F-Droid

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We realized, after perhaps a little too long, that we often and willingly quote from F-Droid assuming everyone knows what we're talking about. We have already written a little about it in our article dedicated to alternatives to Google Play Store. Let's try to delve a little deeper into this.

Let's start from the base: one store for Android it's a place where you can download applications. The official one, pre-installed on all Androids And used by anyone, is called Google Play Store. However, it is not the only way to install applications and, above all, within that store Google decides who can stay inside and who can't.

F-Droid it is a safe store

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F-Droid it is an alternative store, means it does the same things as Google Play Store but it has its own rules, very different from those of Google. Let's start by saying that it is a safe store. As far as we know, no dangerous applications have ever been released from this store. Each application is sifted and put under the magnifying glass before it can be published. Despite this, however, the golden rule is always the same: do not install random potentially dangerous things. Read the required authorizations and maybe even take a look at the page source code to see if and how much the app you want to install is used.

In order to be published on F-Droid the application absolutely must be Open source And totally free. For each app you will have the links of the source code and a whole list of required permissions. Furthermore F-Droid will notify you when some are used characteristics that are not entirely ethical such as using libraries not completely Open source. They are called “AntiFeatures” and their use is left to your conscience.

The convenient thing about F-Droid it's his simplicity of use and the fact that the applications can be updated automatically just as you are used to. The only difference is that inside this store you will find ethical applications, without advertising And without fancy permissions.

In some cases, as for Bitwarden for example, it is necessary download applications from Repositories different. Don't worry, it's a very simple operation. You just have to go to the settings F-Droid And add the Repositories which will be given to you by the application. To give you an example, you can find all the information on Bitwarden here.

More apps to use F-Droid

If this operation may seem a little complicated, or in any case not suitable for you, there are alternatives Open source also at the store F-Droid. The applications present above these stores will be the exact same as F-Droid but more often than not they have more modern and less cumbersome graphics and above all allow you to add Repositories most famous “with one click”.

• Neo Store, it is probably one of the best alternatives to the F-Droid. Beautiful graphics, very easy to use and has some presets Repositories more important and interesting as that of NewPipe, Of FFUpdater And Bitwarden.

• Aurora Droid, from the same developers as Aurora Store
• Droid-ify, also very nice to look at and with the possibility of adding Repositories extra safe already preset. Be careful because it will also automatically enable you Repositories Of IzzyOnDroid: if you don't want it you have to deactivate it manually.

• G-Droid, modern graphics and the ability to comment on applications (which is impossible on F-Droid)

F-Droid And Open source

Needless to remind you that F-Droid it's a project Open source, volunteer and non-profit. If you use it often our advice is always to donate something if you can. Even symbolic figures are really enough.

To install F-Droid it's very simple. Just go on their site from your mobile phone and press 'Download F-Droid“. A file called .apk will be downloaded. Don't be scared, it is the extension that all Android applications have. Run it, possibly accepting the various security issues that will be shown to you. Basically, in fact, Android discourages the installation of customized packages, forcing you to only use official stores such as Google Play.

That's it, now you can use it F-Droid.

Add Repositories

As explained a little above F-Droid you can add gods Repositories, or "repositories" of sites other than F-Droid. Be careful with this operation because adding a new Repositories you will see directly above F-Droid the applications of Repositories added. So add only those you trust, for example those from official applications like Bitwarden or NewPipe.

One of the most famous and used is that of IzzyOnDroid. It's an app Repositories very famous and quite safe. The main difference with F-Droid is that it not only contains free applications but also applications Open source which use proprietary third parties such as Google Play Services. If this doesn't bother you, feel free to add it as Repositories because it contains many interesting applications.

If these operations seem complicated to you, we suggest using an alternative application to the official store as suggested above.

How to add IzzyOnDroid on F-Droid?

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