Non-game Android Apps Recommendations Catch-All

Mermaidpirate wrote:

Anyway, I'm here to ask, years ago, I had an app that let you choose how long you wanted your phone to go into silent for. I think it was called shush. Any other recommendations for the same thing?

I'm still using Shush!.

Pocket Cast redesigned, and did away with custom playlist. Boo. I used them to go back and forth between multiple queues of different style podcasts.

Still trying to find a good RSS reader that does:

* Downloading of full article (not just the dumb blurb in the RSS feed) for offline reading
* Synchronization with a feed service (feedly, etc)

Lots of RSS readers do #2. Very few do #1, and a couple of the ones that do do not do #2.

The best option right now seems to be Inoreader, but the offline article caching requires their pro service, and I'm not sure I'm down for $50/year just for that.

MannishBoy wrote:

Pocket Cast redesigned, and did away with custom playlist. Boo. I used them to go back and forth between multiple queues of different style podcasts.

I try to be open to new things but man I hate the redesign a lot.

I'm reserving judgment. It did mess with my usual routine of adding new episodes from a subset of subscribed podcasts to up next by adding an extra tap. But then my wife pointed out that the settings for individual podcasts can be set to download new episodes automatically, and add the to either the start or end of up next. That's actually better than my old flow.

Manish, could you do that with two filters? Set up the two filters, the go into one, long press on the first episode, and hit play all from here. Should drop that filter's episodes into up next. Do the same thing for the other filter to swap. Seems like it'd work?

Chaz wrote:

Manish, could you do that with two filters? Set up the two filters, the go into one, long press on the first episode, and hit play all from here. Should drop that filter's episodes into up next. Do the same thing for the other filter to swap. Seems like it'd work?

I looked at that. It will not do exactly what I want. I have like a music podcast queue, then a some fiction series queues, then my main queue. If I went to a filter set up on a music queue, my big main queue that I'm curating the order of is wiped out, because now playing is replaced. At least I that's how it used to work, which is what pushed me to playlists anyway.

Ah, I got you. Yeah, the play from here method won't work for that. I'm sort of in a similar boat. I've got a few "watch along with us" podcasts that I've fallen behind the watching on. I want to keep them visible so I don't forget about them, but don't want them going into up next. My old method used to let me do that by keeping them in the filter, and I just wouldn't add them to the queue. I'm trying the "auto-download, and auto-add to queue" settings, but that'll mean those podcasts kind of stay backgrounded, which is a bummer.

Yeah, I loved PocketCasts but this new UI is...well it sure is something.

So, what are good alternatives? I see what they are trying to do, but this new UI does not fit how I want to engage with podcasts and I am too old to change my ways.

Chaz wrote:

Ah, I got you. Yeah, the play from here method won't work for that. I'm sort of in a similar boat. I've got a few "watch along with us" podcasts that I've fallen behind the watching on. I want to keep them visible so I don't forget about them, but don't want them going into up next. My old method used to let me do that by keeping them in the filter, and I just wouldn't add them to the queue. I'm trying the "auto-download, and auto-add to queue" settings, but that'll mean those podcasts kind of stay backgrounded, which is a bummer.

I emailed support. They said they couldn't keep playlist in with the new design, and it wasn't used much.

Probably true because the halfway broke it last design, so only the idiots like me forced it to work...

Sorry, man. I always hate when I find myself in the minority of a particular use case. I totally understand not supporting a thing that only a small number of people use, it just sucks to be in the group that gets abandoned.

I just came here to ask for a podcast app recommendation because I had been using PocketCast and all my playlists disappeared! Then I look online to try to find out what's going on and find out that they removed the feature intentionally. Whaaa....? The lack of playlists make this app completely useless to me now.

So...are there any good Android podcast apps out there that actually have something so basic as playlists?

bekkilyn wrote:

I just came here to ask for a podcast app recommendation because I had been using PocketCast and all my playlists disappeared! Then I look online to try to find out what's going on and find out that they removed the feature intentionally. Whaaa....? The lack of playlists make this app completely useless to me now.

So...are there any good Android podcast apps out there that actually have something so basic as playlists?

On iOS they essentially renamed playlists to “Filters”. Are they not in the Android version?

The new version is still way worse though. Not having auto-cleanup sucks.

PaladinTom wrote:

On iOS they essentially renamed playlists to “Filters”. Are they not in the Android version?

They don't work the same, as I've described above.

The new version is still way worse though. Not having auto-cleanup sucks.

Now it's "archive". It still deletes the files off the device after playing if set properly. Also had to go through and archive all played episodes podcast by podcast to get the gray old played episodes to not show, but the auto-archive setting upon play should handle it going forward.

Came here for the same reason. How do the new filters work? Can I not just add a bunch of stuff to a Now playing list? I don't need multiple playlists to swap between, but I feel like I need a manual for this app. Poor job on UI/UX.

Edit: I found it. Did the typical angry user thing of having a whinge too fast.

Is there a way to sort Up Next by date?

I started using an app called Podcast Addict in place of Pocket Cast, at least for now. Playlist feature and simple to use, so so far so good. What I look for in podcast software is simplicity, so the less bells and whistles and complexity the better since I'm using it in my car and just want to press a single button to start my "in the car" playlist at the beginning of my journey and not have to mess with it at all while driving.

Edit: I have a knack of finding something right after I ask. Did spend a while looking first.

Actually the menu called "downloads" I found doesn't seem to be what I was looking for. All this stuff on there that was "waiting for wifi" but I am on wifi and nothing is downloading. Man this app is making me frown, and I'm too attached to my record of what's played and what isn't to change.

