Free Software for devices,

Thank you for your article.

With respect to Technoethical, they still have not sent the Replicant device I ordered and paid in August 2021. I tried to contact them multiple times, they never replied. Since then, I installed Replicant myself on a S3 which is now my main mobile device (installation was easy, most difficult was to get the suitable device).

On your report:
- there is a recommended list of applications at https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:Replicant

- QR & Barcode scanner: the app shows icons to scan and limits where to place the QR code but it is all black, it does not actually see anything with the camera. I have allowed it to use the camera though.

- Camera: I am not sure what you mean exactly by "blocked". I mainly use OpenCamera (from the list above), my experience is that, rather often, when trying to take a picture, no picture is taken. I sometimes just give up or reboot, usually it works after reboot but it may only work once. So I cannot rely on the camera to take pictures.

- instant messaging: I am using conversations (XMPP). I have difficulties convincing people to use it but I must say, it is highly reliable. The only issue is that I am also unable to scan QR codes for OMEMO signatures (same as QR & Barcode scanner, screen is black).

- map: I actually have only tried Organic maps. However, it is so slow that it is unusable (it takes several minutes to display a map, and any move takes the same time again). For maps, I use another device running LineageOS (it has no personal data, only maps, there is no SIM card, I keep wifi and bluetooth off).

Besides, I am using some other apps not listed:
- K9-mail
- Seafile
- DAVx
- KeyPassDX
- MAXS
- Simple Gallery

EDIT: I also have one annoying problem: if I use a headset for a voice call, the remote party hears a disturbing high pitch tone, so I can't use a headset. I don't know whether it is a hardware or software issue, I got another device but I have not tried yet with it.

Thanks for your answer, avron.

By doing the study as a comparison of Replicant versus Android, I expect to be it useful not only for Replicant users, but also for Android users who are willing to use Free Software from the F-Droid app store.

Respecting Technoethical, it is unfortunate that the only store selling smarphones with Replicant did such a bad job for you.

On the app list:

I see that the FSF provides a list with the F-Droid app and 24 other apps for Replicant, while I provide a list with F-Droid and 16 other apps for Replicant. Both lists have:
-LibreOffice Viewer
-Privacy Browser
-VLC

As for the differences, the FSF list provides apps for:
-Camera and video camera (2 in 1), Email client & news aggregator, Microphone recorder. I disregarded apps for these functions because Replicant and Android already come with apps for them.
-Anonymous P2P, App locker, BitTorrent client, Diagramming software, Multimedia communication, Online storage, Raster graphics editor, Text editor, VPN client. Good for the FSF to have selected so many apps, however it seems unrealistic to me to use apps for some of these functions on a eight-year-old smartphone.

On the other hand, my list provides apps for File managing, Hardware checking, Image viewing, Audio player, Scanning barcodes and QR codes, Maps, Planetarium, Terminal, Wi-Fi, Call recording. I think those apps to be *much* more of common use.

More apps tested on Replicant:
-Cool Reader: It works OK but in the end I went with Librera Reader because of reading more file formats.
-LibreOffice & OpenOffice document reader: It works OK but in the end I went with LibreOffice Viewer because of reading more file formats.
-MuPDF: I couldn't get it to work on Replicant.
-QR Scanner (Privacy Friendly): It works OK on Android but I couldn't get it to work on Replicant. The problem encountered is the same that you describe for "QR & Barcode scanner" - it is probably the same app.
-Screencam: It works OK on Android but I cannot get it to work in Replicant, much the same as the Screen Recorder app that comes with Replicant.
-Termux: F-Droid offers it all right for my Android smartphone, but not for my Replicant smartphone.
-Text Fairy: It works quite OK on Android, but for some reason it works really badly in Replicant.

Apps no longer on F-Droid: I cannot find Firefox, IceCat or Orfox at F-Droid. Certainly Firefox and IceCat were there in past, but they no longer are. If you want Firefox you need to install FFupdate and from there select amongst up to ten different browsers, including Firefox, Brave, Iceraven or Ungoogled Chromium but no IceCat.

Camera: 'Blocked' is the word I came up with for 'It crashes, and from that point on it will not work again'.
The Camera issue is documented in the Usage Notes from Replicant Wiki:
UsageNotes - Replicant
https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/UsageNotes
According to the Usage Notes this is a driver problem, so you will encounter it no matter what Camera app you use. Whatever issue you have with OpenCamera, it will be best solved by deleting the data than by rebooting the smartphone.
I must add, I already knew this issue since my very first contact with Replicant in November, 2013.

One issue I see with Replicant is that carriers, at least in the United States, are becoming more locked down. They're shutting down all devices that aren't capable of 4g, and others are increasing their blacklist. For instance T-Mobile recently pushed out an update that has made it difficult for several "older" (like, 5 years old) LG phones from connecting, seemingly by accident as well.

At this point I question if Replicant is "too little too late," particularly with Mobian, Ubports, or postmarketos. Perhaps the solution was to simply port GNU all along. Or maybe this is all hopeless, the carriers have the white/blacklist, who will stop them if tomorrow they ban all the libre-ish OS'?

As for browsers, consider installing Mull instead of old Fennec/Icecat:
https://trisquel.info/es/forum/new-privacy-browser-f-droid-mull