Small tools that do not want to be platforms
The pattern is familiar. A torch app wants location. A notepad wants an account. A gallery app opens on a feed of memories nobody asked to be reminded of. None of this is necessary, and the alternatives are small enough that installing a dozen of them costs less space than one of the apps they replace.
What the bloat actually costs
| Typical app | Install size | The small alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer gallery with cloud features | 150 to 400 MB | Around 10 MB |
| Notes app with an account system | 80 to 200 MB | Under 5 MB |
| Music player with a store attached | 100 to 250 MB | Around 15 MB |
| File manager with a cleaner and a browser | 60 to 150 MB | Around 10 MB |
| Camera app with filters and a social feed | 200 MB plus | Around 10 MB |
The space is the least of it. The bigger cost is background activity: an app with an account checks in, an app with a feed prefetches, and an app with advertising wakes up to refresh. Twelve small tools with none of that use less battery than one of the apps in the left column.
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The set worth having
A text file with a cursor in it. No account, no formatting toolbar, no synchronisation to anywhere.
The colour coded alternative, with a widget that has outlived several redesigns of the phone it sits on.
Alarm, timer, stopwatch. Nothing else at all.
A month view that syncs with your existing accounts and shows no suggestions.
The other minimal calendar, built on the platform calendar so everything else on the phone still sees your events.
Opens instantly, takes the photograph, closes. For a quick shot it beats the manufacturer camera every time.
Shows the pictures in the folders they are in. Radical, apparently.
The maintained continuation of that project, worth preferring for new installs.
Records, saves to a file, done. No transcription service and no upload.
Plays the music on the phone. Does not attempt to sell you a subscription to music that is not.
A slightly richer local player for anyone who wants an interface as well as a file list.
Browse, copy, rename. The operations a file manager is for.
The continuation of the same, actively maintained.
A file manager that follows the platform design properly, with archive and network support built in.
A phone dialler with no caller identification service attached.
Contacts with no suggestions, no social merging and no cloud.
A canvas. Useful far more often than you would expect for marking up a screenshot.
Intercepts links and shows where they really go, with the tracking parameters stripped. Thirty kilobytes that changes a daily habit.
Compass, barometer, sun times and a torch, using only the sensors already in the phone and no network at all.
The one thing to check
It is not a reason to avoid small apps. It is a reason to read the change notes on an app you chose specifically because of what it does not do.
Pick the three jobs you do daily, replace those first, and see whether you miss anything after a fortnight.
Frequently asked questions
Is twelve small apps really better than one big one?
For battery and background activity, usually yes. For someone who wants one icon that does everything, no. It is a preference, not a rule.
Can I uninstall the manufacturer versions?
Rarely. You can almost always disable them, which stops them running and removes them from the app list. That is enough in practice.
Do these work on old Android versions?
Generally better than the large apps do, because they use fewer recent platform features. This is one of the reasons they are popular on older phones.
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