• Firefox-esr is the best supported option, be sure mobile-config-firefox is also installed to make it usable on a phone. The mainstream firefox is also available and some people report it works with the mobile config as well.
  

• Chromium now works out of the box.  Always good to have a second browser for balky sites.
  

• The base Chatty does XMPP inline with SMS so that is covered.  MMS and SIP support are now experimental.
  
• Dino gives you XMPP support including conferences.
  

• Telegram is in the repos.
  

• Fractal gives you riot.im / Element / Matrix access.
  

• Hexchat is in the repos, just don't expect much on a phone screen.  (Any other IRC?)
  

• No Discord or Signal yet.
  

• Don't know.  Evolution is in the repo but not terribly useful on a phone.
  

• Megapixels is the only game in town for PinePhone and is currently fairly good for still pictures.  It even recognizes QR codes.  No effort at video support yet.
  
• Cheese is good if your camera is supported by the usual GNOME Gstreamer plumbing.  Pinephone isn't.
  

• Numberstation is now in the repos and seems to work like it should.  
  

• Gnome-maps works if you have constantly available data.
  

• Pure-maps is supposed to be able to work if you jump through enough hoops for API keys and are willing to drag in some Qt dependencies.
  

• If you need offline navigation and do not want to struggle too much, see the anbox/waydroid notes below about OsmAnd~.
  

• Evince seems the consensus choice.
  

• eog (Eye of Gnome) is the default even if it isn't well optimized for mobile.  Ideas?
  

• Portfolio is working well now and is optimized for a phone display.
  

• Nemo seems to be installed by default, but it is clumsy on a phone display.
  

• Mousepad looks pretty good to edit, file dialogs are a bit whack on a phone.
  

• Gedit is often installed by default but the UI tends to overflow the screen.  No perfect choice yet.
  

• Lollypop is the current best choice.  It supports pausing suspend.  Still a bit buggy.
  

• Gnome-podcasts is also a recommended choice, serving a different need.
  

• Vlc-qt is probably the best option, same as everywhere else. Not really mobile optimized and frame rate stinks, but it is the only real choice.
  
• Mpv is out, no UI.
  
• Mplayer also has no UI.
  

• Sound-recorder
  

• gnome-calculator (only one that actually works on a phone)
  

• gnome-clocks (alarms might not go off from suspend, but it is supposed to work now.  Don't overly rely on it yet!)
  

• gnome-calendar isn't well optimized (adjust scaling!) but it works.
  

• gnome-disk-utility
  
• gnome-usage
  
• powersupply
  
• dconf-editor
  

• FreeOTP runs and produces the same results as a real Android phone.  FreeOTP+ and the other probably work as well.  No camera of course so no QR codes, either import existing ones from another device or try to put in the long string correctly.  With a dodgy keyboard.
  

• OsmAnd~ runs and even gets a location lock and downloaded my home State's maps for offline use.  The keyboard problems would be an issue eventually, but it is usable now.
  

(03-17-2021, 12:33 AM)jmorris Wrote: The base Chatty does XMPP inline with SMS so that is covered.

(03-24-2021, 12:45 AM)acrux Wrote:

(03-17-2021, 12:33 AM)jmorris Wrote: The base Chatty does XMPP inline with SMS so that is covered.

But no multiuser chats. (MUC)
I have read that Dino has recent developments using libhandy to fit to the mobile screens.
Does PMOS include already that version of Dino?

(03-18-2021, 06:13 PM)kuleszdl Wrote: Thank you for this cool list - highly appreciated!

I was wondering if there is VOIP/SIP app you could recommend (such as linphone) as well as a mumble client? I was thinking about using such apps via anbox, however, I wonder if (a) audio would be routed correctly and (b) how the impact on battery life would be in case of the SIP app.

(03-17-2021, 12:33 AM)jmorris Wrote: Alpine / Postmarket has over 18K packages for routers, servers, appliances and desktop.  And multiple phone interfaces.  So what are the current best practice apps?  It can take some effort to figure that out.  So a list!  Obviously it is incomplete but a place to start.  Will try to keep this top post edited as suggestions come in and the state of play changes rapidly.  Would also be willing to maintain a similar list for Plasma if enough contributions come in.



Assuming you are running Edge since things are still moving pretty quick.




