Empowering Open-Source App Deployment- Seeking Your Feedback!

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Hello Community,

I’m Tanmay, an Android developer based in India. Today, I want to share a journey that’s not just mine but belongs to every developer who values the freedom and potential of open-source platforms like fdroid. We all understand the limitations and constraints of mainstream app stores, and that’s where the beauty of fdroid shines – offering a haven free from the clutches of corporate control.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of deploying over 48 apps on fdroid repo for my overseas clients and have been actively involved in their regular updates.

However, embracing fdroid comes with its own set of challenges. Setting up your own repository and uploading apps can be a daunting task, often riddled with complexities that detract from our primary goal – to create and share our work.

Recognizing this, my friend and I have developed a streamlined console to simplify the fdroid app uploading process. Now, you can upload your apps to our fdroid repo servers effortlessly with just a single click. Our goal was to make this process as straightforward as possible, saving you time and hassle.

I’m excited to invite you to try this console, available at fdroid.unwiringapps.com. Currently, we are offering this service for free. Yes, you heard it right – absolutely no cost to get your app on fdroid!

But, to be completely transparent, this project isn’t without its challenges. Server costs are a significant monthly burden, and as of now, we haven’t devised a monetization strategy. This means we’re fully committed to keeping this service free and accessible to all, at least for the time being.

Your feedback is crucial for us. It’s not just about improving the console; it’s about nurturing a tool that the community truly needs. Every suggestion, every piece of advice counts.

Now your question might be how it will work?
You just have to login and upload your signed apk on our console and fill the app details then you will get your app repo link, which you can download or update from any fdroid client apps like fdroid, droidi-fy etc

Join us in making app deployment a more accessible and hassle-free process. Your support and feedback can help shape a more liberated and developer-friendly app ecosystem.

Thank you for being part of this exciting journey. Your involvement means the world to us.

Warm regards,

Tanmay Agarwal
UnwiringTech

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Interesting…

So change some text pls:

First the title is F-Droid with - and uppercase D

Second, while it might be about “something F-Droid”, you can’t name it “F-Droid”, that’s reserved for stuff on https://f-droid.org ONLY

So, do you have a repo? Great, change the text to reflect that, make it say “upload TO OUR F-Droid repo” instead.

Also, do add some text, some pics that explain what is going on, not just a login form.

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okay sir, done :slight_smile:

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So basically just a repo holder, like a store.
You are asking for people to create an account (email only), with no security check. Anyone can just go ahead and upload files, just like apkcombo, apkmirror etc.
I was going through, and you have APK to be uploaded, but all it gives is error:
Required correct file with extension apk and file type application/vnd.android.package-archive

Anyways, kind of confused what you intent to do here in future run!

However, as noted by Licaon, please ensure, it is made clear that your website/amazon (bluehost) is completely separate from F-Droid in itself.

Finally, please add some sort of terms & conditions, privacy policy etc, to ensure people know what is going on and how, and all!

Ohh, and your Github account throws a 404, not found. Instead I found it at: vichaarit (Tanmay Agarwal) · GitHub
Moreover, you mention something about 48 apps and your contributions, etc. Can you elaborate more on that (this is just OOC)?

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done what? it’s all the same… there is no “fdroid apps” you keep talking about… no extra info as requested

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Thank you for your feedback. Let me clarify a few points to avoid any misunderstandings:

  1. Console and Its Purpose : Our console is dedicated to simplifying the process of managing and deploying apps on F-Droid repositories. It’s designed to make the experience seamless for developers, especially those new to F-Droid. To demonstrate how our console works, I will be sharing a video tutorial that will clearly explain its functionalities.

  1. Contribution to 48 Apps: Regarding the 48 apps, my reference was to the repositories I have created using F-Droid for Linux Mint system via terminal, not direct app development contributions for my clients. These were client-specific projects so i cannot directly reveal app names, secondly vichaarit github is new github specifically created for my YouTube channel focused on student lectures and educational content.

