
Fossdroid.com: Free and open source Android applications - SnaKeZ
http://fossdroid.com/
======
libredroid
I think some people are confused/missing the point.

This isn't competing with F-Droid, it IS F-Droid. Everything from the
statistics to the APK downloads (notice the redirect) are sourced from
[https://f-droid.org/](https://f-droid.org/).

It's a beautiful front end and necessary improvement over what exists, but
it's complementary not competitive.

My $0.02:

1\. Link to download button to the app entry in F-Droid so I can download it
from the Android client. (Getting the user to trust random APKs is not a
responsible behavior.)

2\. Clarify that this site is a viewer for F-Droid and non-UI contributions
should be sent there.

Other misc notes:

Install F-Droid as a system app (root) in order to install packages using the
client without having unknown sources checked.

Material design for the client is coming [1]

[1]
[https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidclient/merge_requests/64](https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidclient/merge_requests/64)

It's awesome to see this on the front page of HN, If you think these things
are worth supporting, do so!
[https://f-droid.org/contribute](https://f-droid.org/contribute)

~~~
SnaKeZ
Yes, isn't competing with F-Droid...it's just a frontend for F-Droid with
popularity data.

~~~
libredroid
Your download links point to the most recent version of the app, which is not
always the recommended version available from F-Droid. Recommended versions
are marked with a star. For example,
[http://fossdroid.com/a/fdroid.html](http://fossdroid.com/a/fdroid.html)
serves a download of 0.86 which is an unstable test version. All of this is
handled better by the F-Droid client app. The way your site is set up now
could lead to a poor user experience if they encounter problems with unstable
versions of apps that shouldn't be downloaded by default.

Being open source, you're free to do whatever you like, but I suggest you talk
with the F-Droid devs to make sure everything is mutually beneficial.

~~~
SnaKeZ
Ok thanks, i added this issue :) i hope to fix this soon.

------
Dosenpfand
I really like the popular "popular" sections, the one thing that's missing
from f-droid. What could be improved:

1\. HTTPS, especially for APK downloads

2\. Information about the APKs: built/signed by whom

~~~
justonepost
Google has made it so you can't enforce APK signatures via PKI on android os.
Gee, I wonder why!

~~~
icebraining
Sure you can. Android itself just doesn't do it for you, but the F-Droid
installer could very well verify the APK before installing it.

~~~
justonepost
No doubt. But it's pretty funny that Google refuses to add a few lines of code
to do it via the OS installer.

~~~
icebraining
What would the OS check the signature against, though? The certs that come
with the OS are for validating sites, not apps, so passing a check wouldn't
tell you much. It seems that Android would have to add a whole new cert store
(and mechanism for adding certs), not just a couple of lines.

~~~
justonepost
That's not true at all. CA and leaf Certs have extensions and policies and can
be used for any particular purposes. All the cert verification has to do is
check for the code signing extension / policy.

------
gusmd
Great site and nice UI. Congratulations.

Issues/sugestions:

1\. Couldn't find an option to add my app.

2\. Screenshots of apps would be nice (some people might be more interested in
the app itself than in the source code).

~~~
dublinben
>Couldn't find an option to add my app

You can add your app by submitting it to F-Droid. This is just a front end.

------
vezzy-fnord
Any advantages or differences over F-Droid, sans the glossier UI?

~~~
SnaKeZ
Popularity data, just this...it's a side project :)

~~~
tombrossman
Why not contribute to F-Droid, rather than 'reinvent the wheel?'
[https://f-droid.org/contribute/](https://f-droid.org/contribute/)

Your site looks great and I don't mean to take anything away from it, but when
I see something like this I think of it as merely an art project, something I
might see on Dribbble. I would never download APKs from here for example, but
have no problem trusting F-Droid's APKs.

~~~
SnaKeZ
I know, it's a side project to learn Symfony 2. I love F-Droid project so i
made this web app, I've contacted the authors of F-droid before doing this.
Thanks :)

~~~
mlinksva
Your project looks great! Is its source available?

It'd be nice to add a link the the f-droid page for each application, where
such a page exists.

~~~
SnaKeZ
I will do it! Thanks for the suggestion.

------
hayksaakian
Has anyone figured out how to distribute an android wear app outside of the
play store? How would i get it on f-droid?

In development i can load the APK directly to the watch, but how will my users
do it? Android Studio packs the wear.apk inside of the mobile.apk but your
phone won't upload the wear.apk to your watch unless it comes from google. (at
least in my experience.

------
mahouse
1\. Resize the browser so the hamburger menu is shown,

2\. Click it twice,

3\. Resize the browser to its original size,

4\. The sidebar has vanished forever.

~~~
SnaKeZ
Thanks, i will fix it :)

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nextos
IMHO a big missing app in FOSS Android is a good offline maps & nav program.
Nokia Maps are great, but closed. QT's Marble could fill in this gap, if
ported.

~~~
phillc73
I use OsmAnd all the time:

[http://fossdroid.com/a/osmand~.html](http://fossdroid.com/a/osmand~.html)

[https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=net.osmand.plus](https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=net.osmand.plus)

[https://github.com/osmandapp/Osmand](https://github.com/osmandapp/Osmand)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OsmAnd](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OsmAnd)

The interface took a little while to become used to, but in general I've found
it to be an excellent GPS navigation tool.

