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Comment by bubblethink | Hacker News Reader

>(for the time being)

Why do you have that caveat ? You can use f-droid forever.

I'm on an unrooted phone and F-Droid doesn't do auto-updates or even "update all". I have to remember to open F-Droid once in a while to click "Update" and then "Install" for each app, one-by-one.

I understand that it's probably Google's fault for not providing APIs/permissions but it's still terrible UX. I only use F-Droid when an app isn't available on the Play Store.

fdroid periodically automatically checks and notifies of updates to apps. You can also "Update all", using the button of the same name, but you will have to press install for each, due to the way Android works, which is a bit of a pity.

F-Droid isn't a "system app" so it can't even ask for permissions. If it was added as a system app in a custom ROM, then it'd be able to use the undocumented interfaces to install apps.

Because I prefer sticking to APKs signed by the author of the app. F-Droid APKs are signed with different keys, typically.

I agree with your sentiment in theory. Unfortunately, in practice, Google Play Store rips off my signature after I upload and sticks their own one on instead. Blah.

Huh, isn't that only the case for Android App Bundles?

Only if the app is enrolled to their resigning program, requires either initial agreement or signing key upload.

I thought that was opt-in still (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...) unless you use app bundles, but that article makes it sound like you can bring your own key too. Do they still modify the signature in that case?

Typically but not necessarily. F-Droid can distribute apps with original signatures from developers if the app builds reproducibly. See: https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Reproducible_Builds/

I think he meant until the app is reinstated on the Play Store. I choose the F-Droid version whenever possible.

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