Aer - Fork of Anemo vs QR Scanner (PFA)
Side-by-side comparison of two open source alternatives
Aer - Fork of Anemo
Aer is a private local (+secondary) storage utility application for android. Do you worry about your private pictures or files appearing in other apps? That's where Aer private storage comes in. Files in Aer storage won't appear in the other apps. Note: Aer is in development 🏗️. Accidents happen. Please keeps backups 👷♀️ for your protection. Instead of being a stand-alone file manager, Aer hooks into various components of Android, making it feel like a native part of the operating system. Moreover, it provides ways for the user to export contents from other apps and save them in Aer storage. Features Create folders and organize files freely All files in the Aer private storage won't appear in the other apps Access using the system Files application (the DocumentsProviderUI) An optional shortcut is offered for devices that do not expose the system Files app The system Files app is also used as file picker, so you can pick Aer files to share Lock access to the private storage Quick tile Auto lock after set delay (experimental) Password for locking access to the files Import content into Aer using the Android share functionality Aer vs Anemo In addition to Anemo features above, Aer adds support for external storage, like encrypted SD cards. When available Aer will store your files on external storage (which tend to have larger capacity). This also allows accessing your private files on your computer when connected using USB cable (MTP). The storage backend used is also manually configurable.
QR Scanner (PFA)
QR Codes become more and more important. In some areas they have even replaced the traditional barcode. A QR Code is able to store up to seven thousand characters and therefore is qualified for more complex content, e.g. vCards. Hence nowadays QR Codes can nowadays be found on nearly every advertisement poster and animate the user to scan it with his smartphone. Thus, it is no longer necessary take a hand written note, it is enough to scan the QR Code. Correspondingly, there are already many QR Code scanner apps available in the Google Play Store. It belongs to the Privacy Friendly Apps group developed by the research group SECUSO at Technische Universität Darmstadt. More information can be found an secuso.org/pfa Our Privacy Friendly QR Scanner App differs with respect to two aspects: 1. The Privacy Friendly QR Scanner App only requires the minimum amount of permissions, namely: Most of the QR Code scanner apps available in the Google Play Store need several permissions on top of the ones needed: e.g. reading contacts or your call log and retrieving data from the Internet. Most of these requirements are not necessary for the functionality they actually are supposed to provide. 2. The Privacy Friendly QR Scanner App supports its users in detecting malicious links: QR Codes provide new possibilities for an attacker, as QR Codes can contain malicious links, i.e. links to phishing webpages or webpages from which malware would automatically be downloaded. Therefore it is important to carefully check the link before accessing the corresponding webpage. Since it is difficult for the user to spot malicious links, the Privacy friendly QR Scanner App supports the user by highlighting the domain (e.g. in that case for https://www.secuso.org, secuso.org would be highlighted). To avoid not checking the link and in particular the highlighted domain carefully, the app provides information about possible fraud and its users need to confirm that they checked the link and it is trustworthy. Note, the information shown after scanning an URL based QR Code is not customized for every URL. Hence, it should be considered as an advice for the user how to behave in general. The Privacy Friendly QR Scanner App supports most of the usual qr code types. Bar codes and other widely used codes are also supported. The app belongs to the group of privacy friendly apps, that are developed by the SECUSO research group. More information can be found at https://secuso.org/pfa You can reach us via BlueSky - https://bsky.app/profile/secusoresearch.bsky.social Mastodon - @SECUSO_Research@bawü.social https://xn--baw-joa.social/@SECUSO_Research/ Job opening - https://secuso.aifb.kit.edu/english/Job_Offers.php
| Feature | Aer - Fork of Anemo | QR Scanner (PFA) |
|---|---|---|
| License | GPL-3.0-only | GPL-3.0-only |
| Install sources | F-DroidGitHub | F-DroidGitHub |
| Categories | Password ManagerProductivityMedia PlayerVideo | ProductivityMedia PlayerVideo |
| Features | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking |
| Platforms | Android | Android |
| Website | ||
| Source code |