Maps are downloaded, so everything works offline. I've used it extensively
around Europe and especially in Austria.

~~~
nextos
Thanks, it was a bit buggy last time I tried. Besides, is navigation working
well when offline?

~~~
phillc73
Navigation works fine offline. To be honest, I don't think I've ever used it
online.

I drove from Graz to Vienna last week. I know the way generally, but didn't
really know where to go in Vienna. OsmAnd navigated me to where I needed to
be, no problem. Then back out of the city and on to Krems. That's about a
275km journey.

I have had the app crash a few times, but that's only been when I'm out
walking in the hills and using it as a walking GPS. Even though it's not open
source I now use ViewRanger for this instead (apk available directly from
their website, so you don't have to go via Google Play, although it is
available there too).

I've used OsmAnd very successfully on both a Geeksphone Revolution and a
Motorola Moto G 2nd Gen.

------
jfaucett
I absolutely love this! Great job. For anyone looking to figure out how to
build android apps and looking for source examples this is awesome. And the
interface is much more accessible than f-droid.

My only suggestions would be to make the source and tracker links more
prominent and flip newest so its first or consider making separate menu points
for each.

Also any link to the fossdroid src, quick google search for fossdroid didn't
turn up anything for me.

~~~
Ologn
Some of the best samples are from Google -
[https://developer.android.com/samples](https://developer.android.com/samples)
. They are some of the best examples of how to program Android, especially in
terms of keeping to best practices and avoiding now-deprecated techniques.

The quality of Fossdroid/Fdroid apps are hit and miss - some are good, some
not. I should know, some of my ports to Android are on it (
[http://fossdroid.com/a/truly-creative-live-
wallpaper.html](http://fossdroid.com/a/truly-creative-live-wallpaper.html) )
where I'm still very nervous that critical sections survived my port safely.

------
afandian
Interesting design philosophy. I'm used to reading vertical lists, e.g.
[https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?page_id=0&fdcategory=...](https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?page_id=0&fdcategory=Multimedia&fdcategory=System)

Reading a list sideways feels bizarre:
[http://fossdroid.com/c/system/](http://fossdroid.com/c/system/)

Intuitively I feel like my eyes are trained to flick sideways to read a short
line and then down. Recalibrating to flicking sideways to read a short line,
then moving sideways again a variable distance feels difficult.

------
7ewis
Thanks for this!

Will try and learn how to make my own apps by reading the source of others.

~~~
SnaKeZ
we need to thanks [https://f-droid.org](https://f-droid.org) :)

------
l33tfr4gg3r
Would be nice to have a 'Suggest an app' feature on the site.

------
eighthave
fossdroid.com looks quite nice, a great start. As a big contributor to FDroid,
I think it makes sense to run fossdroid.com as a separate project right now so
it can develop fast on its own. Then we can figure out how best to integrate
it with f-droid.org.

One thing that _MUST_ be addressed before considering it something that people
actually use is the total lack of HTTPS. This is not optional, and indeed
should be mandatory like with [https://f-droid.org](https://f-droid.org) and
[https://play.google.com](https://play.google.com).

I'd love to see more thinking about the detail view of the app. For example,
there should be a "buy/donate" button, since many apps on fdroid have a way to
accept donations. You can scrape that from the standard metadata or the
`index.xml`. I think it would be best to present it like
[https://elementary.io](https://elementary.io) does: force the user to click
"Buy" with a recommended value, but let them set any value including 0.

~~~
SnaKeZ
Thanks for the reply: i added HTTPS and donate/license info.

------
patcon
I am so unbelievably stoked about your efforts, SnaKeZ! Thanks so so so much!
Definitely keep conversation open with the f-droid devs!

------
spiritplumber
Nice, how do I add mine? I'd like to keep the sources available on my wiki
(mostly because that way I get a download count)

~~~
SnaKeZ
[https://f-droid.org/contribute/](https://f-droid.org/contribute/)

------
digi_owl
Something of a tangent, but i really wish it was possible to whitelist
specific apps to act as "stores". Right now if i want to use F-Droid or
similar i have to either leave my device open for others to also be able to
install, or constantly juggle the "unknown sources" option.

~~~
Spittie
You can! You just need to make the F-Droid app a System app, then it can
install applications without having to keep the "unknown sources" options on.

You can use this app to do it:
[https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=de.j4velin.syste...](https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=de.j4velin.systemappmover)

You can also disable the "install" script and have it install stuff without
any prompts like the play store, just go into the settings, scroll to the
bottom and enable "Expert" and "Install using system-permission".

~~~
eighthave
While we love more people testing the system/priv-app and root support in
FDroid, keep in mind it is very very beta and not ready for general use. We
did just have the core functionality professionally audited, and have fixed
the issues they found.

------
aceperry
This is a nice way to feature and popularize open source software. It would be
nice to have a way to integrate the repo with each individual app. May the
play store should have a section like this.

~~~
Lorento
Half the value in this is that it's not the Play store which is blocked in
China and practically inaccessible on a phone without the Play store app pre-
installed. And they won't let you install it yourself. You've really got to
fight to get access.

------
whacker
Nice Job. How do you accept new entries?

Do you have/plan to build an installer app like the f-droid project? That app
itself could use a modern design like you have done :-)

~~~
dublinben
You submit new apps to F-droid. This is just a front-end to their database.

------
minusSeven
From blackberry user perspective which of these apps need google services to
work. Would love to have apps that don't depend on google ecosystem.

------
kannan4k
Good to see a list of apps with source code!

