Beyond Software blobfoxbox

A collective list of reliable and trustworthy software and resources for a better user experience.
Not influenced by sponsors, advertisements or financial gain.

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Application enhancements

Application modifications

ReVanced - Application that can apply various patches to numerous android apps including YouTube and TikTok. Spiritual successor to Vanced
Note: It requires the need of a microG client for YouTube and YouTube music if your device does not have root access. At the moment, the most compatible microG manager with ReVanced, according to the community, is Vanced MicroG

LSPosed_mod - Framework that can modify the behavior of the system and apps directly from its source code. Maintained fork of LSPosed, which is based on Xposed

Discord

Vencord - A regex patch based Discord desktop client mod. Most plugins come built in
BetterDiscord - A well-known plugin-based Discord desktop client mod. The most popular option
Replugged - A Discord desktop client mod made with a way more robust API for plugins

OpenAsar - Rewrite of Discord's desktop code to optimize the client's startup and reduce size.
Note: Vencord's installer offers the option to install OpenAsar

Revenge | Pyoncord - Multi-platform Discord mobile client mods based on the now discontinued Vendetta
Enmity - iPhone exclusive Discord client mod. Requires Alt Store

Instagram

Instander - Mod for Instagram

Notion

notion-enhancer - Enhancer for Notion that includes a bunch of quality of life improvements.

Snapchat

SnapEnhance - Mod for Snapchat. Will require LSPosed/NPatch

Spotify

Spicetify - Multiplatform command-line tool to customize Spotify
SpotX - Spotify mod that includes some out of box enhancements

xManager - App that installs prepatched versions of Spotify that includes quality of life features

BlockTheSpot - Adblock for Spotify Desktop

Telegram

Random Lists' list of Telegram clients - List of Telegram clients
Note: Not all software in there may be trustable. Please pay attention.

Nekogram - Open-source third-party Telegram client with few but useful mods

AyuGram - Telegram client which aims to provide privacy features. The mobile client haven't been getting updates since july 28 2023, so it is recommend to only use the desktop version
Unigram - Fluent design compliant Telegram client
materialgram - Material-like Telegram Client

Game modifications

Minecraft

Forge * - Feature rich mod loader. Used mainly by heavy feature rich mods that adds new content to the game
Fabric * | Quilt * - Lightweight Minecraft mod loader. Mostly used for small enhancements and perfomance mods
NeoForged * - Fork of Forge that aims to rework the internal structure of the client to provide a faster implementation of changes and updates. Forge mods are not compatible with NeoForged

*: It can run anywhere as long as it runs Minecraft Java

External tools

Discord

Vesktop - Cross-platform electron repackage of Discord that includes Vencord by default. Useful for screen sharing on Wayland

Minecraft

Modrinth - Mods and plugins store

MultiMC - Minecraft launcher client that allows launching multiple isolated Minecraft instances and managing mods
Prism Launcher - Fork of MultiMC that adds enhanced features and more customization options
Betacraft Launhcer - Launcher that aims to provide back legacy versions support, as well as archiving old versions of the game
Pojav Launcher - Launcher that can run Minecraft Java on mobile devices

Chunk Base - Tool for finding terrain features

Compatibility and Emulation

Compatibility layers

Wine - Compatibility layer to run Windows programs on Linux and other POSIX systems. Compatibility isn't perfect and unwanted behavior is expected, and it is recommended to search for alternatives to already exisitng programs than to run them under Wine

Distrobox - Tool to install any linux distro inside a linux system using containers.
Waydroid - Container-based approach to boot a full Android system inside a Linux system with the Wayland display protocol.

Emulators

Any/Multiple

RetroArch - Frontend for emulators and game engines
MAME - Multi system emulator with focus on Arcades, although it contains multiple home and portable consoles.
ares - Multi system emulator with a more focus on accuracy and preservation
BizHawk - Multi system emulator with focus on creating TAS
Mesen - 8 bit and 16 bit multi system emulator

Android

Note: You may should check out for Waydroid if you're on Linux or WSA for Windows

Android Studio's emulator - Android Studio's well known offering
Genymotion - Android emulator focused on developing and non-google devices

Atari

Stella - Atari 2600 emulator

Atari800 - Atari 5200 emulator

A7800 - Atari 7800 emulator

BigPEmu - Atari Jaguar emulator

Nintendo

FCEUX - NES and Famicom emulator based on the

NO-PARAGRAPH

puNES - Highly accurate NES emulator

Sameboy - Friendly and powerful GameBoy emulator containing most standard features found in top emulators
GBCC - Cross platform GameBoy emulator with a focus on accuracy

bsnes - SNES emulator which focuses on performance, features and ease of use
Snes9X - Most well known SNES emulator

Muphen64Plus - Multi-platform Nintendo 64 emulator

NO-PARAGRAPH

Parallel Launcher - Easy to use launcher for ParallelN64 and Mupen64Plus-Next emulators
simple64 - Easy to use N64 emulator that bundles Muphen64Plus, Parallel RDP and its own frontend
Project64 - An old but well known Nintendo 64 emaultion software

mGBA - Most well known and advanced GBA emulator.

