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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
I love emulating old Gameboy games on my phone. It can play things all the way up to Switch, but there's sort of a nice mix of nostalgia and simplicity to just go monotone. No micro transactions, no server connecting, nothing. Just me and the bits.
I guess that's not terribly beneficial, unless you count my mental health.
Calling your loved ones
Mine's pretty great at reading a 1400-page manual for an 8-bit system. Whether or not my habit of reading a 1400-page manual for an 8-bit system is actually beneficial is up for debate.
I have a tuner app, drum machine, and recording apps on my phone. I like to pretend I can play trumpet, mandolin, piano, hammered dulcimer... which means I practice something nearly every day.
Articles
Language learning
Manuals
Troubleshooting
Fitness assistant / planning
Notes
Emulating old games (I'm actually emulating a bunch of n64 games, but mostly playing majora's mask now, next will probably be conker's bad fur day)
Minecraft too
Ibis paint and other programs can be drawing tools
If you have an extra wifi router as well, secured network-security cameras. Lots of programs out there to do just that (been looking at a few and I'm not 100% on a perfect recommendation till I set something up myself).
Fractional calculator: TMC (Tape Measure Calculator). Invaluable for working out tape measure fraction math. Yes, I use metric when it makes sense. Not all materials are metric and this app makes division trivial.
Banking app. Fucking magic.
Airplane boarding passes. I only use a couple airlines, have both apps installed.
Personal news. I have recently discovered TTRSS which is a tiny RSS feed that you can selfhost and then the client on your phone shows you news from your computer
Bitwarden. All the passwords, all the time.
OpenStreetMap. Almost enough to replace google maps. I also use HereWeGo (TomTom corporation) when I need traffic data.
Transit apps for your (or any other) town. Can be pretty invasive, I recommend siloing them in the "work profile" all Android phones now include.
UnCiv. Wonderful time waster
Oh yeah, audio. I've been listening to news and narrative history podcasts for years. I finally put the Pimsleur files for learning Spanish on the phone, I don't remember which app I'm using to play them back, maybe Rocket? It's helping I think.
I would suggest CoMapps.app instead for better privacy. Can be downloaded with F-droid.
Was that the fork of OSM a couple months ago? Do they have gravity yet?
Fork of Organic maps, both are still OSM
It is, and I don't know if they do.
I can't remember offhand the privacy implications of OSM but I do remember thinking, "I can deal with that"
Play a compilation of song covers at exactly 135 BPM so I can do my treadmill without losing my center or my step.
Work the laundry machines, and set a separate timer because the app notifications are unreliable.
Text to check that my kids are alive and assure them that I and their dad are also not dead today.
Order grocery delivery.
Listen to birds and learn their names (Merlin)
Be part of the earthquake alert system (MyShake)
Wordle/ Quordle/ Waffle
I used an old phone one time as a light sensor in my grow tent. The sensor is close enough to tell me how bright the tent was.
I use my phone for banking, paying, made appointment for health checkup, route planning and gps, bike computer/gps, buying stuff, diagnose car and look for more info, check for sound decibel, check the weather, visit some questionable site made for adult, save and manage password, take photo(as note making), make memes, switch on/off my table lamp and ventilation fan, order my slave robot vacuum to do their work, and pay all the bills.
Camera and accelerometer can let you do a lot of really creative things! I've tried a few projects but the main bottle neck is battery so it has to be some inside use that can be wired with power. I saw some guy stick it to a dryer with an app that notifies when dryer is done.