Like Google and Apple f-droid has his standards which have to be fulfilled to be able to get into the store.
I would propose to add at least a second more enhanced f-droid standard.
This standard should contain some more advanced goals a program have to fulfill.
Maybe with this standards fulfilled, these apps get stored into a second repository.
Following are some ideas that could be set.
Backup functionality
add some server storage (Nextcloud, Owncloud, DAV, sftp,)
encrypting backup
All app has to have an import and an export of their settingx to xml with encryption (preferred setting)
Navigation (if aviable)
allow to use maps from osm instead Google
basic
allow to see changelog inside f-droid
update the app at least all 6. Month
has a help menu or a wiki which describe basic usage
Those standards are interesting, but I think hard to enforce on all the apps. I don’t have any stats on this but my gut feeling is that most of the authors of apps on F-Droid don’t get any money from their work on those apps. Features and updates depend on their time available to improve their app, but enforcing rules like these imply a lot of work.
Besides, forcing an app to be updated every 6 months doesn’t necessarily make sense, for instance a flashlight app doesn’t need any update.
Forcing a backup feature with encryption is not a trivial task, and would require a lot of work to ensure it works in all cases properly.
I agree completely that we need to strive for better programming, but in my point of view, forcing those standard would drive developers away from F-Droid.
It’s not meant to remove other Apps that not support this new standard. It’s only meant to have a kind of quality control and maybe a bit of motivation for app developer If they think of kind of Achievement they could reach.
Yes, at the first glance it doesn’t seem like a good idea to have a all 6-month minimum release. But this is not a final set of Idea. You could also say, that all those Apps that have the right to use wireless connection in any way have to fulfil these.
