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In beta · Android · 7 MB · no accounts

Niek.li Tools

Eight small tools, each doing one job properly.

The weather, the radio, the clock, the timer, the rates, the scanner — the things you actually reach for, in one Android app that asks nothing of you. No accounts, no tracking, no ads, and nothing you do leaves your phone unless a tool genuinely needs it to.

Join the beta See the app

Android 8.0 and up, around 7 MB. It takes two clicks and about a minute. A public Google Play release follows once testing wraps up.

The Niek.li Tools home screen, listing UV index, Rain, Radio, Time zones, Focus timer, Exchange rates, Food scanner and Colour picker.

Everything that’s in it

Niek.li Tools is eight tools in one app. Each opens on its own screen, does its job, and gets out of the way.

  • UV index

    Today’s UV where you are, the hours that matter, and how long unprotected skin has before it burns.

  • Rain

    A radar nowcast for the Netherlands. Will it rain in the next two hours, and how hard, minute by minute.

  • Radio

    Search and play internet radio worldwide. Plays in the background with lock-screen controls, and casts to a speaker.

  • Time zones

    A clear world clock. Add any city, see the day there, and find the hours where everyone is awake.

  • Focus timer

    A Pomodoro timer with adjustable rounds, a soft chime, and notifications that arrive even in the background.

  • Exchange rates

    Convert at the European Central Bank’s daily reference rates, cached so it still works offline.

  • Food scanner

    Scan a barcode for the Nutri-Score, how processed it is, traffic-light fat, sugar and salt, additives and allergens.

  • Colour picker

    Grab a colour with the camera, save it to a palette, and check any pair for WCAG contrast.

See it

Real captures of Niek.li Tools running on Android — not renders. Shown here in light theme; the app follows whatever your phone is set to.

Join the beta

Niek.li Tools is in closed testing on Google Play. Google only lets approved testers in, so there are two steps before the install — both self-serve, no waiting on me.

  1. 1

    Join the testers group

    A Google Group is how Play knows who is allowed in. Joining is instant.

    Join the group
  2. 2

    Accept the test invite

    Opt in on Google Play. This only works once you are in the group above.

    Become a tester
  3. 3

    Install it

    Open the listing on your phone and install as normal. Updates arrive through Play.

    Open in Play Store

Use the same Google account that is signed in on your phone for all three steps, or Play will not see that you are a tester. If step 2 or 3 says the app is not available, give it a few minutes after joining the group and try again — and if it still refuses, email hi@niek.li and I will sort it out. Leaving the test later is one tap on the same page as step 2.

Niek.li Tools is built small, on purpose

Native Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, drawn from foundation primitives rather than a component library — which is most of why the whole thing downloads in about seven megabytes. Nothing in it is waiting for a network round trip to draw a screen.

Every control is labelled for TalkBack, every screen exposes headings you can navigate by, it follows your system light or dark theme, and it works with gesture navigation including predictive back.

~7 MB
Download size on a 64-bit phone, after R8 and resource shrinking.
No accounts
Nothing to sign up for. Favourites and settings stay on your device.
No trackers
No analytics, no advertising identifier, no third-party SDKs.
Coarse location
Rounded to about a kilometre on your device before any forecast request is sent.

Some tools have to reach a service to be useful — a forecast needs a forecast provider, a barcode needs a product database. Only what that request needs is sent, each tool’s own “About this tool” says exactly what leaves your device and where it goes, and the privacy policy lists every host, tool by tool.