Why so many F-Droid clients?

[justsomeguy]

Foxy Droid (3 weeks), F-Droid (1 month), Aurora Droid (1 month), G-Droid (8 months), M-Droid (1 year).

Why so many? Is there hidden gold in making F-Droid clients? Because they can? Was there a contest? Other than F-Droid, the obvious original and best, which other clients are runners up? Why didn’t they just submit improvements for the original? Isn’t it a waste of developer time having so many? Will there be more? So many questions, so little time. LOL

[Licaon_Kter]

Did you look at them? Did you see that each has its own UI/UX?

Foxy has the UI of F-Droid up to 0.1xx, but updated

Aurora is based on Aurora Store, more like Play

G-Droid dev has its own ideas about how it should look like.

Why so many browsers? Why so many OSes? Why so many milk manufacturers? Why so many burger types? Why? Really?

[MelodyConcerto]

I like the diversity; makes it so much easier to find a client flavor you like and can easily navigate or live with.

In the end it’s a good thing; as it makes F-Droid more accessible

[justsomeguy]

I’m just leaving a few notes FWIW. Probably with errors.

Client, where, language, license, how many developers

Foxy Droid: gitHub, Kotlin, GPL3, 2 contributors
F-Droid: gitLab, Java, GPL3, a bunch of contributors
Aurora Droid: gitLab, Java, GPL3, 1 contributor (?)
G-Droid: gitLab, Java, GPL3, 1 contributor (?)
M-Droid: gitHub, Javascript (React-Native & Redux), MIT, 2 contributors

There was a good, unanswered, comment/question previously on possible security issues.

[frief]

not sure whether it helps. Some links, some tables:

• F-Droid ______________________ The app store that respects freedom and privacy
• G-Droid ______________________ An alternative client app to browse the F-Droid repository
• org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged.o Services to allow F-Droid to securely install and update app
• Foxy Droid ___________________ Yet another F-Droid client
• ApkTrack _____________________ Check for updates on PlayStore and other sources
• Aurora Droid _________________ An alternative to the default F-Droid app
• AppBak _______________________ Back up list of installed apps
• M-Droid ______________________ Unofficial Material Designed client for F-Droid
• F-Droid Privileged Extension _ Services to allow F-Droid to securely install and update app
• Yalp Store (fork) ____________ Download apks from Google Play Store
• Yalp Store ___________________ Download apks from Google Play Store
• Auto Updater for Chromium ____ Automatic updates for Chromium
• Apk Extractor ________________ Get APK files from installed apps
• SAI __________________________ SAI lets you install and export split APKs
• ClassyShark3xodus ____________ Scan apps for trackers
• APKMirror ____________________ An unofficial client for the gratis app download site APKMir

Numbers in the second column of the above diagram denote time of last update, e.g. 2007 ~ Juli, 2020

[justsomeguy]

Very helpful. The tables give impressive presentation (and overload) of data! The results are much better than search in F-Droid client. It doesn’t explain “why” but it does give a lot of useful comparisons.

On Descriptions, it would help (a user) to see a key for columns (in human language) and color/darkness at the bottom. And maybe an equation for the “scores” in each row.

On Permissions, same comment (except no “scores”), although it’s clear enough. A sort by a permissions score would also be good.

System Extension for F-Droid maybe shouldn’t be “green” with no grey (no permissions), because of how it must be installed to work.

I’ll go submit pull requests for app_match.R real soon now. Or not.

[indictus]

Is there hidden gold in making F-Droid clients

Maybe

Why didn’t they just submit improvements for the original?

Diversifying the marketplace of FOSS alternatives for Android would be great but what could happen is a loss of focus on the integrity of one project, F-Droid.

[Licaon_Kter]

Everyone focuses where they want, that’s the way it works.

Also, new one F-Droid Classic, based on 0.1xx like Foxy but no UI changes, afaics.

[indictus]

Of course but regardless of why the result will be the same. It would be a lot easier to fly under the radar with a bug (exploit) if a lot of our users are using 2 or 3 clients.

F-Droid is already a bit of stretch in terms of safety…

But as you say, people do what they want.

[hans]

If you are concerned about security, stick with the official client. It has been audited more than once.