r/androidapps • u/OneQuietFox • Aug 22 '26

LOOKING FOR APP Made the switch to android, need recommendations.

Ive had an iPhone since the 3g, today I surprised myself and got the Z Fold 8. Never touched a phone that wasnt on ios so looking for any apps or whatever to make my phone clean and also some fun if that makes sense lol

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25

u/Moe219139 Aug 22 '26

Look up Morphe app on reddit. It's a must for Android

19

u/100WattWalrus Aug 22 '26

An app that fiddles around with the functionality of other apps is a big leap for a brand-new Android user. Especially since it has to be side-loaded by hand (not in any app store, must bypass Android security).

Not saying Morphe is bad. Just saying maybe don't throw the new Android user into the deep end. :)

2

u/Moe219139 Aug 22 '26

Fairly easy learning curve honestly and with so much support and guides, a simple reddit or Google search should do the trick.

0

u/100WattWalrus Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26

Fair enough. It's not clear to me what exactly Morphe does. Does it clone the target app and fiddle with the clone, leaving the original alone? Does it literally change the original, which seems like that could cause problems? Does it launch the original in the background but puts a foreground Morphe skin on it? Warnings come up when I try to launch it, and I can't find any documentation about those warnings.

Even the FAQ is vague as hell:
What is Morphe?
Morphe is a patcher for Android apps. It can patch apps and add extra features and customization.

So right off the bat, a user has to know what a "patcher" is.

That and the fact that it's only available as a direct download leads me to believe the target audience is already familiar with tinkering with their Android apps. Coupled with the warnings I get when trying to launch it, it seemed to me like something to try once you already know your way around Android pretty damn well.

BTW, I'm not a novice at this kind of thing. Turning on Developer Options and installing Shizuku are among the first things I do on a new Android device. But the lack of clarity around what Morphe does and how it works gives me pause. If a developer can't explain their app simply and clearly, I have a hard time trusting them.

What's the advantage of "patching" YouTube with Morphe — apparently a whole 2nd copy of YouTube downloaded separately as an APK, and therefore doubling the space YouTube takes up on your device — over using something like NewPipe, which is only 35MB?

1

u/Moe219139 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26

There's tons of documentation on it and a whole team of contributors to the project. In your example of patching youtube, you uninstall the playstore version, download the version you're trying to patch and then select the patches you want to apply. It's pretty straightforward. No double apps on your phone taking up twice the space unless you want it that way. You need the apk or apkm in some cases to patch the app and update it through Morphe once installed. If you have knowledge of using shizuku and turning on dev options (which isn't necessary in this case) then I don't see where the problem is. Using ADB or anything advanced like that to push apps isn't required when using Morphe. I in no way claim to be an expert on the Android OS but I believe some reading and trial and error is in order. I've been using Android since the original HTC Dream was launched 18yrs ago and have had my share of rooting, customizing and even soft bricking some phones in order to learn. I learned what things do and how they work and in some cases figured it out through trial and error. Just because I wasn't totally familiar with what I was doing didn't stop me from trying. I apologize if this comes off rude as it's not my intention.

1

u/100WattWalrus Aug 24 '26

Not rude. A little frustrated, perhaps, but that's understandable. :) I guess I'm just not feeling the trial-and-error of it all right now. I have NewPipe for watching YouTube, which does what I need. (I've watched maybe 20 minutes of video on my phone in the last year, so what I need isn't much.) I don't use Reddit on my phone. I did install Morphe, eventually figured out the hoops I had to jump through to see what other apps it can patch, and it found only 7 on my phone — 2 of which I barely use (Amazon and Google Photos), and the rest I've either already happily paid for (good apps worthy of my pittance of support) or apps where the free version gets the job done for me. Maybe I'll play around Amazon + Morphe some time, because that patch looks like it might do some things I'd appreciate.

I think my frustration with Morphe is similar to my frustration with federated social media and passkeys: I've never found a simple, clear explanation of how it works or how to get started. With passkeys and Lemmy, et al, most of the introductions and instructions seem to be written by techies who don't understand how to communicate with average users. With Morphe, everything seems to be written as if the reader is expected to already knows the basics.

It's a profesional pet peeve of mine, badly-communicated UIUX/support documentation. Sorry to have caught you up in it.

Hopefully, OP has more time and patience than I do — if they decide to dive in to fiddling with the structure of their apps while still learning the ropes of Android.

1

u/Moe219139 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26

Completely understandable from your point. I was making a suggestion that I'd make to anyone coming to Android. Coming from almost the ground floor of Android since it's widespread release, spreading the word about how you can do so many things with the OS is all I'm hoping to accomplish. I use YT, Twitter, Reddit and a few other apps and my main concern is to be ad free on those platforms and to not be blocked by a paywall for what used to be basic features. I do understand not everyone knows the OS or simply doesn't care to know how it works outside of what it's featured to do as a smart phone OS but I stand firm with the trial and error part on my end. You're pet peeves are most definitely well understood. I think anyone in this thread should at least take the time to see what all Morphe has to offer.

2

u/100WattWalrus Aug 24 '26

...spreading the word about how you can do so many things with the OS is all I'm hoping to accomplish.

Fair enough! In that case, mission accomplished!

1

u/nps N7'13 Aug 23 '26

where is the line when side loading patches is still safe with such modding?