QR Scanner (PFA) vs QuickTiles
Side-by-side comparison of two open source alternatives
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
QuickTiles
QuickTiles lets you add custom quick settings tiles to your Android device, enabling fast access to your favorite actions and shortcuts. The app is open source and privacy-friendly. Features: - 🎵 Media control (play/pause, next, previous, media volume) - 🔊 Show volume panel - 📅 New event/alarm/timer - 📞 Make call - 📷 Take photo/record video - 🧮 Open calculator/file manager - 📱 Open custom apps - 🔍 Search settings - 🌐 Open languages - 📖 Open dictionary/privacy - 🔗 Open VPN/data usage/screen cast/connected devices/about - ⏲️ Set screen timeout - 🔔 Switch volume modes (normal, vibrate, priority only, alarms only, total silence) - 💡 Adjust brightness - 🌙 Adaptive brightness toggle - 🌑 Grayscale - 📸 Take screenshot - 🔄 Force rotation (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°) - 🔒 Lock screen - 🖥️ Split screen - 📳 Set vibration on calls - ⚡ Open power menu - 🔋 Show battery level - 🔢 Counter - 🐞 Enable/disable USB debugging - 🕹️ Enable/Disable demo mode - 🛠️ Open developer options - 🌙 Enable/Disable keep screen on - 🏃 Set animator duration scale - 🚫 Disable all animations - 🏁 Always finish activities **Important:** Google Play Protect may warn that QuickTiles is a "harmful app." This is a false positive. You can check the full source code in this repository — there is no malicious activity. If you disable Play Protect, Android may still periodically show warnings. This seems to be because Android stores previously detected warnings and repeats them, even after Play Protect is turned off. Acknowledgments: Icons - Old App icon by [Freepik](https://www.flaticon.com/authors/freepik) from [Flaticon](https://www.flaticon.com/) - New App Icon generated with DALL-E 3 ([OpenAI](https://openai.com/dall-e-3/)) - Toggle-split-screen icon by [Smashicons](https://www.flaticon.com/authors/smashicons) from [Flaticon](https://www.flaticon.com/) Open Source Projects - [Dev-Tiles](https://github.com/mustafa01ali/Dev-Tiles) by Mustafa Ali ([Apache License 2.0](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt)) - [Dev-QuickSettings](https://github.com/adriangl/Dev-QuickSettings) by Adrián García ([Apache License 2.0](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt)) - [Adaptive Brightness Tile](https://github.com/rascarlo/AdaptiveBrightnessTile) by rascarlo ([GNU GPLv3](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt)) - [PowerButtonTile](https://github.com/rascarlo/PowerButtonTile) by rascarlo ([GNU GPLv3](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt)) - [Greyscale](https://github.com/fei-ke/Greyscale) by fei-ke ([Apache License 2.0](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt))
| Feature | QR Scanner (PFA) | QuickTiles |
|---|---|---|
| License | GPL-3.0-only | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Install sources | F-DroidGitHub | F-Droid |
| Categories | ProductivityMedia PlayerVideo | ProductivityMedia PlayerDev ToolsVideo |
| Features | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking |
| Platforms | Android | Android |
| Website | ||
| Source code |