While the inclusion of F-Droid can be discussed:
against: there is an official app store “Apps”, having two may be confusing;
pro: with F-Droid we are guaranteed to have only open source apps, whereas in “Apps” it is not obvious. (This is why I also suggest including F-Droid)
However it would be really nice to have F-Droid Priviledged Extension allready installed as system app (like Fairphone Open OS and Lineage with microG both do). Thus any casual user that installs F-Droid will be able to have automatic updates from it.
On the opposite it is really impossible for such users to install the F-Droid Priviledged Extension as system app (requires TWRP…).
I really don’t understand the need for F-droid Priviledged extension. Sorry.
I’m using to 90 % F-droid apps on my phone. And i’m getting always update notifications.
So, what is the benefit of this extension ?
With the Priviledged Extension you don’t have to manually install the updates, F-Droid does it automatically so the process of updating the apps is completely automated (if you choose the option of course)
No, if you have TWRP installed you don’t need to root the phone.
The process is as follows:
1- install F-Droid
2- look for the name of the package to be installed https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged.ota/
3- in F-Droid search for this package (name starts with org.fdroid.droid.priviledged.ota)
4- install it
5- reboot into recovery (= launch TWRP)
6- in TWRP, choose INSTALL, then go to /data/data/org.fdroid.fdroid/ota
select the package named org.fdroid.droid.priviledged.ota_xxxx.zip (where xxxx is a build number)
Install
Reboot
Ok, so that’s a reason I don’t want this extension. I want decide for myself which app will be updated. No automatic. Have a look here or in telegram groups how often app updates are crashing itself or the complete system
A power user surely wants to decide if he updates or not. But a casual user does want to be bothered by this (and he has no access to the information about breaking updates anyway).
A casual user will generally not do any manual update at all (even if there is a notification). (I install FOSS OSes and apps for casual users…)
I have always made the updates from F-Droid (for about 2 years and about 80 apps from F-Droid) and never had a crash due to them as far as I know.
Automatic updates allow me to save time for other tasks.
Another alternative to this feature, would be that installing F-Droid would become unnecessary.
To achieve this, the “Apps” application must show in an obvious way which application comes from F-Droid, with a clear and understandable label.
I am agree to the fact that “APPS” have to show clearly the license and filter by it !
not so hurry that my phone update auto free software…
Maybe add tutorial for people who want that on their phone.
regards
Let’s push the argument of privacy farther.
If the user wants to use ripple, which permits to wipe associated applications private data in case of emergency, that extension is required for fdroid to accomplish the task.
For me it’s not about automatic updates. Something I never do. The benefit of the Privileged Extension, and Aurora Services for Aurora Store, is it uses system permission to install apps. In other words apps are installed in the background instead of bringing up the ROM’s (or Google’s) package installer each time. Essentially no different than when one installs/updates an app in the Play Store. /e/'s App store also has system permission and does the same.
Having Privileged Extension or Aurora Services allows their respective app stores to install apps in a way folks are accustomed to without rooting the ROM (not to be confused with rooting a phone. If one has TWRP they have a rooted phone/device I suppose).
I always flash an F-Droid package (store and extension) on all ROMs.
No tutorial I’m aware of. Flash Aurora Services, run it once to make sure it works. Services enabled & Permissions granted should be checked green. In Aurora Store go to Settings → Installations → Installation method. Choose Aurora Services.
I support this and would recommend that - when possible - /e/ also adds a “recommended by /e/” image to the search results (and to the filters), as recommended here #714
In addition, i would like to add here that i think that generally being able to
filter
sort
on as many factors as possible would be a great plus for the app store. Please note that filtering and sorting are 2 different things!! Both should be possible. Making it possible on as many factors as possible would really be a great plus for the /e/ app store over others stores. Examples of factors:
popularity (eg: A) nr of clicks, B) featured in number of searches, or C) number of downloads)
