The Google Apps Alternative You Don't Hear Much: Fossify
There’s an alternative ecosystem to Google Apps. It’s not Proton or other cloud services. It’s Fossify. And it’s doing something the others aren’t. It addresses equally important, but subtle problem. Replacing default Google apps in Android that you daily use.
What is Fossify
Fossify is a community fork of Simple Mobile Tools (SMT), the beloved suite of minimalist Android apps. It's developer sold the project to an Israeli company in 2023. Parts of the code went proprietary and started showing ads. So the community forked it, preserving its freedom.
The suite include:-
- 🖼️Gallery- Replaces Google Photos
- 📨Messages- SMS app. Replaces Google Messages
- 📞Phone- Replaces Google Phone
- 👤Contacts- Replaces Google Contacts
- 🗓️Calender- Replaces Google Calender
- 🗂️File Manager- Replaces Google Files
- ⏳Clock- Replaces Clock made by Google
- 📝Notes- Replacrs Keep Notes by Google
- 🧩And the list goes on...
Silent Revolution
And of course, it doesn't have any AI features or cloud syncing. It's philosophy is about being simple. Fossify’s genius is its modularity:
- Replace Google Keep with Fossify Notes. Keep Gmail? Fine.
- No ecosystem walls
It is not about rebuilding Google. It's about escaping it, one by one. It bets on FOSS’s future by staying focused and community-driven.
For me, Fossify apps was a starting point to discard Google apps one by one. I eventually moved to other FOSS apps which had features I needed for each app(execpt for the dialer and contacts). And that is the beauty of freedom, right?
Closing
Fossify proves de-Googling doesn’t require revolution... just better choices... no hype... no surrender.
Fossify isn’t trying to be the next Google... It’s trying to be the first Fossify...and that might just be enough.