Best Open-Source Writing Apps for Android

GetApkFree's Writing category is dominated by notes apps — this guide deliberately spreads across outliners, git-synced notes, encrypted notes, and document tools rather than listing ten near-identical note-takers.

Each entry below is described using GetApkFree's own catalogue listing for that app, plus what its Android manifest actually requests — not a review score, since the catalogue does not track ratings for most of these apps.

How We Selected These Apps

• All ten come from GetApkFree's Writing category, which currently holds 14 published, F-Droid-sourced apps.
• The category leans heavily toward notes apps, so selection deliberately spread across distinct approaches — plain-text outliners, self-hosted/synced notes, bookmarking, reading aloud, journaling, encrypted quick notes, and document tools — rather than listing several apps that do close to the same job.
• One eligible app, Super Productivity, is catalogued under Writing but its own description centers on task and time tracking rather than writing — it was left out of this specific guide for that reason.
• Permission transparency was part of the selection — every app below is described alongside what it actually requests.

With that scope set, here are the ten apps, grouped by what they're for.

A. Outliners & Plain-Text Notes

Tine

Tine is a local-first outliner that reads and writes a real Logseq Markdown (and Org) graph on disk, aiming to round-trip with Logseq itself — outliner structure, tasks and priorities, journals, page/block references, and a visual query builder. It requests broad storage access and INTERNET, consistent with reading/writing a file-based graph and its stated media/PDF features.

Best for: an Android-native outliner that stays compatible with an existing Logseq graph.

Size: 46.2 MB · Minimum Android version: 7.0.

Emborg

Emborg browses .org files on-device, renders them with lightweight Org-aware formatting, and manages TODO items across every file from a single task list. It requests no meaningful permissions beyond a standard internal receiver marker.

Best for: viewing and managing TODOs across a collection of .org files on Android.

Size: 2.3 MB · Minimum Android version: 8.0.

B. Self-Hosted & Synced Notes

GitNote

GitNote is a note app backed by real files, syncable with git providers such as GitHub — clone or open a repository, search notes globally or per-folder, and switch between grid, tree, and edit views, with private repo support over SSH and HTTPS. It requests INTERNET and broad storage access to support that git sync.

Best for: keeping notes as real files, version-controlled and synced through your own git repository.

Size: 22.9 MB · Minimum Android version: 11.0.

LibreNotes

LibreNotes is a private, self-hosted, end-to-end-encrypted note-taking app — notes are stored only on a server you run yourself, with no cloud account and no third-party service involved. It requests INTERNET to reach that self-hosted server.

Best for: end-to-end-encrypted notes stored only on a server you control.

Size: 8.8 MB · Minimum Android version: 5.0.

NC Collectives

NC Collectives is an unofficial native Android client for the Nextcloud Collectives app — wiki-style Markdown notebooks hosted on your own Nextcloud server, with support for browsing collectives and nested page trees. It requests INTERNET and network-state permissions to talk to that Nextcloud server.

Best for: browsing and editing Nextcloud Collectives wiki notebooks from Android.

Size: 4.7 MB · Minimum Android version: 10.0.

C. Bookmarks & Reading Aloud

Karabau

Karabau is an open-source Android client for Karakeep, built entirely with Jetpack Compose, focused on keeping bookmarks in one place with a native mobile experience. It requests INTERNET and network-state permissions to sync with a Karakeep server.

Best for: a native Android client for a self-hosted Karakeep bookmark collection.

Size: 4.3 MB · Minimum Android version: 12.0.

Lector

Lector reads documents aloud using the device's own text-to-speech voices, supporting TXT, Markdown, EPUB, and PDF files — single files or a whole folder — or pasted/shared text, highlighting the current sentence as it goes. It requests no meaningful permissions beyond a standard internal receiver marker.

Best for: having TXT, Markdown, EPUB, or PDF documents read aloud, entirely on-device.

Size: 7.2 MB · Minimum Android version: 8.0.

D. Journaling & Private Notes

SimpleDay

SimpleDay is a minimalist diary app built around one entry per day, written in Markdown, with entries staying on-device and, optionally, on a cloud server you control yourself. It requests biometric permissions for locking the diary, alongside INTERNET for the optional sync.

Best for: a calm, one-entry-per-day Markdown diary with no required account.

Size: 31.3 MB · Minimum Android version: 7.0.

Tuisku

Tuisku is a lightweight notes app that encrypts notes with the ChaCha20 algorithm internally, with an option to share a note unencrypted via the share button, disable screenshots, and view the encryption key in Settings. It requests no meaningful permissions beyond a standard internal receiver marker.

Best for: simple notes encrypted at rest with ChaCha20, with the encryption key visible in Settings.

Size: 5.5 MB · Minimum Android version: 9.0.

E. Document Tools

PDF Toolkit

PDF Toolkit is a PDF and image manipulation tool for Android. It requests storage and camera permissions, consistent with importing images and files to manipulate.

Best for: general-purpose PDF and image manipulation on-device.

Size: 39.2 MB · Minimum Android version: 8.0.

Comparison Table

App	Main use	Size	Minimum Android	Screenshots
Tine	Logseq-compatible outliner	46.2 MB	7.0	0
Emborg	.org file browser & TODOs	2.3 MB	8.0	3
GitNote	Git-synced file-based notes	22.9 MB	11.0	3
LibreNotes	Self-hosted encrypted notes	8.8 MB	5.0	0
NC Collectives	Nextcloud Collectives client	4.7 MB	10.0	6
Karabau	Karakeep bookmark client	4.3 MB	12.0	4
Lector	Reads documents aloud	7.2 MB	8.0	3
SimpleDay	One-entry-per-day Markdown diary	31.3 MB	7.0	4
Tuisku	ChaCha20-encrypted notes	5.5 MB	9.0	5
PDF Toolkit	PDF & image manipulation	39.2 MB	8.0	8

Browse More of the Catalogue

These ten aren't the entire Writing category — it also includes other notes and document apps this guide didn't cover. If none of these fit what you're looking for, the full GetApkFree app catalogue is worth a browse.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best open-source Writing apps for Android? That depends on the workflow. This list covers ten separate approaches — a Logseq-compatible outliner, an Org-file browser, git-synced notes, self-hosted encrypted notes, a Nextcloud wiki client, bookmarking, text-to-speech reading, journaling, encrypted quick notes, and PDF tools — because no single app covers all of them.

Is there a notes app that syncs through my own git repository? GitNote — it's backed by real files and syncable with git providers such as GitHub, including private repos over SSH or HTTPS.

Which app works with an existing Logseq graph? Tine — it reads and writes a real Logseq Markdown (and Org) graph on disk and aims to round-trip with Logseq itself.

Is there an app that reads documents aloud? Lector reads TXT, Markdown, EPUB, and PDF files aloud using the device's own text-to-speech voices, highlighting the current sentence as it goes.

Does LibreNotes store notes in the cloud? No — LibreNotes is self-hosted: notes are stored only on a server you run yourself, with end-to-end encryption and no third-party service involved.

Final Thoughts

These ten Writing apps deliberately avoid clustering around one kind of note-taking, described here using GetApkFree's own catalogue listing and what each app's manifest actually requests — not a ranking. Which one fits depends on whether you want a git-synced file, a self-hosted server, or something that just stays quietly on the device.