Best Apps for GrapheneOS: Privacy-First Alternatives 2025

Best Apps for GrapheneOS in 2025

Switching to GrapheneOS is the first step. Choosing privacy-respecting apps is the second. Here's the definitive guide to replacing every app in your stack.

App Stores

F-Droid — The open-source app store. Contains thousands of free, open-source apps. All apps on F-Droid are verified to not contain proprietary components or tracking.

Sandboxed Play Store — For apps not available on F-Droid. Runs in isolation without elevated privileges.

Aurora Store — An open-source client for the Google Play Store. Download Play Store apps without a Google account.

Browser

Vanadium — GrapheneOS's built-in browser, a hardened fork of Chromium. Excellent security, privacy-respecting defaults.

Firefox with uBlock Origin — Solid alternative with excellent extension support.

Brave — Privacy-focused Chromium fork. Good defaults, though the crypto features aren't for everyone.

Messaging

Signal — The gold standard for private messaging. End-to-end encrypted by default for all messages and calls. Install via F-Droid for a version that doesn't require Google services.

Element (Matrix) — Federated, open-source messaging. Good for group chats and communities.

Briar — For high-security use cases. Works over Tor and can even sync over Bluetooth without internet.

Email

K-9 Mail (now Thunderbird for Android) — The best open-source email client for Android.

FairEmail — Feature-rich, privacy-focused email client.

ProtonMail — End-to-end encrypted email with a mobile app.

Maps and Navigation

Organic Maps — Excellent offline maps built on OpenStreetMap. No tracking, no account required. Works without any Google services.

OsmAnd — More feature-rich offline maps. Great for cycling and hiking.

Calendar and Contacts

Simple Calendar Pro — Clean, open-source calendar app.

DAVx5 — Sync your calendar and contacts with a self-hosted or privacy-respecting server (Nextcloud, ProtonCalendar, etc.)

Password Manager

Bitwarden — The best open-source password manager. Self-host or use their servers.

KeePassDX — Local-only password storage for users who don't want any cloud sync.

VPN

Mullvad — No logs, accepts cash payments, regularly audited.

ProtonVPN — Good free tier, open source, based in Switzerland.

Photos

Aves — Beautiful, open-source photo gallery.

Secure Camera — GrapheneOS's built-in camera app. Blocks sensors from other apps while it's in use.

Notes

Standard Notes — Encrypted notes, cross-platform.

Obsidian — Powerful note-taking with local storage.

News and Reading

Feeder — Open-source RSS reader. Follow news sources without algorithmic filtering.

Pocket — Save articles to read later (not open source, but privacy-respecting relative to alternatives).

Social Media

Using social media on GrapheneOS is possible — apps like Instagram and TikTok work via sandboxed Play. But consider whether you need them at all. The data these platforms collect happens within the app itself, not at the OS level.

For Twitter/X, consider Squawker on F-Droid — it lets you read Twitter without an account.