
F-Droid 1.0 released - app4soft
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid/
======
nathell
F-Droid is my go-to place for no-nonsense Android apps. By no-nonsense, I mean
"typically lightweight and not forcing me to create an account merely to use
the core functionality." They may not be very pretty or polished, but they
tend to do their job well.

Obviously that's not true 100% of the time. But surprisingly often.

~~~
slezyr
"Yalp Store" allows you to install apps from google store without google
account.

~~~
forapurpose
I know of many such stores. Usually they are proxies: They download the app
from the Google store, you download it from the proxy. The question is, how do
you know they haven't inserted malware? It seems like a very obvious vector
for attack. You could authenticate signatures or hashes, but where do you find
the authoritative signature/hash?

For those interested in taking a shot at using these services, here are a
couple of the more credible ones I've run into in the last couple years (I
haven't used them in at least 6 months, so possibly their status has changed).
Use at your own risk!:

\- APK Downloader: By someone on XDA-forums, a leading Android dev community.
It comes in several versions and forks by other XDA members, and for several
platforms. I don't have time to sort them out now, sorry. Beware of malware-
infected hosted implementations.

[http://codekiem.com/2014/08/07/official-apk-
downloader-v2-do...](http://codekiem.com/2014/08/07/official-apk-
downloader-v2-download-apk-files-from-google-play-store-to-pc) /
[http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1515021](http://forum.xda-
developers.com/showthread.php?t=1515021)

[http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1809458](http://forum.xda-
developers.com/showthread.php?t=1809458)

[https://github.com/Lekensteyn/apk-
downloader](https://github.com/Lekensteyn/apk-downloader)

\- Racoon: Desktop OS client for Play Store (along with its Github and XDA
links)

[http://raccoon.onyxbits.de](http://raccoon.onyxbits.de) /
[https://github.com/onyxbits/Raccoon](https://github.com/onyxbits/Raccoon) /
[https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2772436](https://forum.xda-
developers.com/showthread.php?t=2772436)

~~~
LukeShu
Yalp is a FOSS Android app available from F-droid. The Yalp app on your phone
talks directly to the Google Play servers.

~~~
forapurpose
Thanks. That helps!

For those who want to know more; here's what I found:

[https://github.com/yeriomin/YalpStore](https://github.com/yeriomin/YalpStore)
\- The readme is a great place to start.

On F-Droid:
[https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.yeriomin.yalpstore/](https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.yeriomin.yalpstore/)

EDIT: It looks great!

------
sundarurfriend
Izzydroid repo has been a good addition to my F-Droid, a lot of very useful
apps: [https://android.izzysoft.de/repo](https://android.izzysoft.de/repo)

Some great apps I've been using through F-Droid:

* Battery Charge Limit (Stops charging at a desired level) - [https://f-droid.org/app/com.slash.batterychargelimit](https://f-droid.org/app/com.slash.batterychargelimit)

* Mi Manga Nu (Manga reader) - [https://f-droid.org/app/ar.rulosoft.mimanganu](https://f-droid.org/app/ar.rulosoft.mimanganu) [ Stable, usable, without annoying ads - consistently better than manga readers from play store I've tried. ]

* NewPipe (Lightweight YouTube frontend) - [https://f-droid.org/app/org.schabi.newpipe](https://f-droid.org/app/org.schabi.newpipe)

* SeriesGuide (keep track of your favorite TV shows and movies) - [https://f-droid.org/app/com.battlelancer.seriesguide](https://f-droid.org/app/com.battlelancer.seriesguide)

* Slide (Companion app for reddit) - [https://f-droid.org/app/me.ccrama.redditslide](https://f-droid.org/app/me.ccrama.redditslide)

* Termux (Terminal emulator with packages) - [https://f-droid.org/app/com.termux](https://f-droid.org/app/com.termux) [sounds cool, haven't had a chance to use this yet. ]

* XDA Labs (XDA Labs: Forums & App Store) - [https://f-droid.org/app/com.xda.labs](https://f-droid.org/app/com.xda.labs)

~~~
jaipilot747
Thanks for the link to Newpipe! Been looking for something like this ever
since YouTube disabled playing videos in background tabs.

~~~
icebraining
There's also the YouTube Downloader for Android, which is not perfect but has
served me well:
[https://dentex.github.io/apps/youtubedownloader/](https://dentex.github.io/apps/youtubedownloader/)

~~~
vanderZwan
Just so you know, NewPipe lets you download videos too (although a dedicated
app might have a better interface for it)

------
girzel
Damn, I didn't realize I hadn't been updating the Android client. Just did it.

The only sad thing is that the previous no-updates message has been replaced.
It used to read "Congratulations! Your apps are up to date (or your
repositories are out of date)."

This always tickled me as a perfect evocation of the open-source software
spirit: cheerful, optimistic, mildly pedantic, and technically correct.

The new message omits the parenthetical. More user friendly, but missing a bit
of FOSS personality.

