[SOLVED] Newbie trying to download F-Droid on a smartphone (Android 6)

Hello,
I am a complete newbie (was using iOS on an iPhone 4S for 8 years till last week…).
Now looking to free myself and my phone from Google (and other GAFAMs, as much as I can), I recently got an “old” Crosscall Trekker M1 Core, with Android 6 installed on it, as original rom.
I first looked for solutions to root it and use a GNU/Linux OS but it seems impossible, so I decided to de-activate as many Gapps as possible and install open source apps instead.
F-Droid seems to match perfectly with my needs but I am confronted to the following issue:
as I click on the “download F-Droid” button from Chrome (the last G-app before I uninstall it…), nothing happens…
What should I do ?
Did I do something wrong before ? (de-activate some app I shouldn’t have, for instance???)
Is my Android version to old to download the current version of F-Droid ?
Thanks for any help !

Hi, welcome to F-Droid.

The Android System kind of prevents you from installing apps yourself so that you can install them from their Play Store, but it doesn’t tell you that way and tells you that your phone may be insecure. However, F-Droid are the store with safe apps, so I think your choice is correct.

After downloading F-Droid, you’ll have an apk (Android Application Package) most likely in the ‘Download’ directory, you’ll have to open your file manager and click on the file named ‘F-Droid.apk’. Then after some life threatening warnings (just ignore them, just ensure that you are installing something safe), press install then wait. At last, you will see the app itself.

That is a great decision but if you really want to get away from Google, you should install a ROM without it, but I won’t recommend you now as you are not familiar with the process.

Thanks JohnFai for your answer,

That’s exactly my point: how do I download F-Droid ?

When I go to the https://f-droid.org/ page, I click on the blue button on which “DOWNLOAD F-DROID” is written and… Nothing :frowning:

Ohhh! I guess I found myself the solution: when leaving my finger on the button for a few seconds, some kind of “pop-un window” appeared with several lines.
I clicked on the first line and a question was displayed (like “are you sure you want to download ?”).
I then answered “yes”, of course (I’m a newbie, not an idiot :wink:).

F-Droid installed !!! Yeeppeee!

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