F-Droid 2.0 - The Biggest Update In Years — Transcript

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1. 0:00F-Droid just got its biggest update in
2. 0:01about a decade, and the timing couldn't
3. 0:03be better because Google is in the
4. 0:04middle of changing the one thing that
5. 0:06made Android better than iOS, the
6. 0:08ability to install whatever software you
7. 0:11want. F-Droid 2.0 completely rebuilds
8. 0:13the app's interface, makes finding
9. 0:15software easier, improves updates, and
10. 0:18adds more warnings when something
11. 0:20sketchy happens with an app. So, this
12. 0:22update is a lot more than just a UI
13. 0:24overall. If you've never used F-Droid
14. 0:27before, the easiest way to describe it
15. 0:29is as an alternative open-source app
16. 0:31store for Android. But, there's a bit
17. 0:33more going on under the hood. F-Droid is
18. 0:36also a repository system and a
19. 0:38collection of tools for distributing
20. 0:39Android software that is much kinder to
21. 0:42developers than Google is. If you want
22. 0:44to distribute software on the default
23. 0:46Android Play Store, you have to go
24. 0:48through a registration process with
25. 0:50Google, which includes paying a fee to
26. 0:53Google, agreeing to Google's terms and
27. 0:55conditions, sending Google your
28. 0:56government-issued identification,
29. 0:58providing evidence of your private
30. 1:00signing key, and listing all current and
31. 1:03future application identifiers. And if
32. 1:05your application has in-app purchases,
33. 1:08Google is going to take a 30% cut of all
34. 1:11of your profits. But, F-Droid lets
35. 1:14software be distributed in a way that
36. 1:16it's meant to be. And despite the lack
37. 1:17of gatekeeping that F-Droid has compared
38. 1:20to the Google Play Store, there's far
39. 1:22less malware being distributed there.
40. 1:24The official F-Droid repository focuses
41. 1:27on free and open-source apps, but the
42. 1:29client can connect to other F-Droid
43. 1:31repositories, too. You don't need a
44. 1:33Google account, and since the software
45. 1:35is open-source, you can inspect what the
46. 1:37client itself is doing instead of
47. 1:39trusting a mystery APK that some guy
48. 1:42uploaded to a random website. And there
49. 1:44are some really useful programs in these
50. 1:46repositories that you can't even find in
51. 1:49the normal Google Play Store. NewPipe is
52. 1:52probably the best known example because
53. 1:54it gives you a lightweight alternative
54. 1:56front end for YouTube and SoundCloud and
55. 1:59a couple other sites that usually have a
56. 2:02lot of ads that you have to watch or
57. 2:04require you to log in in order to view
58. 2:06content on them. There's also the Aurora
59. 2:09Store, which gets kind of meta because
60. 2:11it's an open-source alternative client
61. 2:14for Google Play itself. So, you can use
62. 2:17an alternative app store to install an
63. 2:19alternative interface for the official
64. 2:21Google Play Store, which then lets you
65. 2:24install apps without ever having to sign
66. 2:26in to a Google account. Termux is
67. 2:29another good example of why these
68. 2:31alternative sources matter. So, Termux
69. 2:33is basically a terminal that lets you do
70. 2:36cool developer power user things on an
71. 2:39Android device. And there is technically
72. 2:42a Termux build on Google Play, but the
73. 2:45Termux developers still recommend that
74. 2:47most people use the F-Droid or GitHub
75. 2:49versions because the Play Store build
76. 2:51comes from a separate code base and has
77. 2:53changes and missing functionality
78. 2:55because of Google Store policies. So, if
79. 2:58you want to turn your Android phone into
80. 3:00a little Linux terminal and SSH into
81. 3:03random servers and edit files with your
82. 3:05favorite Neovim configuration while
83. 3:07you're sitting on the toilet, then that
84. 3:09Termux version is the one that you're
85. 3:11going to want to use. The main reason
86. 3:13for the 2.0 upgrade in F-Droid was that
87. 3:16even though the F-Droid ecosystem had
88. 3:19some really good software, the official
89. 3:21F-Droid client itself was starting to
90. 3:23feel old. A lot of people who use
91. 3:26F-Droid repositories don't even use the
92. 3:28F-Droid app to browse them anymore. They
93. 3:30use third-party clients like Droid-ify
94. 3:33or Neo Store because those apps had
95. 3:35cleaner interfaces, better filtering,
96. 3:38and some extra power user features.