Mermaidpirate wrote:

Edit: I have a knack of finding something right after I ask. Did spend a while looking first.

Actually the menu called "downloads" I found doesn't seem to be what I was looking for. All this stuff on there that was "waiting for wifi" but I am on wifi and nothing is downloading. Man this app is making me frown, and I'm too attached to my record of what's played and what isn't to change.

What I did when I made the change is only subscribe on the new app to the podcast I wanted to listen to at the time and fixed my played/unplayed only for that one. Then I'll do the same later for the next podcast and eventually will slowly add my subscriptions back (or prune the ones I really don't care for). Since my playlists were all suddenly gone with the old app anyway, any extra work involving those wasn't an issue in making the transfer.

Mermaidpirate wrote:

Edit: I have a knack of finding something right after I ask. Did spend a while looking first.

Actually the menu called "downloads" I found doesn't seem to be what I was looking for. All this stuff on there that was "waiting for wifi" but I am on wifi and nothing is downloading. Man this app is making me frown, and I'm too attached to my record of what's played and what isn't to change.

I use that filter as my normal playlist. One of the filter options in the dropdown is "Downloaded", which hides the waiting for wi-fi, I think. I normally just work my way through my downloads, oldest to newest, and delete anything I'm not immediately interested in.

Does anyone have a recommendation for an Android camera app that isn't the default camera app or FV-5? While I like the UI of the default camera app on a Pixel 2, I'm frustrated that they've removed some features (while admittedly adding others). Specifically, adjustments to white balance which is always helpful here the cloudy PNW.

And while FV-5 seems feature rich, it's a little TOO complex for my taste.

Any thoughts? Or just fix my white balance in post-editing?

I'm looking for a simple diary app that datestamps entries. I want to keep track of things like media I watch, meds, when I eat, and so on. I'm happy to pay for a good one but I can't find anything that doesn't have an annual subscription which is super annoying to me.

I just want something barebones that stores datestamped messages, lets me look at them and search them and edit them later, and back them up as text. A calendar view would be nice, but by no means necessary. I don't need cross platform integration or NSA level encryption or a bunch of emojis to track my mood or motivational notifications, or any crap like that.

BadKen wrote:

I'm looking for a simple diary app that datestamps entries. I want to keep track of things like media I watch, meds, when I eat, and so on. I'm happy to pay for a good one but I can't find anything that doesn't have an annual subscription which is super annoying to me.

I just want something barebones that stores datestamped messages, lets me look at them and search them and edit them later, and back them up as text. A calendar view would be nice, but by no means necessary. I don't need cross platform integration or NSA level encryption or a bunch of emojis to track my mood or motivational notifications, or any crap like that.

You might be able to do what you want with Google Keep. It's not a diary app, but you can create notes that have date that it was last edited on them and can organize them however you want. You can also put the notes in different views, such as regular note view or make them into lists.

bekkilyn wrote:
BadKen wrote:

I'm looking for a simple diary app that datestamps entries. I want to keep track of things like media I watch, meds, when I eat, and so on. I'm happy to pay for a good one but I can't find anything that doesn't have an annual subscription which is super annoying to me.

I just want something barebones that stores datestamped messages, lets me look at them and search them and edit them later, and back them up as text. A calendar view would be nice, but by no means necessary. I don't need cross platform integration or NSA level encryption or a bunch of emojis to track my mood or motivational notifications, or any crap like that.

You might be able to do what you want with Google Keep. It's not a diary app, but you can create notes that have date that it was last edited on them and can organize them however you want. You can also put the notes in different views, such as regular note view or make them into lists.

Or what I'm doing to track car maintenance, you could build a Google Form and have the data dumped into a spreadsheet. You can even upload files and pictures.

About as bare bones as it gets. And pretty easy to throw together.

I've had good success with an app called Journey: Diary, Journal by Two App Studio.

I use WhenDidI to track blood sugar pills, blood sugar test, odd activity, weight, bad food and other stuff. Everything has a time stamp in the event list. It also track how long ago was the last event. Like I can see I last took a blood sugar test a day ago and haven't weighed myself for 1 month and 8 days. Damn I should weigh myself. I think the free version lets you track 5 things

Nevin73 wrote:

I've had good success with an app called Journey: Diary, Journal by Two App Studio.

This looks interesting.

My only irritation with it was that it would ask me if I wanted to add newly taken photos to the journal and write about them. I can see where that would be useful, but not for the purposes I was using it for.

So, the lowest volume pip on my phone is not quiet enough. Does anyone know a good app to get around this and have quieter volume? Or what I should be searching for other than "volume".

P.S. I stuck with pocketcasts and the user experience has improved, much better support for adding your own files.

A friend of mine is looking for an app that will allow him to store a photo and a resume of someone, like a casting book.

Does anyone know of something like that? I was looking at Contact list Apps but I am not sure what would work.

I'm not completely sure I know what you mean. Looking up casting book returned a bunch of metal stuff. Do you mean you want pictures and text on the same page? If so maybe a PDF viewer/editor would work. Also a journal program might work. The last one mentioned "Journey: Diary, Journal" can have a picture with text under it. I believe many diary type apps do this. Which reminds me I wanted to check that app out. Oh and I haven't used the android version but Scrivener windows app can do that and it syncs with the mobile version. People mainly use Scrivener to write books. I used it to keep track of different things like to buy lists, tv shows I watching, games I buy, recipes, notes and inventory. I also use it to save fan stories