F-Droid and Google Play, with about 10 out so far.</p><p>I use the <a href="https://hyperborea.org/reviews/apps/fossify-calendar/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">calendar</a> and <a href="https://hyperborea.org/reviews/apps/fossify-contacts/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">contacts</a> apps all the time, and the voice recorder is good for taking quick notes. I've also used the files, gallery and music player apps occasionally, but not enough to have a solid impression of them, and I haven't yet tried the phone or SMS apps.</p><p><a href="https://hyperborea.org/reviews/apps/fossify-replace-smt/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Fossify Apps: Replacing Simple Mobile Tools</a></p><p><a href="https://notes.kvibber.com/tags/foss" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FOSS</span></a> <a href="https://notes.kvibber.com/tags/fossify" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Fossify</span></a> <a href="https://notes.kvibber.com/tags/android" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Android</span></a> <a href="https://notes.kvibber.com/tags/mobileapps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MobileApps</span></a> <a href="https://notes.kvibber.com/tags/simplemobiletools" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SimpleMobileTools</span></a> <a href="https://notes.kvibber.com/tags/roteconomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RotEconomy</span></a> <a href="https://notes.kvibber.com/tags/defaang" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DeFAANG</span></a> <a href="https://notes.kvibber.com/tags/degoogling" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DeGoogling</span></a></p>