this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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Privacy

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New Advertisement and Internet connection permissions for Simple SMS Messenger on Google Play Store... (lemmy.ml)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by reactive_recall@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 157 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

Guys.

Dont install FOSS apps from the Playstore. Use F-Droid (F-Droid Basic if you are on an updated OS)

Thanks.

[–] sab@kbin.social 74 points 10 months ago (3 children)

A personal recommendation is to use Droidify, it's just a great F-droid front-end.

You can download the APK here: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.looker.droidify/

[–] itsmect@monero.town 15 points 10 months ago

Droidify is the best! Best performance and UI of all compatible clients, and even handles 3rd repos that wont load on others.

[–] malle_yeno@pawb.social 7 points 10 months ago

Hey thanks for this! I used f droid for a while but was always meh on the UI and how clunky it is. I used this for a bit and I already like it waaaay more. Cheers!

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

When I last used it it was somehow unstable. Maybe that has changed.

[–] sab@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have used it for maybe a year and I never had any problems. Then again, I'm hardly a power user, so it makes sense that other people might have different experiences. :)

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I really like that they add more repos you just need to enable. Number 1 reason to use it, as F-Droid will never add those for obvious reasons.

Some that I cant live without

  • Izzyondroid
  • Guardian Project
  • Collabora office
  • signal foss twinhelix
  • molly
  • futo
  • simplex chat
  • Cryptomator
  • Mobilsicher (proprietary German apps that are core infrastructure. They ask those developers if they can get the APKs)
  • (Bitwarden) (dont use it)
  • Julians Repo: nice to get GrapheneOS app updates, but you should install their appstore instead.
[–] DivisionResult@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ijusto use Obtanium.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Tried it, it was at least back then not scaleable. Not every Dev publishes precompiled APKs, that is actually not something regular because F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid exist.

So in the end I had 8 or more of my favourite Apps still F-Droid only, and when adding all those sources some barely worked and in the end Obtainium didnt load anymore.

Does it autoremove APK files? Otherwise its just a fancy Feed Reader, I use Feeder for the few Apps that are Git* releases only

[–] DivisionResult@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes it autoremoves the apks.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 1 points 10 months ago

Thats pretty good then

[–] NuclearDolphin@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago

My experience too, but I switched back and it's far better now.

[–] Jeknilah@monero.town 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah. I usually go to the Playstore to buy out all the In-App purchases and support development, but this is really discouraging.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

True. But F-Droid has Donation links everywhere. I prefer that over buying, idk why.

~~Oh, found out at least F-Droid Basic doesnt display the links! Thats not nice~~ it has

[–] Salix@sh.itjust.works 8 points 10 months ago

Less fees taken if you donate instead of buying most likely.

Droidify shows the donation links fine, which is nice!

[–] LWD@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

deleted

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

F-Droid basic uses modern Android Libraries and modern Apps can be updated without interaction.

Thats because Android has a Package manager that uses APKSigner signatures to verify the app. That is Private/Public Key authentication, so its pretty sure the App comes from the developers.

Only if the Signature matches the App gets an Update. So there is no danger in using automatic updates.

Making F-Droid Basic "battery unrestricted" will help.

[–] LWD@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

deleted

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 2 points 10 months ago

Yes I hate the name. It makes no sense. I will do another post on multiple Platforms to advertise it.

Yes the unattended upgrades only work on a modern store and modern apps. The original client is extremely outdated.

[–] joe_cool@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago

Droidify can do both: Session Installer and Shizuku: https://github.com/Droid-ify/client

[–] cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

You're welcome.

[–] tom42@beehaw.org 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I agree that F-Droid is great!

What I usually do is to buy the pro version on Google Play and install it later on F-Droid.

On the other hand I don't see anything wrong for non tech people to install FOSS apps from the Play Store. The apps are still FOSS

[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not exactly. When building for play store release - google injects their tracking into the binary.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 2 points 10 months ago

I think this is a myth. Android Studio or something allows to build it in, but Google doesnt automatically do that. Afaik