~~~
digi_owl
It is sadly the way that FOSS ends up because of pressures to be more
"commercial".

Frankly i dislike the new version, as i much prefer the list layout of the
old. Never mind that now i have to dig into the settings to see what apps i
have installed that match what is in f-droid repos (and thus can update via
f-droid rather than Play).

~~~
eighthave
One of the great things about F-Droid is that it is all free software, so
anyone is free to make their own F-Droid client. If you like the old UI,
please fork it and maintain it. It shouldn't be much work since the XML app
index format is maintained for backwards compatibility.

For more info, see
[https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidclient/issues/48](https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidclient/issues/48)

------
andrepd
I dislike the redesign, some parts at least. The bottom navbar particularly
irks me. It's a navbar a la iOS, completely nonstandard for Android, where the
sliding sidebar is preferred to navigate between sections of the app.

The previous app had perfect compliance with the standard interface
guidelines, no unexpected custom elements. This version has them by the
truckload. It was much cleaner before, so this feels like a regression (even
though I like some parts, such as the "Latest" screen. EDIT: The "Categories"
screen is very pleasing and navigable too, were it not for the floating Search
button senselessly blocking parts of the screen. I've always hated that
trainwreck of an element. Particularly needless in this case: search belongs
on a searchbar on the top (most usability and least surprise).

~~~
pserwylo
We are aware that it is not to everyone's liking, but we've done our best to
modernise and appeal to a wider audience, all the while conducting UX tests
and responding to feedback.

One thing we'd really love is for there to be an "F-Droid Light" which forks
the previous stable release, strips it down, and offers the essentially app
store experience with no bells and whistles on the widest range of devices
[0]. Alas we are a small volunteer team and this would add a maintinence
burden we can't seem to muster at this point.

[0] -
[https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidclient/issues/48](https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidclient/issues/48)

~~~
hiq
Is anything bad going to happen if we stick to a previous version, assuming
that there is no security vulnerability in those? I plan to do that, because
of the new design. If there's no changes in protocol it should be OK I guess.

~~~
pserwylo
We added a new metadata format for this release to deal with translatable
metadata, feature graphics, screenshots, etc. The server tools output the old
and new metadata to the repository webroot though, so the old version will
still be supported for some time. I'm not aware of any plans to completely
deprecate and remove it.

------
m-p-3
Screenshot: [https://i.imgur.com/owtKmNn.png](https://i.imgur.com/owtKmNn.png)

~~~
xelxebar
Way off topic, but I don't open imgur links anymore because they trash my data
limits.

I just want to open a dumb png/jpeg/whatever url, not megabytes of JS with a
purpose I'm unable to divine.

</whine>

------
forapurpose
Last I knew, F-Droid was a linchpin in the FOSS smartphone world. Without it,
I'm not sure where people could reliably find FOSS apps (without taking big
risks with malware).

If FOSS is important to you, and you don't want to see a (or the) major
platform abandoned to proprietary systems, consider supporting F-Droid.

Thank you F-Droid! You guys make a difference.

------
javitury
I hadn't realized until now that you can have F-Droid auto-update your
apps(using the Privileged Extension) even on Android 5+. First you have to
install this:
[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged.ot...](https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged.ota/)

It will download a zip file to /data/data/org.fdroid.fdroid/ota/ that you have
to flash. After having flashed that file you can use the regular privileged
extension to update the system app:
[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged/](https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged/)

------
slezyr
The biggest change:

> Screenshots and feature graphics

Finally.

~~~
SnaKeZ
Finally! The lack of screenshots spurred me to build
[https://fossdroid.com](https://fossdroid.com) and opensource it (MIT
license).

The F-Droid team is great!

------
vog
F-Droid is a great project. I wonder why it is not installed on LineageOS by
default.

------
hawski
With Android Oreo's install-unknown-apps permission does F-Droid do updates
without prompting for each package?

Meta bikeshed: Please stop guessing my locale.

~~~
app4soft
Maybe, if you also install "F-Droid Privileged Extension"[1] it will give you
what you want?

[1]
[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged/](https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged/)

~~~
kasbah
Yes, I believe so. I use that to get auto-updates of f-droid apps

------
Skunkleton
So there is a huge side benefit to installing F-Droid, even if you never
install any apps from it. It registers as an "app store", so when a link
launches the app store your phone asks you which one you would like to launch
and you can cancel it.