NO-PARAGRAPH

VisualBoyAdvance-M - A GBA emulator that is not as accurate but that contains great debug features

melonDS - Nintendo DS and DSi emulator

NO-PARAGRAPH

DeSmuME - Nintendo DS emulator with the most accurate emulation
DraStic - Mobile focused paid Ninendo DS emulator

Dolphin - Powerful Gamecube and Wii emulator

NO-PARAGRAPH

Nintendon't - Compatibility layer for running GameCube games on the Wii and Wii U from the Wii's built in compatibility with GameCube systems

Lime3DS - 3DS emulator that continues Citra's legacy
PabloMK7's Citra fork - 3DS emulator, forked from Citra originally to add online play but with the discontinuation of Citra it has been getting more features

Cemu - Most accurate Wii U Emulator available.
Decaf - Alternative to Cemu, although not as advanced as the counterpart.

Ryujinx - Nintendo Switch emulator that aims to provide perfomance
Suyu - Experimental open-source Nintendo Switch emulator, fork of Yuzu. Requires extraction of keys from a real Switch system

PlayStation

DuckStation - PlayStation emulator that contains advanced features and easy to use interface

PCSX2 - PlayStation 2 emulator with high accuracy and great compatibility with games
AetherSX2 - Closed source port of PCSX2 to Android. Note that it was discontinued recently

NO-PARAGRAPH

Play! - Another PlayStation 2 emulator, but does not have a great compatibility with games compared to PCSX2

PPSSPP - PSP emulator written in C++

RPCS3 - The most compatible PlayStation 3 emulation out there

Vita3k - PSVita's most compatible emulator

Note: The available PS4 and PS5 emulators are far from playable yet. Please do not try those

Sega

Emulicious - Multi system emulator that can emulate the Master System, Game Gear and Sega Genesis

BlastEm - Sega Genesis emulator focused on high accuracy and perfomance

Mednafen - Multi system emulator that has Sega Saturn emulation. Packages are available for Linux systems

Flycast - Open source Dreamcast emulator that also has a great compatibility with its arcade variants
Redream - Easy to use Dreamcast emulator, although proprietary. Contains less features than Flycast

Xbox

xemu - Most accurate Xbox OG emulator available

Xenia - Xbox 360 emulator

Others

86Box - DOS emulator that can run on any system
Infinite Mac - Web based classic macintosh emulators

4DO - 3DO emulator

Emulation General Wiki - Emulator driven wiki

System virtualization

VirtualBox - Cross platform virtualization tool
QEMU - Command-line generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer

NO-PARAGRAPH

VMWare Workstation Player | VMWare Workstation Pro - Feature-full virtaulization solution that's industry standard
Hyper-V - Microsoft's own virtualization solution, may be faster than any of the other options

Windows Subsystem for Linux - Executes Linux systems inside Windows.
Windows Subsystem for Android - Android counterpart of Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Privacy and Security

Ad blockers

Applications

AdAway - Ad blocker for Android that uses hosts files and can either be used with or without root
PowerTunnel - Desktop and Android extensible proxy server. Includes adblocking and anti-censorship tool

DNS

NextDNS - Very customizable DNS ad blocking service

Extensions

uBlock Origin - Open source community made adblocker

Netwrok-wide blocking

Pi-hole - Network-wide ad blocking

Malware analysis and removal tools

VirusTotal - Website for analyzing virus samples

AdwCleaner - Tool to remove adware programs

Sandboxie Plus - Sandboxing tool for Windows that does not require virtualization
Windows Sandbox - Temporary Windows 11 VM that undoes all the changes made

Password Manager

Bitwarden - Cloud based self hostable password vault.