97. 3:40F-Droid 2.0 is basically the official
98. 3:42client catching up with the ecosystem
99. 3:45that has been built around it. The
100. 3:47interface looks really nice in my
101. 3:48opinion. It was rebuilt from scratch
102. 3:50with Kotlin Compose, which is Google's
103. 3:53modern UI toolkit for Android.
104. 3:55Unfortunately, the beta that's out right
105. 3:57now doesn't have a proper UI for
106. 4:00tablets. It has this big version 2.0
107. 4:03message that's taking up most of the
108. 4:05screen, and I couldn't find any settings
109. 4:07to change it. But on phones, the UI
110. 4:10looks normal and a lot more modern than
111. 4:13the old F-Droid UI. The layout feels
112. 4:16much closer to a current Android
113. 4:19application, and the whole thing is much
114. 4:21less likely to make someone who installs
115. 4:23it for the first time think that they
116. 4:25accidentally downloaded an app store
117. 4:27from 2014.
118. 4:29The search feature also got a very
119. 4:32much-needed upgrade. So, older versions
120. 4:34of F-Droid relied a lot more on you
121. 4:37knowing what the app you wanted was
122. 4:39actually called. Version 2 searches
123. 4:42through the descriptions and
124. 4:44translations and the discovery pages so
125. 4:47that it can highlight popular downloads.
126. 4:49And there's also better filters,
127. 4:51including filters for F-Droid's
128. 4:53anti-features. So, if you search for
129. 4:55something broad like a password manager
130. 4:57or video games, you have a better chance
131. 5:00of finding the program that you actually
132. 5:02need instead of needing to know the
133. 5:04exact package name like you're using
134. 5:06Pac-Man on Arch. Installing and updating
135. 5:09apps is also less painful. F-Droid can
136. 5:11now download and update multiple
137. 5:12applications at the same time. During
138. 5:15the 2.0 development cycle, F-Droid added
139. 5:17the anti-feature filtering. So, if you
140. 5:19wanted to avoid tracking or non-free
141. 5:22code, for example, you can hide apps
142. 5:24that have that whenever you're doing a
143. 5:26search for stuff. There's better
144. 5:28repository handling, there's better app
145. 5:30install information, signer details, and
146. 5:33migration of settings from the old
147. 5:35client, including proxy and Tor
148. 5:37settings. But like I said earlier,
149. 5:39F-Droid is not your only option for an
150. 5:41alternative to Google Play. Droidify and
151. 5:44Neo Store, well, they aren't really
152. 5:46separate app repositories that are
153. 5:48competing against F-Droid in the same
154. 5:49way that Epic Games Store competes
155. 5:51against Steam. They're alternative
156. 5:53clients that both browse F-Droid
157. 5:55compatible repositories. Droidify gives
158. 5:57you automatic background updates and
159. 5:59custom repositories. Neo Store goes even
160. 6:02heavier on repository management with
161. 6:03extensive filters, reproducible build
162. 6:06indicators, privacy information, and
163. 6:08around 100 built-in repositories. So, if
164. 6:11you already started using one of those
165. 6:13apps because you didn't like the old
166. 6:15F-Droid, you can continue using them and
167. 6:17still benefit from the F-Droid ecosystem
168. 6:19underneath.
