Looks like a long term contributor is forking the projects
https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/General-Discussion/issues/241#issuecomment-1837464578
this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2023
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The new organization is at https://github.com/FossifyX. For now all the apps have updates disabled, i'm quite open to alternatives for all EXCEPT Gallery, so i hope the fork goes well, at least from the discussions it looks like it's off to a decent start.
Of note, the apps on FDroid are still uncrapped so you can still take them from there.
oh man, it's the QuickPic fiasco all over again. at least this time the apps can be forked by someone.
Thank goodness lol. That was tragic.
omg quickpic
a blast from the past that I forgot about
I don't even use SM apps (I've tried a few and they're great for simple, straightforward, no-BS, functional apps), and I'm very glad to hear there's already a fork.
So this just looks like the Community has to take care of the projects and/or find alternatives
Alternatives
File manager - Material Files
That one doesnt have the security vulnerability and I think it is also better. But they are pretty much equal.
Simple Gallery - Aves
I prefer Simple Gallery though, it is pretty great
Simple dialer - Welefon
Very basic, I personally use ACR phone for call recording, with disabled internet permissions. The Dev asked on Reddit about opensourcing the App and got negative responses, so maybe unlikely.
Simple Keyboard - Florisboard
Currently unmaintained but awesome. I hope it gets revived.
Simple Calculator
My favourite: Mint Calculator
Simple SMS
AOSP SMS/MMS, Quik Sms
Deku SMS supports encryption. This is not a replacement for secure messengers, metadata is still a mess, but it is pretty cool.
AOSP SMS is poorly hard to find. That would be great on F-Droid. It also uses old libraries.
All these look way better and have unit transformations.
Some Gems
Some apps have no good replacement
Simple Gallery
Also in my opinion just the best. The Amaze Videoplayer and tools are great though.
Simple Contacts SE
That is the better version with some enhanced features.
Simple Calendar
I just got way better results than using Etar. The Widget is great too.
Etar is my go to calendar app as well, pair with the ICSx5 and I just works.
Man, Simple Gallery is so good. We really always lack a good FOSS Gallery app.
I felt the same way. Based on this alternatives suggestions post, I installed Aves and it looks quite promising.
The interface looks nice but I'm not too keen on the network and location permissions. I really liked Simple Gallery for just a "show my folders" view.
Man, I just reinstalled this suite :/
Lucky you - you have the latest and greatest of these specific apps. Now, depending on how you installed them, go ahead and disable any automatic updating.
Then, just keep an eye on the forked versions in Github, which were created by another dev who worked very closely on the Simple Mobile Tools.
Eventually there'll be new releases that you can install via Obtainium or F-droid. All the main SMT apps had settings export/import capability, so I imagine you'll be able to bring your settings across to the forked versions too.
Bit of short term pain to change over, but not all is lost.
Now, depending on how you installed them, go ahead and disable any automatic updating.
I only have the Simple File Manager Pro installed from F-droid? What should I do next?
Honestly, I can't recall. I uninstalled F-droid a while back, as I use Obtainium. Have a look around the F-droid page for the app you have installed. There should be a setting somewhere to prevent that app from being automatically updated, maybe to just notify you there's an update ready.
That said, you'll probably be OK if you installed via F-droid, as they have pretty good policies on preventing spammy apps or apps that mine user data.
I'm more concerned for those people that installed via the Play store and are unaware of this change - they'll probably automatically get the newer, shittier versions without even realising it. This is the community's biggest concern about the way this particular dev has sold out their userbase like this.
This is particularly bad because there are really no reliable open-source SMS apps anymore.
What about QKSMS?
I love it. Used it for years. But it really hasn't worked properly for the past maybe three years now. Read some of the reviews on Google Play. The F-Droid version misbehaves the same way. I've considered forking and working on it myself, but I don't know enough.
Oh, i see :/ These problems never really occurred to me, but now that you mention it - probably time to switch to QUIK.
Ah, bollocks.
Well.. Time to change the calendar app