What apps are on The Ghost Phone? Well, it can take a LONG time digging through various app stores, online reviews and forums to find the best tools and apps available within the world of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).
As such, we spend time every month curating a list of applications we feel will get our customers up and running as quickly as possible once they receive the phone.
This list has changed a fair amount since we started offering these phones in November of 2022, as sometimes the apps we used and liked have changed ownership and business practices and sometimes we simply find a better version of something we know you’ll find useful.
If you’d like to learn more about The Ghost Phone, check out our article Getting Started w/ Your Ghost Phone HERE.
If you have suggestions for apps we should have installed that are not listed here, please reach out to support@mark37.com and we’ll consider the request.
Stock GrapheneOS Apps (Can Not be Uninstalled)
App Store – You can manage some of the stock apps here and install the Sandboxed Google Play Services from here as well. Information on how to do this safely can be found at the end of our detailed Getting Started Guide that comes with each device and can be found HERE.
Auditor – App that is designed to validate the integrity of the operating system from another Android device
Calculator – Simple calculator
Camera – Stock camera app. Recommend downloading Open Camera from F-Droid or checking out some other FOSS Camera apps with more bells and whistles.
Clock – Set the time, set an alarm or use the Timer or Stopwatch
Contacts – Basic contacts app to store information for people in your life
Files – Dig through the files on your device
Gallery – Dig through the various pictures you’ve taken, downloaded and saved to the device
Messaging – Stock messaging app. Recommend using QKSMS as your default messaging app however, as it has more features. Pick one; however, and stick with it as switching between Messaging apps can cause issues with the device over time.
PDF Viewer – View PDF files
Phone – App that you can make and receive calls from
Settings – Where you can find and tweak general settings on the device
Vanadium – Stock browser on the device. Brave has been set as the default browser on The Ghost Phone. This is to be used should you accidentally remove all other browsers and/or app stores from the device.
For complete details on all of the apps listed above, please read the documentation directly from GrapheneOS.
Other Apps Installed on The Ghost Phone
Note: If you’re installing these apps on your own, you’ll need to first install the F-Droid app store by going to F-Droid.org from the stock Vanadium browser app on the device. Once F-Droid is installed, search for and install the Aurora app store. Armed with these 2 app stores, you’ll be able to find and install all the various apps listed below!
Aegis – A free, secure, and open-source 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) app for Android that allows you to manage your 2-step verification tokens for your online services
AntennaPod – A free and open-source podcast player that allows you to search, download, manage and listen to a massive selection of podcasts
Aurora Store – A private way to search, download and update apps that are generally found on the Google Play Store, without needing to log in to a Google account or download Google Play Services
Brave – The most private and secure browser available
Fossify Calendar – An open-source, ad-free and private calendar app with lots of customization and features
Collabora Office – A free and open-source office app that allows you to edit and manage documents directly from your phone
DAVx5 – App that allows you to sync your calendar, contacts and notes between devices
F-Droid – A free and open-source app store with over 1,000 apps
FFUpdator – Another free and open-source app store specifically focused on browsers and email clients
Ente Photos – A secure, cross-platform, open source, encrypted photo storage app
Ente Auth – A free, open source, cross-platform 2FA authenticator, with end-to-end encrypted backups
Fake GPS – An app that allows you to fake or spoof your GPS and network location on your phone
FUTO Keyboard (w/ FUTO Voice) – The best free and open-source keyboard w/ swipe text feature AND voice to text app available
Joplin – Note taking app
K-9 Mail – An open-source email client that you can manage, send and receive your email through. Note, you can not create an email account through this app but can point email accounts created and hosted anywhere else to this client.
KeePassDX – Password management application
Magic Earth – A privacy focused navigation app to replace Google Maps and/or Waze
Mullvad VPN – A trusted VPN client. Requires a monthly subscription, as any decent VPN provider will/should
Fossify Music Player – An open-source, ad-free music player app to listen to and manage your music
NewPipe – An alternative to YouTube that allows you to watch and listen to any YouTube video ad-free and without YouTube/Google tracking
NextCloud – Mobile app for the open-source file sharing and collaboration platform
Fossify Notes – Another note taking app
OfflineMaps – Solid mapping application specifically designed for those who spend their time hiking and backpacking without an internet or data connection
OsmAnd+ – Another privacy focused navigation app to replace Google Maps and/or Waze
Proton Mail – Proton’s email client. If you use the Calendar, or other Proton services, there are separate apps you will need to install that you can find in the Aurora app store
Proton Drive – Proton’s “cloud” file storage service
Proton VPN – Proton’s VPN service
QKSMS – A preferred alternative to the stock Messaging app. Hint: to access emojis, simple press, hold and release the “enter” arrow on the bottom right of the keyboard.
RadioDroid – A free and open-source app that allows you to access any radio station from nearly everywhere in the world
RustDesk – A free app that allows for remote access to your computer from your phone
Session – A private messenger that aims to remove any chance of metadata collection by routing all messages through an onion routing network
Signal – A private messenger app
Telegram FOSS – The open-source version of Telegram that will run without Google Play Services. Note: You can not create a new account using this version of Telegram. Our Getting Started Guide has a tutorial on how to setup your account and then access it through this app.
The Life – A Bible app that allows you to search, compare and read various versions of the Bible
Thunderbird – A 100% open source, privacy focused email app that can sync with your desktop Thunderbird application
Tuta Mail – End-to-end encrypted email app
Fossify Voice Recorder – Simple voice recorder app
Breezy Weather – A simple, free and open-source weather app
Zorin Connect – Similar to RustDesk, allowing you to sync your phone to your laptop if it is running the Zorin operating system (default OS for our Ghost Laptops)
PRO TIP: WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU UNINSTALL THE APPS YOU DO NOT USE! Give yourself a few weeks to try them all out, and then uninstall those you know you will not be using. This will save storage space, ensure programs are not running in the background that do not need to be, and de-clutter your phone so you can get to what you need quicker.
Note: Why do we have apps such as Proton and Tuta listed here that we do not recommend using? There are so many people who use these apps despite our opinions about them, that we felt it easier to simply have them installed for people to use than have to answer the question routinely as to how to install them. This being said, heed the advice of the Pro Tip above and Uninstall the Apps you do not use!