Simon Tatham's Puzzles. (Chris Boyle's Android port is the best version on any platform, IMO).

Edit: OK, already suggested. I'm seconding it, then.

I use lots of F-Droid apps.

Vinyl Music Player - it allows you to browse via folder structure, but it isn't the default, and in browsing the preferences, it doesn't appear that you can make it the default.

Etar - Fantastic calendar application. Looks good, very configurable, does what I need a calendar to do.

Simple Contacts - Like Etar, looks good, and does what I need a contacts app to do.

Simple Gallery - Very powerful gallery app considering the size. Pretty configurable, does basic photo editing, looks good.

AntennaPod - Great podcast application.

Amaze File Manager - Great file browser. Similar to Solid Explorer, but free and open source.

Open Launcher - Great open source launcher. IMHO, it's the best open source launcher out there. Lawnchair is a close second, but they've been a little pokey at keeping the F-Droid version of Lawnchair coincident with the Play store version.

FairEmail - Modern email client. I used K-9 for years, and really like K-9, but I like the interface of FairEmail better.

NetGuard - Proxy based network control. This app gives you per-application control of network access via wifi and / or data. Good for privacy - you can make sure that only the apps you want accessing the net can access the net.

Frost - Facebook client. Way less bloated than the stock facebook client.

NewPipe - YouTube client.

OSMAnd+ - Fantastic google maps alternative. Can be run completely offline by pre-downloading the map tiles. The search is a little clunky compared to google maps, but once you get used to it, it's ok. Based on OpenStreetMap data.

QKSMS - Open source texting client. Works very well.

Slide - Open source reddit client.

There is a fork of Open Camera called HedgeCam 2, which I find to have a better UI.

Also Musicolet is a nice music player with limited permissions.

Robotfindskitten

SD Maid (maybe)

is it ad free?

you don't need "just search", you can configure somewhere in the settings of the OS that long press of home opens fennec and places the cursor at its location-bar. it's "apps"->"..."->"default apps"->"device assistance app"->"fennec f-droid"

i recommend "ublock origin" for fennec. oh, timppu: fennec actually is firefox, only from f-droid app repository instead of google play.

radiodroid as a frontend for www.radio-browser.info is nice.

epubator to convert pdf to epub and cool reader to read them.

Already installed.

oh, and the biggest hack of them all is:
go in "about:config" of fennec and put "font.minimum-size.x-western" to "20" (or smaller if you got a phone instead of tablet)

NewPipe for viewing YouTube videos. I almost never used the official YouTube app once I got my hands on this gem of an app. On F-Droid too.

Firefox for web browsing. It's especially more useful once you set it as the assistant app, then by holding the Home button, you can immediately access your browser. I find this more infinitely useful than summoning Google Assistant at any time. Not available directly on F-Droid, possibly only available through FFUpdater?

Slide for Reddit. Download it off F-Droid for all features, pro ones included.

SaidIt as an alternatve to Reddit.

Riot.im for chat on the Matrix servers.

Open Flood for a flooding game

DiskUsage shows you your storages like SpaceSniffer on Windows does, useful for figuring out where your space is being eaten.

Simple Solitaire Collection for exactly what it says on the tin.

QuickDic for dictionaries. Useful for looking up nearly every English word, and has dictionaries for other languages too.

Telegram for chatting as well. SImilar to WhatsApp but FOSS, although you need to use a phone number with it.

VLC is pretty much the best video player available on Android right now.

TrebleShot for sharing across devices. Will have (stable) PC support soon.

Download Navi as your download manager

Setup Simple Keyboard is a keyboard with no autocorrect or suggestions, if you fancy that (like I do).

CPU Info for information on your phone's hardware

2048 has two versions of it on F-Droid too.

You might hate the Google Play Store, but Aurora Store is a FOSS frontend to the Play Store in case you need any apps from there.

SuperUStats to track app usage information (as approximately as possible)



Some apps I'd suggest getting from the Play Store:

Yr is a good weather app, powered by a Norwegian weather service.

Define is an app that lets you select a word and immediately call the app for its definition. Useful when reading.

miniSweeper is a good Minesweeper app that I can vouch for.



Stuff I'd get that isn't on the Play Store:

BlackBerry Keyboard requires installing another app to download and install it, but you can ditch that app once you get the keyboard and keep the APK for the BB Keyboard around, like I did. It's a fresh take on keyboards, if a bit limited in customization.

MiXplorer is available on the Play Store as a paid product, but you get the main app off the XDA forums for free, and the addons are available on XDA Labs (but you need to sign up) with updates being offered through the app's own updater. MiXplorer is a powerful file manager once you get used to it. It's a swiss army knife to call it simply.

Fennec F-Driod, I believe, is basically Firefox minus the non-free bits (so no support for the DRM used by Netflix, for example).l

By any chance, does it put the .APK files somewhere they can be easily accessed without root, and hence can be backed up and transferred to other devices?

Yes. Check a folder called Aurora in your internal storage. You can also tweak the download settings in the app.

Though if a download fails, then go to the main screen of the app and hit the download button next to the gear (settings) button on the top. Hold on the failed tap and "Pause" and "Resume" till it's moving.