KeePassXC | KeePassDX | Strongbox - KeePass-compatible local password managers

Have I Been Pwned? - Website to check if your email or password was leaked

Proxy/VPN

Providers

Proton VPN - Well known and trusted VPN provider
Mullvad VPN - Secure VPN provider that includes an annoymous signing-in and billing service

Selfhosting

WireGuard - Fast and secure selfhostable VPN provider

Clients

NekoBox - VPN client that supports many VPN/proxy protocols
overtls - Proxy client that can bypass China's Great Firewall

Others

ClearURLs - Automatically remove tracking elements from URLs

FastFoward - Automatically bypass link shorteners
Unshorten.It! - Unshorterns links and outputs the unshortened URL

I still don't care about cookies - Disables the cookie warning on most websites. May accept automatically when it cannot be declined easily

urlscan.io - Analyze the URL of a website, as well as providing a preview of

privacy.sexy - Script maker for enhancing your privacy

Terms of Service; Didn't read - Resource to get a quick summary on terms of service, as well as an overall privacy and user freedom score

Productivity and Leisure

3D Modeling

Blender - Free and open source 3D creation suite

Audio creation

Audacity - Simple but robust audio editing tool

Automation

Home Assistant - Selfhostable home automation

Tasker - Most complete automation tool for Android

Browser

Firefox - Well-known open source browser developed by Mozilla.

ungoogled-chromium - Chromium fork that removes Google integration

Cloud

Nextcloud - Selfhostable cloud service

E-mail

Providers

ProtonMail - Secure Email provider based in Switzerland.
Tuta - Secure end-to-end encrypted Email provider.
Disroot - Platform providing online services focused on privacy.

Clients

Thunderbird - E-mail client developed by Mozilla. Replacement for Outlook.
KMail - Mail client software that's part of the Kontact suite.
Evolution - Personal information management application that provides integrated mail, calendaring and address book functionality.

K-9 Mail | FairEmail - Android email clients.

E-readers

Suwayomi - Manga reader server that runs extensions built for Tachiyomi. Clients are available on their readme
Kotatsu | TachiyomiSY | Neko | Mihon - Android manga readers. TachiyomiSY, Neko and Mihon are forks of Tachiyomi
Paperback - Ad-free Manga reader for iOS

Image creation

GIMP - Open source powerful image editor

Krita - Free and Open Source drawing program made by the KDE team
Inkscape - Vector image drawing program

Aseprite * - Pixel art and animation program *: It is free to use if you compile yourself
Libresprite - Free and Open Source fork of Aseprite

Office Suite

LibreOffice - Free and open source office suite tool
ONLYOFFICE - Online and desktop office suite tool with great support for MS Office document formats

Office Tool Plus - Microsoft Office setup wizard creator. Useful if you do not have an Office installation wizard

Organization

Logseq - Open source replacement for Obsidian

Tasks.org - Powerful tasks app

draw.io - Diagram app creating tool

Productivity apps

timento.me - Time tracker productivity tool without a "stop" button

Video creation

OBS - Powerful streaming and video recorder program. Used by many video creators

Kdenlive - Open source video editing tool made by the KDE team.
Shotcut - Open source advanced video editing tool.

System resources

Those are applications and resources that their functionality is directred related with a system. An android-only video player, for example, won't come here, but an application store would

Android

Application stores

F-Droid - Decentralized store for downloading FOSS applications.
Droid-ify | Neo Store - Material You frontends for F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid

Obtanium - Update manager for Android that downloads content directly from the source

Aurora Store - Open source alternative to Google Play Store that allows a more private navigation.

APKMirror - Website to download dumped APKs

Custom ROMs

Note: It is always recommended to contact someone experienced with android modding for your phone before installing a custom rom. You can find Telegram groups for your phone on XDA Developers

DSU Sideloader - App to load custom ROMs temporarily, similar to a "Live USB"

Googled ROMs
LineageOS (Treble GSI) - Well known ROM that provides an experience less "googled", although Google services are present

Derpfest (Treble GSI) - Custom ROM that has some light built in customization features
VoltageOS (Treble GSI) - Custom ROM that includes many customization features with the system
PixelOS (Treble GSI) - Provides minimal changes to Android's experience, providing the closest Pixel experience. Can cause fewer root detections

De-googled ROMs
GrapheneOS - Custom ROM aimed at providing the most of privacy and security
/e/OS - Aims at providing the most privacy for the user, more than GrapheneOS

Customization

Nova Launcher - A well-known grid based launcher
Lawnchair - Free and open source grid based launcher
Kvaesitso - Application launcher that provides a more search-focused widget based experience

Lawnicons - Open source icon pack that supports themed icons

WallMan - Application to download and apply Google Pixel wallpapers

SystemUI Turner - View and enable hidden settings on Android devices
Good Lock - Customization tool for Samsung devices

