Something worth noting is that F-Droid is both an app to download other apps but they also maintains a repository of apps. You can use alternative store apps (like Droid-ify) with the F-Droid repository OR you could use the F-Droid app with a different repository (like IzzyOnDroid). You can mix and match to meet your needs.
I use the Droid-ify app with the F-Droid, IzzyOnDroid, microG, NewPipe, and Collabora repositories.
Once you start down this rabbit hole, give Obtanium a look.
Neostore is also a good alternative to the normal f-droid client
Yep. Their permission and tracker built in viewer is a super qol feature
I would avoid adding other repositories because you are risking malware and anti features.
F-droid is slow to get updates but it also verifies each app
There is safety there, but you’re just as safe using the the developer’s own repository for their apps, like NewPipe, Collabora, or the Guardian Project.
I just have the basic f droid app, the layout is awful and confusing. Is there one you suggest?
I’m a big fan of Droid-ify.
I think he did suggest droid-ify with fdroid repo: https://github.com/Droid-ify/client
Looks good, I will try it out. You have it in F-droid :)
I know this thread is already a little old, but here is the list of my favorite apps from F-Droid/Izzy. I use a lot of these almost daily and just thought I would share these in case someone might find a new app they find useful
- Eternity (Infinity for Lemmy)
- Buckwheat (Budgeting)
- Aegis (Authentication)
- Lawnchair (Pixel-like launcher)
- Quillnotes (Markdown notes app)
- Forkyz (Crosswords)
- Geometric Weather
- Imagepipe (Removes exif data and reduces pics)
- AntennaPod (Podcast app)
- Olauncher (Beautiful and minimal text based launcher)
Droid-ify is the best way to use f-droid imo
Does it have an update all button? That’s what prevented me to keep using it some months ago.
It does now yes.
Why would you ever want to do that? Sometimes the older version is better for about a third of the apps on my device.
Running outdated versions of software, whether on your phone or the desktop, will generally expose you to more vulnerabilities and is not best practice from a security perspective.
People that don’t have a solid grasp on computing tend to think any and all updates are inherently good.
What are the perks of using this vs. the standard F-Droid app?
More built-in repositories and a nicer UI.
Nice. I just decided to try it, and this seems really nice so far. The built-in repositories feature is really nice, especially for people who are just getting acquainted with F-Droid
I can’t use F-Droid without the Play Store but I tend to check there first to see if there is something available there before installing something from the Play Store.
You should check out aurora store on f-droid if you haven’t already, its basically an alternative front end for the play store, which means you can remove your google account from your phone (if you want to)
Been using Fdroid to the point where my first boot into a new phone is:
Open chrome > download fdroid > open settings > uninstall/disable every single application I can > open fdroid > install all the relevant apps I require for making my phone useful
I’m just waiting for a small life upgrade in order to be able to support some app developers; it will be money better spent than using the standard google apps.
You might want to consider your next phone to be a pixel+grapheneOS.
any lineage os supported device is enough, i think
LineageOS isnt degoogled by default
I have never found anything useful in it. And god I have tried. I end up uninstalling it every time.
I found some good stuff there :)
- Aegis
- Altcoin Prices
- Amethyst
- AndStatus
- AntennaPod
- Audio Recorder
- Aurora Store
- Barinsta
- Bitcoin Wallet
- Book Reader
- Breezy Weather
- Briar
- BTC Map
- Call Recorder
- Camera
- CameraFileCopy
- Coinbase
- Compass
- Croc
- Currency
- DAVx⁵
- Draw
- DroidCam
- DuckDuckGo
- Easy xkcd
- Element
- Etar
- Eternity
- Exodus
- Feudal Tactics
- FluffyChat
- ForgetMeNot
- Freja
- FTP Server (Free)
- Gallery
- Gloomy Dungeons II
- Hypatia
- Imagepipe
- K-9 Mail
- KeePassDX
- KISS launcher
- LibreOffice Viewer
- LibreSpeed
- LibreTranslator
- List My Apps
- Location Share
- MyMonero for Android
- Neo Store
- NewPipe
- Nextcloud
- Ning
- Notes
- ObscuraCam
- Orbot
- OsmAnd~
- PCAPdroid
- PixelDroid
- Plexus
- Pocket Paint
- Private Location
- ProofMode
- Proton Calendar
- Proton Mail
- Proton VPN
- Ripple
- SBW
- Scrambled Exif
- SD Maid SE
- SecScanQR
- Share my number
- Share to Clipboard
- Shattered Pixel Dungeon
- SimplyTranslate Mobile
- Spider
- Spotube
- SuperTuxKart
- Survival Manual
- Syncthing
- TagInfo
- Talk
- Telegram FOSS
- Termux
- Thorium
- Torrent Client
- Tower Collector
- TPB Proxy
- Trail Sense
- Tusky
- twitlatte
- Unit Converter Ultimate
- VLC
- Voice Recorder
- WhatsApp Web To Go
- Wire
- WireGuard
- XDA Developers
- You Have Mail
List made using List My Apps Plus signal FOSS , several VPN apps etc…
And the stuff you do want to use is often best installed from the Dev’s repo because fdroid takes forever to update theirs.
