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Comment by daptaq | Hacker News Reader

I think that Molly (https://molly.im/) is a good option if you want to manage "Signal" via F-Droid.

Molly does not seem to be included in the official fdroid repo. You can also simply add the calyxos fdroid repo to get signal via fdroid

https://calyxos.gitlab.io/calyx-fdroid-repo/fdroid/repo?fing...

Yeah, that is why I said "manage via F-Droid". The implication is that F-Droid (the app) is responsible for updating your application, not some background service bundled in Signal itself.

I use Aurora Store to anonymously download and update apps on Google Play store, all without any Google Play services (I run GrapheneOS). Signal app on my phone is basically the same APK on Play store.

Have you compared it to APKPure? Just wondering which "store"/repo is more trustworthy, because recently APKPure have shifted to apkx format, which is natively unusable without their own installer app.

Aurora gets apks directly from Play Store via reverse engineered api

Their webpage claims both:

> Molly, like Signal, uses Google’s proprietary code to support some features And

>Fully FOSS >Contains no proprietary blobs, unlike Signal.

It's also not clear if it can be used as a drop-in replacement to contact people using Signal

They have two versions!

Molly, like Signal, uses Google’s proprietary code to support some features.

Molly-FOSS is the community effort to make it 100% free and open-source.

That explains my confusion. Thank you

> if it can be used as a drop-in replacement

I had to click through to their github to find: "Molly connects to the Signal server, so you can chat with your Signal contacts seamlessly.

Molly and Signal apps can be installed on the same device. If you need a 2nd number to chat, you can use Molly along with Signal.

However, you cannot use the same phone number on both apps at the same time."

Signal has a reputation that Molly lacks. If Signal team doesn't want to post to F-Droid, it would help if they at least made a statement of support or opposition to Molly.

I doubt they would ever endorse the use of a third party interface to Signal.

In fact they have publicly whined about it already

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