Is there any proprietary Android app for which you wish there would be an open-source alternative? - eviltoast

Basically, what the title says. Do you use any app, that is proprietary, but either has no OSS alternatives or they’re all not good enough? If there is an alternative, what keeps you from switching?

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    If you live in an area that’s missing the data, it doesn’t matter how good the app is. I regularly upload in my area, but it will be years before it is reliable as a primary app. I usually search in Organic Maps first, then in Google Maps. OSM gets me where I need about 10-20% of the time at most. Google Maps is about 99%.

    There are multiple front-ends for YT Music. Song Tube is good, Libre Tube is good, Inner Tune, Musify, Vibe You, etc. I haven’t used them all so I can’t testify to them, but it is a deep bench.

    • Andrew@mnstdn.monster
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      2 months ago

      There are always people claiming Organic Maps or other OSM apps are perfect replacements for GMaps and I’m just curious what other tool these people were using for location based searches. Because it apparently wasn’t GMaps?

      • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        If you live in a big liberal city with a lot of tech people, then you probably have a really well organized team creating detailed maps. In that case, there’s no reason to think that Google is any better than osm. In a lot of cases it’s worse, especially for walking and cycling.

        If you’re in a smaller, poorer city or a rural area, there’s a good chance that 80% or 90% of the addresses are just not there yet. Compare this random park in Berkeley, CA with labels for individual trees to this neighborhood in nearby Stockton, CA, which is assuredly more than 3-4 houses.

        OSM usability really depends on where you live.