And last time I checked they still hadn’t implemented the now years old APIs that would let them to silently update apps, so unless the phone is rooted you need to click for every update…
Try f-droid basic, it lets you update automatically
Fdroid basic allows automatic updates!
The guadian project repos are also preset, albeit not enabled by default.
Are they planning on modernizing the app for Material You? It feels out of place in my phone in 2023.
edit: all the people who suggested Droid-ify know what’s up. Thanks, guys!
You can use neostore or droid-ify for material fdroid
bromite
Outdated, no maintained, use it’s fork Cromite by one of the devs instead.
didi’nt see anything about it not being maintained on the GitHub last time i checked
The latest release was 12/19/2022. It got not updated almost a year and their are no actual news about whats going on, also it’s pretty insecure using a browser which didn’t got updated this long.
tell me when it says not maintained on the GitHub but the bromite developer’s may have another project or they took a break from uptates for a unknown reason + security doesn’t equal privacy
True, when your device leaks your IP adresse while using a VPN or you get infected with Spyware has nothing to do with Privacy… Just think about it for a moment and you will realize what I mean. Maintaince is not only importmant for Security, also for the Privacy of a Browser.
Try Neostore too…
^^^ This!
I use iOS now though had f-droid installed on my old android phones :)
If you sell your IPhone now it may not be too late for you! :-)
Does anyone have a good foss ebook and pdf reader?
Thanks!
I use Librera every day: the user interface looks a bit outdated but has support for any format known to man and a ton of features (and I mean A TON)
What kinda good stuff is on F Droid they the average User might want?
deleted by creator
Newpipe - A YouTube client without ads.
Literally can’t say enough good stuff about Newpipe.
Everything YouTube SHOULD be, this is. LISTEN TO A VIDEO IN THE BACKGROUND!!!11. Playback speed infinitely adjustable- good for lectures, interviews, etc. No ads. No bullshit.
Endless Sky and Mindustry are some good, fun, deep games.
I use LibreSudoku. It’s a very nice Sudoku app.
Newpipe in particular is super important. It’s a better YouTube app with more features and no ads.
Sorry for not supporting Google, I know they need more money… /s
I prefer LibreTube because it doesn’t look outdated and it uses Piped, so you never actually connect to the YouTube servers and you can synchronize your subscriptions and playlists
Just got it. Amazing! Thanks!
It’s a fantastic app. Remember to set your default YouTube links to open with it also, you can do that with android in app settings.
I’ve always had a niggling worry that downloading apps from 3rd party app stores came with a higher risk of getting apps with viruses and spyware.
any truth to this?
Not really.
Fdroid is a secure repositorie and the applications are reviewed before being made available for end users.
The repository is also highly focused on privacy and security and will warn if applications have security flaws or depend on non free services.
As an example, I use NewPipe instead of the standard YT app and it has a warning it depends on non-free services.
One other example I can give is Librera. It’s a very feature rich ebook/pdf/etc reader. At some point, a security flaw was discovered and the app was instantly flagged has having such problems and users were advised to not install it.
Fdroid is a secure repositorie and the applications are reviewed before being made available for end users.
Reviewed by who though? Malicious apps even get through apple and Google’s screening. I can’t see how fdroid can match the capabilities of those guys.
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Even small companies have to deal with, “supply chain”, attacks, criminals putting code into open source repositories to steal data and get access to servers. App stores are major targets too.
There have been weather apps that need your location to show you weather and oops we also send your location history to our data center in China and sell that data.
There have been, “document scanner”, apps that help you take pictures of things like credit card statements and did we not mention we send those images to Russian servers?
Do use a major brand phone like Samsung, keep your OS up to date, and don’t expose private info to these apps or give them special privileges, especially, “accessibility”, or, “screen reader”, and you should be okay.