Re: grapheneOS app store - how to get a list of available apps ?

On 22 May 2025 11:51:12 +0100 (BST), Theo wrote :

Aurora Store: access to the Play app catalogue but without a
Google account. Individual apps may need Play Services but
Aurora doesn't.

 
It could not hurt to take on their website and see what they have to
offer..

 
I'm not sure there is much to see.  It's like Google Play only it
(optionally) uses a pool of shared Google accounts so you can install
without using Play Store or being logged in.  It does give you better
filtering based on GSF/non-GSF, privacy, trackers etc.

My comments below are intended to add more value to what Theo wrote...

As you noted, Aurora has filtering that Google will never give you,
although Skyica is the way to go if you really want good filters.

As noted, you can filter by GSF or even by SDK if you so desire.

Aurora also has rather extensive platform-spoofing capabilities.
Also the "Delete APK post-install" option is nice to turn off.

Google will never give you those features in the official app.
 

One thing though, apps can tell that they've been installed via the Play
Store or another method.  A number of banking/ecommerce apps don't like
being installed via an alternative way, or insist on having a Google account
on the phone before they will start.

This can work to your advantage also, where apps like Skyica will be free
if they have no way to charge you for the pro features, which works well.

IzzyOnDroid: another catalogue of FOSS apps

 
I do not know that one.  Will take a peek.

 
If you use an app like Droid-ify it combines the repos of F-droid,
IzzyOnDroid and some others.
There is some controversy with F-droid building their own apps, because
they sign them with F-droid keys not the developers' keys.  This means you
can't upgrade from F-droid built apps to developer-built ones or vice versa,
and there are some supply chain security concerns in case somebody got
access to the F-droid build servers they could tamper with a lot of apps.
 
There's also controversy with the F-droid client because it is designed to
run on ancient versions of Android and so doesn't have modern security
features. An alternative client like Droid-ify doesn't suffer from that.

I don't use the F-Droid client but all the recommendations I've seen say if
you want an app to get F-Droid apps, you should use F-Droid Basic instead.

Obtainium: installs/upgrades apps sourced from their individual
Github releases (no catalogue, you have to supply URLs)

 
Hmmm... How would I obtain (no pun intended :-) ) those URLs ?   Is there a
website (you know of) that functions as its catalogue ?

 
There's no catalogue, but for example you know that there's a Signal for
Android so you search for their Github repo:
https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android
 
That has a Releases section with .apks.  So you give the URL to Obtainium
and it checks for the latest releases and offers to install or upgrade when
new updates come out.
 
So when somebody recommends an app you can install and keep it updated
directly from the developer, rather than having to go via any catalogue or
store.  Other sources beyond Github are supported too.

Most people don't realize the Google Play Store does not update apps the
way they "think" it should - where we've discussed this issue in the past.

Suffice to say the Google Play Store app sucks at updating all the apps
that have updates - simply because it was never written to do that.

Best to use the app updaters we've discussed in the past, most of which are
named something like "APK Updater" and which we've tested in the past.