I am thinking about 2 additional features in /e/'s app store. Before putting them on GIT, I wanted to check out what your opinion is.
1 - Adding an app category with suggestions from /e/
The varietey of apps offered in APPS is already overwhelming. I think it could be very helpful to have in the categories section of the app store a section that is curated by /e/ and featuring a small selection of apps that offer potentially a high added value to the /e/ user - either apps with a security focus (features that are not included in /e/ yet or with some other very useful feature) (see pic 1). This category could contain for example an ad-blocker. This section could enable new users easily to identify āreally importantā apps with only a few clicks.
My idea would be to have 10 or 15 apps max in this section.
For now I am thinking about: Blokada, Exodus Privacy, SnoopSnitch, Librechair, Conversations, DeltaChat, Riot.im and maybe GadgetBridge and OpenPods.
2 - Featuring F-Droid
For a long time (thatās my impression) F-Droid was just a niche app store, I realise more and more F-Droid is becoming a brand, a widely recognized source of trusted software for Android-based smartphones. F-Doid has strict but transparent roules under what conditions apps are accepted in their store.
So, I was wondering, why not giving a bit more visibility to apps sourced from F-Droid within /e/. So why not highlighting in the search results and listings of the /e/-app store when apps are taken from F-Droid - with a little icon for example (see pic2). Ideally, there would be a option to tick to filter exclusively F-Droid apps to be seen in the /e/-app store. We had alreay a similar suggestions to be able to filter FOSS apps in a revised version of APPS, but in the meanwhile I believe Iād favour a F-Droid filter over FOSS filter.
This would on the one hand esteem the work of the F-Droid team and on the other hand increase the credibilty of the relatively young APPS store.
Very good idea if itās stay easy for mainstream users
1/ But we will probably discuss a lot about this short list. Blokada (maybe. Iāll prefer DNSfilter & nice alternative setup here https://sebsauvage.net/wiki/doku.php?id=dnsfilter), Exodus Privacy (maybe. Itās more for learning than directly useful), SnoopSnitch (maybe), Librechair (canāt install it, but we definitively need a alternative to Bliss Laucher), Conversations and/or DeltaChat and/or Riot.im (we really need to push up a alternative to WhatsApp & working also for Iphones, not the case for QKSMS) , GadgetBridge (definitively Yes) and OpenPods (no).
2/ Yes, we need to make alliance with projects which have similar aims (even if F-Droid is sometimes difficult to reach)
Thanks for Jami. It seems in the way for being the real one that we need (Iām trying to convince friends to leave WhatsApp).
But for the moment, an important restriction: not yet any group messages https://git.jami.net/savoirfairelinux/ring-project/issues/524
Yes please do! Item 1 has been my main complaint about the Apps store from the beginning. How does Apps encourage the use of privacy focused apps?
I love the Fdroid idea. One difficulty with using fdroid is for finding apps that are not in the default repositories you need to add those repos manually. Maybe those could be included in Apps, the repo for the download location is automatically included with the app information and used as a download source. One I can think of off the top of my head is Briar.
When I was suggesting this I did not think properly what could be the 10 to 15 apps featured in this /e/ category. Pls help to provide some more categories and/or specific apps that could be featured in this place.
Ad-blocking (such as Blokada, ideally v3)
Alternative Launchers (such as Trebuchet or Librechair - personnally Iād prefer Trebuchet as it is not overwhelming from the number of features and suits better to /e/'s target users). An alternative o Bliss seems to be important for all those who really do not want to use Bliss.
Chat/Messenging apps (Riot.im, Riot X, Signal, Telegram, Telegram XDeltaChat, Conversations, Jami). Hereās Iād put several options to provide a variety of alternatives to WhatsApp users.
Gadget connectors (such as GadgetBridge, OpenPods)
Backup
Time Mmnt/Parental Control (OpenTimeLimit)
Other (Exodus Privacy, SnoopSnitch)
Question: Btw do you think VPN should be mentioned in this cat? And if yes, in what way (in order not to promote a single provider)?
Yes, they are working on group chat, I suppose video group can be already used on Jami though.
For the e store I forgot to mention an idea: When I look for something, it would be nice to have apps with a good rating higher (and all the apps with lots of trackers lower). @ralxx Iād say WireGuard should be mentioned as a vpn app. Not sure about provider apps.
One more suggestion.
Every app has its own life, beeing mantained regulary or not; an indicator based on the distribution of commits of sourcecode may give an indication of health of the app. F-droid gives just an indication over the last time an app was updated.
As an idea over the above suggestion, have a look on extensions for LibreOffice.
Hello,
You can use Twinme.Can chat,phone and video conversations.Itās open source,P2P and with end tot end encryption.No need for phonenumber,email of others to login.Just set a name,foto and you can begin.
twinme is lying in their marketingblabla: āthe only messaging app that does not use your phone number (no email address or social network ID either)ā - this is simply not true. There are several others, like Tox or Jami, where you donāt need your phone number, neither your email or social network ID.
It looks itās also a closed source application. I would not use twinme, it does not look like a good alternative.
is it federated? that really is the future of IM I think, if it is not we are just trading one lock-in for another (albeit a more secure one, which is positive)