  2. Upload Error: The error you mentioned could be due to uploading an incorrect file format. Our console requires a signed APK file, not a bundle. Please ensure the correct file type is uploaded.

  3. Security and Repository Access : On the security aspect, the nature of F-Droid repositories allows for flexibility in app uploads. However, in the context of F-Droid repositories, anyone can indeed upload an app, but updates require the same keystore file. Our platform does not compromise the inherent security features of fdroid, its same like how we host on fdroid repo.

  4. Future Enhancements: We are constantly working on improving our console. Your feedback is invaluable in this process. We aim to make app deployment on fdroid as straightforward and user-friendly as possible.

I hope this clears up any confusion. We are committed to enhancing our service and appreciate your input. Thank you for being a part of this journey.

Here is the complete video :-

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You website still has erroneous if not deceiving info that you’ve not fixed :frowning:

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See the responses are still dubious and very vague.
Moreover, 48 apps for clients via F-Droid? How and where? How is F-Droid even in picture there?

BTW, I was trying with signed apk only. I am fully aware of what and how that works.

Moreover, it seems your console builds the apps again or what? Not sure I get that part from your video.

Many more curious doubts are coming to mind, but the first thing is to be open about your console instance. Please give more background and information about it.

Again, it is up to you to host how you want, but when trying to gather clients and users by using F-Droid’s name, you need to be more open and honest.

Meanwhile, please update your site with proper identification, tos, tnc, privacy policy, data usage etc (whatever is relevant per your setup), and most importantly, ensure you make it clear, you are not connected to F-Droid in any manner directly and users are using your personal host and not officially or in any way connected to F-Droid.

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that runs fdroid publishing I guess, again, misnomer “build”, needs a change

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Thanks for pointing these things out. You’re right, and I’ll definitely apply these changes to improve the console. Also, I’ve tested it several times with signed APKs and it’s been working on my end, but your feedback helps me look into this further to ensure it’s consistently effective for everyone. Appreciate your time and insights.

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Thanks for your feedback. You’re absolutely right, and I appreciate you highlighting this. The term ‘build’ might have led to some confusion. Our console actually focuses on setting up and managing F-Droid repositories, rather than building apps. It’s about streamlining the process of getting your app into a repository for F-Droid. I’ll make sure to communicate this more clearly in the future. Thanks again for pointing this out!

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Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I’ll make sure to fix this on our website as soon as possible.

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@vichaarit one quick question while you update the website

what are you using underneath, fdroidserver or repomaker?

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fdroidserver sir

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Nice

Given the LICENSE: LICENSE · master · F-Droid / fdroidserver · GitLab can you put a link on the website to the source code of your fdroidserver used?

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By the way is there really demand for this (dedicated F-Droid repositories) in some countries?

And people really regularly add new repositories to get just one app?

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I can see at least one use case for this. Imagine if there is an application which needs instant updates, like NewPipe (it breaks sometimes due to YouTube API updates). Official F-Droid repository itself can be very slow for updates, which means an app can be rendered unusable even for a week. Things like Github releases are not very convenient. Obviously, big developers like NewPipe can self-host F-Droid repository (and afaik they do), but for small developers this is not an option.

I hope this idea gets attention and support it deserves, thank you very much for sharing it with us.

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They can literally host on Github… some do

And host a non-reproducible build like they do now… :frowning:

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As I said, Github releases is not as straight-forward for the end user as getting the application from F-Droid client. Also, F-Droid repository doesn’t track users and Github does.

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sir the major issue with github is it cannot host a app larger then 100 mb, For instance, I had a client with an app size of 180 MB. GitHub’s standard limit is 100 MB, and their suggestion to use GitHub LFS (Large File Storage) presented a problem – it tends to corrupt APK files, leading to operational issues., due to which it was creating a issue, apart from it i tried firebase hosting it works well but it raises a question: if we’re committed to using open-source platforms like F-Droid and prioritizing security, then relying on Google’s storage seems contradictory.