Yes, Fossify came precisely as a continuation for the Simple apps. The https://github.com/FossifyOrg org and the website https://www.fossify.org/ are linked from the F-Droid metadata so they should be legit as well.

See also: https://f-droid.org/2024/01/04/twif.html

Bit of context, the simple apps were sold to a large Corp who put a bunch of adds and tracking in (later cut down by my understanding) so people forked the projects and continued maintenance under fossify

The fossify apps are legit, I use them daily.

This is the same or similar situation as OpenOffice → LibreOffice or OwnCloud → NextCloud (and to a lesser extent but more similar scenario, Audacity → Tenacity or various other forks).

This is what true open source looks like in action.

Fossify is a fork of Simple Mobile Tools, after SMT got sold to a shady ad company.

to add to what others have said; there's a write up from last year here: https://liliputing.com/fossify-apps-pick-up-where-simple-mobile-tools-left-off-free-and-open-source-suite-of-android-apps/

I use fossify for most of my core apps, they are what their predecessor was; simple.

And like other said, "Simple" was bought out, but the fork lives on.

I had the exact same question! Thanks for posting!

I feel that answering to every comment would muddy the post

Thank you all for your input, I have a clearer picture now

The apps have been great for me.

Coincidentally, just yesterday I found a main developer on liberapay. https://liberapay.com/naveensingh/

The commit history is mostly Naveen.

Have been mostly great for me, I use the calendar, files, and gallery apps on multiple devices pretty much daily. The difference between fossify and the ugly bloated bullshit google is pushing nowadays is stark. The only problem I have had was with calendar not sending notifications properly but I suspect that was android derping and not a problem with the app itself.

They look a lot like the simple collection, I would look into their heritage first. https://simplemobiletools.com/

Seems interesting. Some spelling errors on the page are concerning. Is anyone using this to replace all their default apps?

Also this isn't even worth doing unless you have graphene os or something right? Any android phone is giving samsung and Google all your data no matter what you do unless you crack it.