Embarrassingly newbie F-Droid installation problem

1

I’ve promised my old LG smartphone to my elderly Mother and while trying to set it up for her, I’ve run into a problem: the google playstore utterly refuses to load, just a constant “server error - retry” loop that despite trying dozens of recommended “fixes” and working on the problem for hours, I can’t fix. So after looking for playstore alternatives I’ve come to F-Droid, but now I have another problem: I can’t install the thing.

I push the Download F-Droid button and I get a message stating ‘download unsuccessful’, which isn’t very bloody helpful. I’ve tried to download it a few times now and get the same error every time.

The phone I’m attempting to install it on is an LG G-4 running Android 6.

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated - I’m not sure what the hell is going on.

2

install via ADB from a PC? Get F-Droid | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

download it on your device, then send it via Bluetooth or something?

On old Android you might need to install a certificate first, do read: Running on old Android versions | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository too

3

She may have a better experience overall if you change to an aftermarket operating system that is running a more recent version of Android.

I have been using AXP.OS on one of my old phones (Samsung Galaxy S 5), and it has been performing well. The LG G4 is one of the phones that they support.

https://axpos.org/devices/lg/h815/