Browser

• Firefox-esr is the best supported option, be sure mobile-config-firefox is also installed to make it usable on a phone. The mainstream firefox is also available and some people report it works with the mobile config as well.
  

• Chromium can be made to work with patches found elsewhere in this forum (might be upstream by now, try it).  Always good to have a second browser for balky sites.
  

Communications

• The base Chatty does XMPP inline with SMS so that is covered.
  

• Telegram is in the repos.
  

• Fractal gives you riot.im / Element / Matrix access.
  

• Hexchat is in the repos, just don't expect much on a phone screen.  (Any other IRC?)
  

• No Discord or Signal yet.
  

Email

• Don't know.
  

Camera

• Megapixels is the only game in town for PinePhone and is currently unreliable at best.
  
• Cheese is good if your camera is supported by the usual GNOME Gstreamer plumbing.
  

2FA Authentication

• Gnome-authenticator is currently "mostly broken."  With patching I got the add account dialog to appear but it segfaults on any activity.
  

• See anbox below for a solution.
  

Navigation

• Gnome-maps works if you have constantly available data.
  

• Pure-maps is supposed to be able to work if you jump through enough hoops for API keys and are willing to drag in some Qt dependencies.
  

• If you need offline navigation and do not want to struggle too much, see the anbox notes below about OsmAnd~.
  

Document / Ebook viewer

• Evince seems the consensus choice.
  

Image Viewer

• eog (Eye of Gnome) is the default even if it isn't well optimized for mobile.  Ideas?
  

File Manager

• Portfolio is working well now and is optimized for a phone display.
  

• Nemo seems to be installed by default, but it is clumsy on a phone display.
  

Text editor

• Mousepad looks pretty good to edit, file dialogs are a bit whack on a phone.
  

• Gedit is often installed by default but the UI tends to overflow the screen.  No perfect choice yet.
  

Music player
Jack switching isn't working on PinePhone yet so you will need alsamixer, etc. to enable the headphones and mute the speaker.

• Lollypop is the current best choice.  It supports pausing suspend.
  

• Gnome-podcasts is also a recommended choice, serving a different need.
  

Video player

• Vlc-qt is probably the best option, same as everywhere else. Not really mobile optimized but it is the only real choice.
  
• Mpv is out, no UI.
  
• Mplayer also has no UI.
  

Think i'm in the right thread.  I am running AlpineOS w. Phosh.  
Other multimedia

• Sound-recorder
  

Utilities


Things you might want that don't fit a category above.

• gnome-calculator (only one that actually works on a phone)
  

• gnome-clocks (alarms might not go off from suspend!)
  

• gnome-calendar isn't well optimized (adjust scaling!) but it works.
  

• gnome-disk-utility
  
• gnome-usage
  
• powersupply
  
• dconf-editor
  

Anbox

Anbox works well enough to be useful, but it has glaring problems.  The onscreen keyboard can't shift and it won't see a BT keyboard at all.  Sometimes it won't see the onscreen keyboard either. Many apps, especially involving sensors, simply won't run at all.  The useless extra bar with a redundant close button is annoying but livable.  It can fill two important holes in application coverage though.



2FA

• FreeOTP runs and produces the same results as a real Android phone.  FreeOTP+ and the other probably work as well.  No camera of course so no QR codes, either import existing ones from another device or try to put in the long string correctly.  With a dodgy keyboard.
  

Navigation

• OsmAnd~ runs and even gets a location lock and downloaded my home State's maps for offline use.  The keyboard problems would be an issue eventually, but it is usable now.
  

(03-17-2021, 12:33 AM)jmorris Wrote: [Updated November 13, 2021]



Waydroid (New for November update)



Waydroid is still in rapid development but already generally performs better than anbox.  The onscreen Android keyboard works, My BT keyboard double enters every keystroke and does something whack with a pointer that also renders it unusable.  But network now works and the screen is a lot more responsive.  No GPS yet, but OSMAND~ does install and you can manually look at the map.  As of now though, waydroid is just for playing with since it devours your battery if a waydroid session is enabled. The phone simply will not sleep, the screen keeps turning itself back on.


I confirm, enabled waydroid session will empty your battery pretty fast. At the moment it should be switched on and off manually.