I have been thinking about this since Authy started winding down its desktop app and Google's authenticator began syncing everything to a Google account by default. Both are fine products, but both make the same trade: convenience in exchange for your codes living on a server you don't control. If that server changes its mind, your codes go with it.

The alternative is wonderfully boring: keep the codes on your own phone, in a vault only you can open.

That is what Aegis does. It is a free, open-source authenticator for Android, and it treats your codes the way a safe treats valuables. The vault is encrypted with a password you choose, and you can unlock it with your fingerprint instead of typing that password a dozen times a day. Screenshots are blocked while the app is open, and there is a tap-to-reveal mode that hides every code until you touch it — small touches, but they are the difference between a tool built by people who think about security and one built by people who think about engagement.

Moving over is less painful than you'd expect. It imports from Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy, 2FAS, andOTP, FreeOTP and more, so you are migrating, not starting over. The latest version even handles encrypted exports from Proton Authenticator. You scan a QR code, the account appears, and the code starts ticking.

Where it really earns its keep is organisation. After a few years of turning on two-step verification everywhere, most of us have thirty or forty codes, and scrolling a flat list to find the right one at a login screen is its own small misery. Aegis lets you group them, search them, sort them your way, and give each entry its own icon, so the code you need is the one your eye finds first.

But there is one honest warning, and it matters more than any feature: the app cannot go online, so there is no server copy of your codes. Backups are your job, and nothing is backed up until you set it up. That is the trade-off for the privacy — and it is a trade worth making, as long as you actually do the one minute of setup. Turn on automatic backups on day one, keep an encrypted copy somewhere safe, and a lost phone becomes an inconvenience instead of a lockout.

There is no desktop version, and no cloud sync of its own. For some people that is a deal-breaker, and that's fair. But if the idea of your login codes living only where you put them appeals to you, this is the most honest authenticator on Android: free, open source, no ads, no account, and yours in a way a cloud authenticator never is.

I wrote a fuller walkthrough of the app — the vault, the import, the backup setup, and what real users praise and complain about — over on APKTesla: https://apktesla.com/aegis-authenticator-apk/

The fix is embarrassingly simple once you stop thinking of it as a cloud problem. Your phone and your laptop are already on the same Wi-Fi. They can talk to each other directly — no server in the middle, no upload, no account. That is what LocalSend does: you pick a file on your phone, the laptop shows up by name on the same network, you tap it, and the file arrives in full quality. There is a full write-up of how it works, which version to install, and what it cannot do at https://apktesla.com/localsend-apk/ — worth a read before you install, because the limits matter as much as the features.

What sold me is what it refuses to do. It does not ask for an account. It does not upload your files anywhere. The transfer is encrypted between the two devices, and the app itself is open source, so the privacy claims are checkable rather than marketing copy. When a file arrives, the other side has to accept it first — nothing lands silently. And because it runs on Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac and Linux, the usual excuse dies too: the person on the other end does not need to own the same brand of phone as you.

It is not perfect, and nobody should pretend otherwise. Both devices have to be on the same network, so it will not help you send a file to someone across town. It sends a file once — it does not keep folders in sync, so if you edit the document later, the copy on the laptop stays old. And both sides need the app installed, which is the one real friction: it only helps if the other person is willing to install it. Some recent reviewers also report the odd failed transfer on the newest version, so keep the app updated.

For the job it actually does, though — phone to laptop, laptop to phone, no cable, no cloud, no account — I have not found anything simpler. I used to email files to myself. I have now deleted that draft.

The idea is simple and borrowed from laptops: instead of shrinking the screen, the app gives you a cursor. Swipe in from either edge and a small cursor appears with a thumb-sized tracker pad. Drag the tracker and the cursor moves anywhere on the full screen, including the top corners. Tap the tracker and it clicks where the cursor sits.

The developer built it first as an accessibility tool — for people with motor impairments, tremors, arthritis, or a hand in a cast — and that framing matters. For most people it's convenience; for some it's the difference between using a phone alone and needing help. The core cursor is free with no ads and no account, and the app uses no internet connection at all.

It does ask for something serious in return: the accessibility service, which is the only way Android lets an app draw over other apps and tap on your behalf. The developer says those powers are used only for the cursor, and the no-network design backs that up — but it's a permission to grant with your eyes open. Setup also takes a few patient minutes, and some phones' battery optimization can switch the service off until you exempt it.

Version 3.0.2 runs on Android 7.0 and up, it's 5.78 MB, and it holds 4.4 stars from over 3,300 reviews on Google Play. A paid PRO version adds shortcut triggers and system actions, but the cursor itself — the whole point — costs nothing.

Big phones aren't getting smaller. A cursor that brings the far corner to your thumb is a small fix for a daily annoyance.

Fossify Phone is built on the opposite idea. It is a free, open-source dialer (GPL-3.0) that makes calls and stops there. No ads. No trackers. No account. It doesn't even ask for internet permission, which means your call history has nowhere to go except your own phone.

That doesn't mean it is bare. The dialpad filters contacts as you type, the call screen is plain and readable, and there are three tabs for Contacts, Favorites and Call History. It handles multi-SIM, and it blocks numbers — calls from numbers outside your contacts can go straight to voicemail, which takes care of most spam calls without any clever screening.

The honest part: it will not do what a Pixel phone app does. No call transcription, no voicemail tab, no smart spam detection. If those features are the reason you keep your current dialer, Fossify Phone won't change your mind.

Also worth knowing — Fossify Phone is the dialer, Fossify Contacts is the contact manager. Two separate apps, and they work well as a pair.

Version 1.11.1 runs on Android 8.0 and up, it's around 8.5 MB, and it has passed 100,000 installs on Google Play with a 4.1-star rating. It is on F-Droid as well. I wrote up the full details — version, size, requirements and the drawbacks — in the full Fossify Phone write-up.

Some apps earn their place by doing less, and doing it properly.