Who does not know Play Google. It is the official Google market for Android, whenever we want to download an app for our device we can do it directly from there, there are even sites that help us download Play Store free and then later we can use it, let's go, in the extreme case that it is not installed by default on our computer.
The problem is that not everyone has access to this Google service, for example those of us who live in Cuba and belong to that 1 or 2% of those who can sometimes have internet on their cell phones, we cannot download and install anything from Google, Well, it has us blocked.
This is where alternative repositories come in, not controlled by Google and that personally, some are a better option in certain cases, today I come to talk to you about F-Droid.
F-Droid: Free Software Market or Repository for your Android
Although it could be said that Android is freer than iOS (to cite an example), it is not entirely free, which means that you must blindly trust that the programmer of the app you are installing does not have bad intentions, as well as Google reviewed all the code of each of the apps and the same, there is nothing harmful.
With F-Droid If you wish, you can download the source code of the app and review it yourself, as it is available to everyone. It is a guarantee, if the code is available and anyone can review it, the programmer (that is, he releases the app and the code with a free license or similar) will not include malware, unless he thinks that everyone on the internet is idiots 😀
According to Wikipedia:
F-Droid is a software repository (or "app store") for Android applications, it works in a similar way to the Google Play store, but only contains free and open source software. The applications can be searched for and installed from the F-Droid website or directly from the application (which is not available in the Google Play store but can be installed by sideloading (transfer files from a computer to a mobile device). The F- application Droid will automatically update the applications downloaded from it, and the website also offers the source code of all downloadable applications.
F-Droid does not require its users to register and also includes hidden applications by default that control those activities that are opposite to the activity, such as advertising, user tracking or dependencies on proprietary software.
See, F-Droid is a market, a free application repositorySimply install the app from the official site to find its logo in our Android applications and then start installing Free Software on our Android device:
Once open we have several tabs:
Available: Software that is available to install, is divided into several categories or sections, for example software for Internet, Office, Administration, etc.
installed: Software that we have previously installed from the F-Droid repositories
Updates: Software that we can update to a higher version.
Although (and as is obvious) there is not even remotely as much software as officially in Google, there are alternatives under more friendly licenses (MIT, Apache, GPL, etc.) that can do the same or almost the same, for example, at home they really enjoy the game 2048, I did not install the official version of the game but a port that I found in the F-Droid repos.
One of the advantages is what I have mentioned before, the most user-friendly licenses for the end consumer, also the availability of the source code for free download and review, it is also worth mentioning that it is not necessary to create a user or anything similar, it can be downloaded the application and install software without having to create an account, put a password or anything similar, the people in charge of the project promise that they do not keep a history or log of the users who use their services, this in my view is something positive.
And ... I repeat the issue of licenses, for those of us who take into account the license of the software we use, it is important to know before downloading or installing that software, the license it has, the rights that I have or do not have, F-Droid it shows (as you could see in the third screenshot) the application license on the right side.
Other Services
On the F-Droid site we find not only the link to download the APK, we also find the link to the Wiki and towards him Forum.
In the forum there are also subforums, in which specific applications are discussed, bugs are reported, suggestions or ideas are given that developers may or may not take into account, etc. It is a community space for support mostly.
The end!
Well nothing, what F-Droid It is an EXCELLENT alternative for those of us who want to have a little more Free Software on our device, depend less on Google 😉
Yes, I personally like f-droid a lot, also apparently the directory hierarchy is quite similar to that of a linux repo, by the way, I think I'm going to install firefox on the f-droid ...
Greetings!
I have been using it for exactly a week and I am liking it ..
As Navigator I use Lighting Browser or Lucid browser.
IO File Manager and Cyan File Manager as File Managers ..
Calculator, Super SU, and Telegram (although the latter is not entirely reliable, it is better than Whatsapp)
And a few days use ADW as Launcher ..
I have flashed my Samsung Galaxy Mini with CM 7.2 in addition to putting the F-Droid in it (it has excellent XMBB / Jabber clients better than Google Play has).
I've been using it for a long time and I've found apps that weren't even in the Play Store.
Excellent.
Boss, I think you missed a key before the download button: I ea -> I mean
(This has been his daily dose of throlleo, for more keep tuning in)
One question, I suppose due to ignorance (and perhaps this is why I always mistrusted most of these things):
Is there a possibility (a high possibility) of installing by this means an app that presents some risk for the user / device? (I am very suspicious of Google Play too)
Greetings.
Of course yes..
But having the source code in view is much more secure than Google Play.
I at least can't read the source code, and I'm too lazy to do it if I learn it.
But even if he is a person in this world, he will do it, and he will realize that there is something strange if it is.
Also, it is supported by the FSF and that is a big plus .. 😀
Great! I'm going to download it to see what's up 🙂
Thank you!
I personally find the F-Droid pretty rare. For those of you who have blocked Google Play, you can go to APTOIDE [www.aptoide.com], it has nothing to envy Google Play and contains ALL the applications and some more that you cannot find on Google Play.
I use it and it works very well. From there I installed the classics, Firefox, K9 mail, KDE Connect, VLC… etc… Hopefully it will be filled with applications so we stop using gplay and its applications hungry for our personal data at once.
The other day I was freaking out and I wanted to install a game from gplay, I downloaded one from Sonic and when running it it asked me for root access all the time, how is this possible? A trash. I did not even see what it was about that I deleted it.
Fdroid is an excellent repository; all genulinux desktop applications and all firefox add-ons are missing on android too ...
What's the word for it?
The truth is that for a year now the store has improved a lot, it is the store of all linuxero that has an Android should have !!!
PS: Good post
too bad I don't have so much software
With homeland and Revolution but without internet, what a pity that here in Venezuela we are heading in that direction. I have been a follower of the blog for a year and it is a personal reference for me in terms of free software. What a pity that they are locked in Cuba. Greetings again.
If I am not misinformed, it seems to me that the Internet in Cuba is due to the fact that the blockade includes the restriction to any connection to the interoceanic fiber network, which by the way, passes near Cuba, but to which it does not they let you connect ... I mean, it's not that Cuba doesn't want to, it's that they don't let you access the internet unless it's a satellite service and read so ... so it's not that Venezuela is going that way as you say ... if any country wins the I don't think I am going astray, on the contrary, arousing the ire of resource thieves is something that indicates that something good is being done or not? .. Greetings!
Let's not get into a political debate here. I will only say the following: indialinux, that is half the truth... find another place to debate and if you want we will address the topic, but not in DesdeLinux 😉
sourceforge, for example, does not allow any Cuban IP to download anything ... is it Cuba's fault not to do what the US dictates? ... careful! .. I'm not taking sides for or against Cuba (not at the moment), but I don't think It is correct that only countries that do what the US dictates are allowed to make use of technology that should be free in theory… ..this is political blackmail…
indiolinux, I repeat, it is neither the objective nor the subject of this blog to debate whether or not the policy from the USA to Cuba and vice versa is unfair. Please, let's talk about GNU / Linux, not politics in this space. Is it too much to ask?
True Elav's point, no political issue here, only free software, and by the way here in Venezuela we have satellite and I have to save the internet because I have 4gb per month! And all by chance since the revolution came. Elav, if you have a place to comment on this apart, it would be good if you told us. Thank you.
Good morning, I have a question and I want to see if you can help me solve it, are the free applications on Google Play Free Software?
I have problems when I download applications or games and it tells me how much we can try with other software