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G-Droid

An alternative client app to browse the F-Droid repository
# What is this app

G-Droid can browse the libre F-Droid app-repository. It is an alternative to the official client.

# Additional features compared to F-Droid

* Shows reviews and comments for apps
* Star ratings of apps (up to 5 stars) - machine generated metrics
* Shows the star upstream star ratings (GitHub, GitLab, SourceForge)
* More metrics, based on libre data (like average release cycle time) to generate star-ratings
* Users choose which metrics are important to them, so there is no 'best app' in the repo - there is only a 'best app' from the point of view of the current user
* Shows 'similar apps' and 'apps of the same category' when watching an app
* Shows 'apps of the same author' when watching an app
* Shows a list of all authors, with their apps and average star rating
* Shows website of the app - even if it is 'only a README file on GitHub'
* Shows newest apps and recently updated apps separated
* Shows cards in same size for better overview
* Provides a list-view as alternative for the cards (as in older F-Droid versions) for people who don't like cards
* More possibilities to order and sort apps
* Ability to 'star' apps to mark them
* Ability to hide apps to remove them from all views
* Shows categories in correct translation (if available), after changing device language
* Shows screenshots in correct translation
* Makes use of larger screens: More apps shown on tablets
* Tags to find apps for standard-tasks easily (e-mail clients, file browsers, text editors), since the F-Droid categories are too broad
* View for 'random apps' to discover apps you usually wouldn't find
* Shows apps the user might like (without stealing user data for analysis)
* Aims to provide many different views to the app repository in order to assist the user in finding suitable apps, and encourage use of more apps from the repository
* 'Share' apps so it can still be opened with another store (F-Droid, Yalp, Aurora, …), to get more info about the app.
* Different search algorithm, can 'search harder' to continue a search if the results are insufficient
* Shows the logos of apps all the time (if network connection is okay)
* Shows more screenshots
* Shows screenshots, completely, up-to-date and in the correct language
* Shows screenshots, also when they are not in the fastlane structure
* New and modern easily maintained codebase
* Actively maintained
* Many more to come

# Things G-Droid can NOT do (yet) compared to F-Droid

* Show or install an older version of an app
* Create a local repo, share apps with people 'nearby' or share apps via Bluetooth
* Add other repositories than the F-Droid repo
* Use the privileged extension (done, but extension is not adjusted yet), G-Droid can however use root permissions on rooted devices to provide unattended installs
* Automatic updates
* HTTP proxy settings
* G-Droid helps you in different ways to find better apps, but in some cases you might still need the 'share' button, to open that app in F-Droid to install it. G-Droid right now is not yet a complete replacement for the F-Droid app.

# Shared aspects of G-Droid and F-Droid

* Shows the same apps - G-Droid does not add any apps or modify the builds, signatures or download URLs
* All additional metadata is provided by F-Droid as well (e.g. the link to GitHub)
* GPLv3+ license

# Explanation of permissions

* INTERNET: To download the app-metadata and the apps
* WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE: To store the downloaded apps temporarily (permission only enforced on older Android versions)

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Versions

Although APK downloads are available below to give you the choice, you should be aware that by installing that way you will not receive update notifications and it's a less secure way to download. We recommend that you install the F-Droid client and use that.

Download F-Droid
  • Version 0.10.4 (10004) suggested Added on Sep 23, 2022

    This version requires Android 4.0 or newer.

    It is built and signed by F-Droid, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.

    Permissions
    • view network connections
      Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.
    • view Wi-Fi connections
      Allows the app to view information about Wi-Fi networking, such as whether Wi-Fi is enabled and name of connected Wi-Fi devices.
    • have full network access
      Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.
    • read the contents of your shared storage
      Allows the app to read the contents of your shared storage.
      (6.0)
    • request install packages
      Allows an application to request installation of packages.
    • modify or delete the contents of your shared storage
      Allows the app to write the contents of your shared storage.
      (6.0)

    Download APK 3.6 MiB PGP Signature | Build Log

  • Version 0.10.3 (10003) - Added on Mar 22, 2022

    This version requires Android 4.0 or newer.

    It is built and signed by F-Droid, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.

    Permissions
    • view network connections
      Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.
    • view Wi-Fi connections
      Allows the app to view information about Wi-Fi networking, such as whether Wi-Fi is enabled and name of connected Wi-Fi devices.
    • have full network access
      Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.
    • read the contents of your shared storage
      Allows the app to read the contents of your shared storage.
      (6.0)
    • request install packages
      Allows an application to request installation of packages.
    • modify or delete the contents of your shared storage
      Allows the app to write the contents of your shared storage.
      (6.0)

    Download APK 3.6 MiB PGP Signature | Build Log

  • Version 0.10.2 (10002) - Added on Jan 05, 2020

    This version requires Android 4.0 or newer.

    It is built and signed by F-Droid, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.

    Permissions
    • view network connections
      Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.
    • view Wi-Fi connections
      Allows the app to view information about Wi-Fi networking, such as whether Wi-Fi is enabled and name of connected Wi-Fi devices.
    • have full network access
      Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.
    • read the contents of your shared storage
      Allows the app to read the contents of your shared storage.
      (6.0)
    • request install packages
      Allows an application to request installation of packages.
    • modify or delete the contents of your shared storage
      Allows the app to write the contents of your shared storage.
      (6.0)

    Download APK 3.6 MiB PGP Signature | Build Log