[coffeecoders]

It's a selection bias issue. The categories you have listed are essentially web services wrapped in an app shell. Of course they need the internet. Consider these examples:

- Photo/Video editors - Snapsheed, Lightroom, Video trimmers etc.

- Document readers & scanners - PDF viewers, e-readers, OCR scanners

- Note taking - Obsidian

- File/Password managers - Authenticators etc.

- Single player games - Chess, puzzles etc.

- Audio/Video players - VLC players

We've just become conditioned to accept that every app needs to phone home for tracking and ad-delivery.

[nodamage]

Most of what you've listed I do on my computer not my phone. And some of your items do require internet for useful purposes (at the very least backup and syncing for notes/passwords).

[jamessb]

A photo/video editor may include the ability to upload images to a sharing service/social media.

PDF viewers (like GoodReader) can download a PDF from a URL, or read it from a network drive.

Obsidian has functions that need internet access (e.g., connecting to the Obsidian sync servers, installing community plugins).

Password managers often have a sync feature.

A video player may be able to play files hosted on remote servers or network drives.

They should be useable without an internet connection, but it's entirely reasonable for them to request permissions for network access.