ColorBlendr - Application to apply custom Monet color schemes

Enhancements

Rotation Control - Controls system rotation

Taskbar - Adds a taskbar that's accessible at any time

LinkSheet - Replaces the verified app links system to allow more control over which URLs to open

Install with Options - Insalls APKs with more complex options, such as allowing downgrades

Optimization

Don't kill my app! - Open letter to phone manufactuers to disable battery optimizations that affects app functionalities. Contains instructions on how can those be turned off. There's also an Android application that allows benchmarking of your phone

ForceDoze - Enters the Doze mode as soon as the phone is turned off
Universal GMS Doze - Patches Google Play services app and certain processes/services to be able to use battery optimization. Requires Magisk/KSU

SaveTurner - Adds more options amd profiles for saving battery life

System escalation

Shizuku - Application to give access to system APIs with adb/root privileges. Doesn't suffer from the risks of rooting, but also is not as powerful as such

Note: all of the entries below on this section will require rooting in some way. This can cause applications to not work and will likely cause GMS to be disabled, potentially making banking apps and other sensitive applications unusable

OrangeFox - Modern and powerful custom android recovery with a nice interface
TWRP - Well known custom android recovery

Magisk - Root manager that provides root access without injecting code on the kernel. Can be safely removed if needed
KernelSU - Patches the kernel directly for providing root access instead of giving on boot. Can cause fewer root detecions.
APatch - Hybird of KerenlSU and Magisk, trying to have both benefits.

Shamiko - App to spoof root from apps

Consoles (Homebrew)

Note: If you're going to watch an homebrew youtube tutorial, please watch an up-to-date one while reading a text based guide. Trust first the text based guide

Nintendo

CFW's DSi guide - Guide for homebrewing the Wii

RiiConnect24's Wii guide - Guide for homebrewing the Wii

Nintendo Homebrew's 3ds guide - Guide for homebrewing the 3ds

Nintendo Homebrew's WiiU guide - Guide for homebrewing the WiiU

Nintendo Homebrew's Switch guide - Guide for homebrewing the Nintendo Switch

Sony

PSPunk's PSP guide - Guide for homebrewing the PSP

hacks.guide's Vita guide - Guide for homebrewing the PS Vita

iOS

Application stores

AltStore - Application store for sideloading apps
Sideloadly - Application store for sideloading apps

TrollStore - Permasigned jailed app that can permanently install any IPA you open in it

Jailbreak

iOS Jailbreak CFW guide - A complete iOS modding guide, from stock to jailbroken.

Windows

Activators

Microsoft Activation Scripts - Open source Windows and MS Office activation tool.

Customization

TranslucentTB - Utility that makes the taskbar translucent/transparent on Windows 10 and Windows 11.
ExplorerPatcher - Patcher that adds useful enhancements to the Windows taskbar

Rainmeter - Desktop customization tool that adds widgets

Lively Wallpaper - Free and open source tool for animated desktops

PowerToys - Set of utilities to enhance the Windows experience

DWMBlurGlass - Adds blur effects to the window frame

AccentColorizer - Applies the accent colors to more elements

Winaero Tweaker - Tool for doing small register tweaks on Windows

De-bloating

TronScript - Most efficient and automated cleaning and disinfection tool for Windows
SophiaScript - Powershell script that contains more than 150 functions

Deep modifications

AME Wizard - Tool that applies heavy modifications to Windows with the aim to provide a complete

Old systems

Legacy Update - Returns the functionality of Windows Update to old Windows versions

KernelEx - Compatibility layer that aims to run Windows 2000 or XP-only applications on Windows 98 or ME
VxKex - Compatibility layer for Windows 7 to run programs only support Windows 8 and above

Uninstallers

Bulk Crap Uninstaller - Uninstalls apps in bulk

Utilities

Bootable media creation utilities

Rufus - Standard bootable USB media creation tool
Ventoy - Boot in multiple bootable medias with one USB.
WoeUSB-ng - Windows media creation tool for Linux

Capture tools

ShareX - Highly powerful image and quick video capture tool
Flameshot - Cross platform screenshot application

Enhanced calculators

Qalculate! - Open source powerful scientific calcuator

GeoGebra - Advanced graphing calculator with a desktop version
Desmos - Online graphing calculator with educational purposes

File management

Files - File explorer that improves upon Windows's original file explorer
Directory Opus - Extremely powerful file manager for Windows
MiXplorer - Poweful file manager for Android

BleachBit - Open source system cleaner for Windows and Linux
SD Maid SE - System cleaner for Android phones