169. 6:21Then, there's Obtainium, which is a
170. 6:23little different because it skips the
171. 6:25traditional repository model almost
172. 6:27entirely. You can point Obtainium
173. 6:30directly at a GitLab, GitHub, or
174. 6:32Codeberg project and have it watch the
175. 6:34release page for new APKs. It also
176. 6:37supports F-Droid repos, direct APK
177. 6:39links, and a ridiculous number of other
178. 6:42sources. That means that instead of
179. 6:44waiting for an F-Droid build to appear
180. 6:46the developer releases a new version,
181. 6:48you can sometimes download the
182. 6:49developer's release directly. The
183. 6:51trade-off is that you're moving more of
184. 6:53the trust decision into your own hands,
185. 6:56and some Obtainium sources rely on web
186. 6:59scraping that can break when websites
187. 7:01change. It's basically an Android
188. 7:03package manager for people who want
189. 7:05bleeding edge software. And having all
190. 7:08of these ways to install software is
191. 7:09part of what has historically made
192. 7:11Android so interesting. But like I
193. 7:13mentioned earlier, Google is adding new
194. 7:15restrictions called Android developer
195. 7:17verification, which require developers
196. 7:20to pay a fee and jump through multiple
197. 7:22hoops before they can publish software
198. 7:25on the Google Play Store. Google's
199. 7:27stated reason for doing this is to fight
200. 7:29malware because of course every other
201. 7:31week there's some package on the Google
202. 7:34Play Store that's been downloaded
203. 7:35hundreds of thousands of times and turns
204. 7:37out to be a Trojan. And in addition to
205. 7:40restricting developer access to the Play
206. 7:42Store, Google is going to make it much
207. 7:44harder for us users to side-load
208. 7:47applications onto their own phones. Now,
209. 7:50they aren't completely blocking people's
210. 7:51abilities to install alternative stores
211. 7:54or install APKs that are downloaded from
212. 7:56the web, but to do it, you're going to
213. 7:59have to put your phone into developer
214. 8:00mode, click through several screens that
215. 8:03are warning you about the danger of
216. 8:04third-party apps, restart the phone, and
217. 8:07then wait 24 hours for the block to be
218. 8:10lifted, which is the biggest limiting
219. 8:12factor. Anytime you get a new phone or
220. 8:14tablet, you're going to have to wait
221. 8:16until the next day to install all of the
222. 8:18applications that you want. And as
223. 8:20pointed out here on keepandroidopen.org,
224. 8:23this lockdown runs through Google Play
225. 8:26services, so Google can change the flow
226. 8:28whenever they want. They can make you
227. 8:29wait a week to unlock it or block
228. 8:31side-loading completely if they really
229. 8:33wanted to, which seems to be the real
230. 8:35goal here. Google wants to be like Apple
231. 8:37so bad, and soon the difference between
232. 8:40the two is going to be razor thin. You
233. 8:42can still install apps on Android via
234. 8:44ADB without going through all the steps
235. 8:46I mentioned earlier, besides enabling
236. 8:48developer mode, of course. And so, the
237. 8:51easiest way to install apps to Android
238. 8:53in the first 24 hours of getting your
239. 8:55device is going to be to connect the
240. 8:57phone to a computer and then load the
241. 8:59apps on with ADB, which ironically is
242. 9:02about the same way that you have to
243. 9:04side-load apps onto an iOS device. And
244. 9:07of course, when you add the complexity
245. 9:08of another device, a terminal, and a USB
246. 9:11cable, the process becomes too
247. 9:12cumbersome for most users to go through,
248. 9:15even if they're curious about an app
249. 9:17that can't be downloaded from the
250. 9:19official Play Store. But even though
251. 9:21Google is creating more roadblocks to
252. 9:23having an open Android device, the
253. 9:25F-Droid 2.0 update is helping to close
254. 9:27that gap that's existed for years. The
255. 9:30weak point was never lack of apps on
256. 9:32F-Droid, but rather the user experience
257. 9:35when it compared to the Play Store.
258. 9:37F-Droid 2.0 is bringing better search,
259. 9:40faster updates, better discovery, and
260. 9:42clearer security information right as
261. 9:45alternative app distribution is becoming
262. 9:47a much bigger fight. So, if you've never
263. 9:49used F-Droid or avoided it because of
264. 9:52its outdated interface, check out the
265. 9:542.0 beta. If you're using a tablet or
266. 9:57wider screen Android, you probably want
267. 9:59to wait for the finished version that
268. 10:01hopefully has a better UI for those
269. 10:03screens. If you enjoyed this video,
270. 10:05please like and share to tag the
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276. 10:16great rest of your day.