Edit: holy commas batman.

~~~
mwilliaams
I think you can disable the auto-open in app settings. I have that setting.
I'm on Oreo

~~~
Skunkleton
Yeah, I think that might be new. Thanks!

------
rahimnathwani
The blue 'Download F-Droid' button on that page links to
[https://f-droid.org/FDroid.apk](https://f-droid.org/FDroid.apk) which, at the
time of writing, gives an older version.

The 'Download APK' link below it links to
[https://f-droid.org/repo/org.fdroid.fdroid_1000010.apk](https://f-droid.org/repo/org.fdroid.fdroid_1000010.apk)
which is version 1.0

EDIT: md5 sums below:

4b0cdb5a40fe3f964aebeca276291b80 org.fdroid.fdroid_1000010.apk

943f2edf663737a56f15f55739bcf148 FDroid.apk

~~~
eighthave
We're doing staged rollouts, so first alpha testers, next current users, last
new users.

~~~
mcny
I tried to pull down from within fdroid and didn't see any update. So I
downloaded the apk and it says

The package appears to be corrupted.

Edit: followed
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15514309](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15514309)
and i t updated

------
Animats
OK, I had F-Droid 0.97 installed. I asked it to update itself. Now it says I
have version 0.102.3 installed. Do you have to advance one version at a time,
or what?

(Android 4.1.2, kernel 3.4.0).

~~~
icebraining
I was on the 0.103.2 and I had to manually tap on the 1.0 version to update.

~~~
Animats
I did that, using F-Droid to install/update F-Droid, and it installed, but
F-Droid "About" still says 0.103.2. Something in the build or repository is
inconsistent.

~~~
Animats
Discussion on F-Droid forum: [1] F-Droid repository apparently lacked correct
F-Droid for a few days. Fixed now. Successfully updated to 1.0.

[1] [https://forum.f-droid.org/t/why-isnt-f-droid-on-f-
droid/1385...](https://forum.f-droid.org/t/why-isnt-f-droid-on-f-droid/1385/6)

------
SnaKeZ
Some F-Droid apps stats:

[https://fossdroid.com/blog/foss-applications-
statistics.html](https://fossdroid.com/blog/foss-applications-statistics.html)

Best F-Droid apps (some):

[https://fossdroid.com/blog/best-f-
droid.html](https://fossdroid.com/blog/best-f-droid.html)

------
mkesper
Google Cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid/&gws_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=XwPpWf74IseVaNCBobAI)

~~~
yohui
The Google cache link didn't work. F-droid.org loads fine for me, but if it's
not working for others here's an archive.org snapshot:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20171019193128/https://f-droid.o...](https://web.archive.org/web/20171019193128/https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid/)

------
Mortiffer
Nice, I was afraid they were going to slow down after this
[https://forum.f-droid.org/t/so-long-farewell-and-
goodbye/600](https://forum.f-droid.org/t/so-long-farewell-and-goodbye/600)

------
dotancohen
F-Droid sure has advanced, but I'm not sure that I like in which direction.
This new version requires some rather invasive permissions that do not seem to
be necessary, such as NFC, Bluetooth, the ability to change wifi state, etc.

~~~
clort
F-Droid has been able to share apps over NFC, Bluetooth or wifi for some time.
I don't know why they would need to _change_ wifi state though, it does seem
that if the user has disabled it then it should be disabled.

------
rvense
I use F-Droid for all my appsing. It's pretty good (though the apps aren't
always).

------
beingmyself2
Just updated, looks great! Big thanks to F-Droid team, without you I might
have broken down and settled for the Google botnet.

------
SnaKeZ
Great app and great team! Congrats!

------
KGIII
Wait...

It is ver. 1.0? Does this mean it has been beta for this whole time?

I am obviously not an Android user. Sorry if this is a dumb question. For
whatever reason, the text (mobile Safari, outdated a little) all appears in
just one vertical row of letters.

~~~
pserwylo
As a project, we are not very precious with version numbers. There have been
many stable releases before this, but we named it 1.0 because of the shear
amount of new features and improvements that went into it (Completely new UX,
better management of updates, screenshots, feature graphics, and perhaps most
importantly is internationalised metadata (descriptions, summaries, app names,
screenshots).

~~~
sundarurfriend
> internationalised metadata

I hope this includes the version-release dates in the app pages. As a non
American, they were always a sticking point, an unintuitively presented piece
of information in an otherwise smooth UI flow.

~~~
sundarurfriend
Darn it, that doesn't seem to have changed, unfortunately.

In fact, I can't detect any easily visible change from 0.104 version - I guess
it's mostly bugfixes and more subtle changes.