Total Commander - File manager known for its powerful file removal tool.

hydrus network - Local booru-ish repository that can be selfhosted
Szurubooru - Exclusively selfhostable booru repositoru

Everything - Quick and powerful file search tool

Archive managers

7-Zip - Powerful open source file archive manager clients.
Note: There are CLI based programs for Mac and Linux, but the GUI version is only available on Windows
Ark | GNOME Archive Manager - Archive managers for Linux

Lists and resources

AlternativeTo - Find alternatives to applications
Open Source Alternative To - Find open source alternatives to applications

Ripped - The biggest collection of websites and programs dedicated for piracy. May contain non-piracy tools as well

Keyboard tools

AutoHotkey - Powerful keyboard script maker

OP Auto Clicker - Simple autoclicker

Media management

Content downloader

yt-dlp - Youtube-dl fork that can download videos from YouTube
cobalt - Online video and audio downloader without ads or annoying features. Supports multiple services, including YouTube and TikTok.
Parabolic - Desktop application for downloading YouTube videos and other social medias
Seal - Mobile application to download videos from YouTube and other social medias

File converter

FFmpeg - Powerful CLI utility for video manipulation

Media centers

Kodi - Open source powerful media center

Jellyfin - Selfhostable streaming service

Video players

VLC - Simple, feature rich video player
mpv - Minimal yet customizable video player, although not user friendly
clsid2's MPC-HC fork - Maintained fork of Media Player Classic - Home Cinema

OCR Scanners

Text-Grab - OCR utility for Windows 10/11 which makes all visible text available to be copied.
Frog - Adwaita GTK OCR utility for Linux to scan text on the screen
OSS Document Scanner | Android OCR | TextFairy - Android OCR scanners

System integration

KDE Connect - Feature rich integration app between phones and computers.

LocalSend - Open source replacement for AirDrop that works on your local network
Syncting - Real-time continuous file synchronization program

Gadgetbridge - Allows pairing various gadgets such as smart watches, bands, headphones and more

Torrenting

Transmission - Easy to use Bittorrent client with a simple interface
qBittorrent - Feature rich Bittorrent client with µTorrent-like User Interface

Unit conversion

ConverterNOW - Cross-platform conversion tool
Unitto - Calculator that has unit conversion tools

Contributing to this list

This section includes information on how you can contribute to this list

For contributing, you can always make a Pull Request on this file. It is recommended to not use GitHub's built in editor, and to instead download the files locally using Git. We assume that you know the basics of Git and contributing on GitHub.

Sections in need for contributions

System resources > Consoles (Homebrew) - Needs more guides
System resources -> iOS - Needs more items and applications
Utilities -> Media Management -> File converter - Needs more FFmpeg frontends
Privacy and Security - Needs more entires
Productivity and Leisure -> E-readers - I need to know more about the e-reading scene :neofox_googly_shocked:

Guidelines

NO-MARGIN-CHANGES

Examples

Single entry:
Jellyfin - Selfhostable streaming service

Entries with alternatives:
Vendetta - Multi-platform Discord mobile client mod
Enmity - iPhone exclusive Discord client mod

Merged entries:
Droid-ify | Neo Store - Material You frontends for F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid

Custom icons

:c-pc: - Runs on all PC platforms
:c-mobile: - Runs on all mobile platforms
:c-web: - Runs on all browsers
:c-console: - Runs on a console
:c-vr: - Available on VR consoles
:c-selfhost: - The service is selfhostable
:c-android: - Runs on Android
:c-ios: - Runs on iOS
:c-tvbox: - Available on most smart TV box platforms
:c-roku: - Supports Roku TV
:c-tvos: - Supports Apple TV
:c-windows: - Runs on Windows
:c-macos: - Runs on MacOS
:c-linux: - Runs on Linux
:c-cli: - Is a command line only application
:c-extension: - Is available as a browser extension
:c-chrome: - Runs on Chrome
:c-firefox: - Runs on Firefox
:c-proprietary: - Is proprietary
:c-ads: - Contains ads
:c-freemium: - Is a program that contains a Freemium payment model
:c-paid: - Is a paid program
:c-resource: - Resource to read

Formatting resources

*italic* - italic
**bold** - bold
***bold and italic*** - bold and italic
~~strikethrough~~ - strikethrough
--small-- - small
###### NO-MARGIN-CHANGES - Disables lists from merging with the text
###### NO-PARAGRAPH - Makes paragraphs not render as paragraphs

Thanks

Thanks to: