by Browsing through an app store can be frustrating. Whenever you’re looking for a simple tool to tune your guitar or remind yourself to water the plants, you’re immediately asked for money or completely littered with ads.
Now, let’s not blame developers for wanting to make money — most of us don’t do our work for charity — but the scales have tipped so much that your phone can be actively difficult to use. Because of this, if you have an Android device, you can enjoy F-Droid.
An alternative to Google Play, this app store contains only open-source applications that may ask for donations, but generally contain no advertising or in-app purchases. The fact that the applications are open source also makes them generally trustworthy – anyone on earth can read the code, making it very likely that someone will figure out if there is an obvious security hole or privacy invasion.
Sideloading apps, i.e. installing software from sources other than Google Play, is much easier on Android than on iOS since no jailbreak is required. And F-Droid makes it even easier by providing a verified collection of open source apps with no tracking and no ads.
How to set up F-Droid
On your Android device, open your browser and go to F-Droid.org, tap Download F-Droid, and open the resulting file. Unless you have previously allowed your browser to install software from sources other than Google Play, a warning will appear informing you that your phone is not allowed to install unknown apps. To bypass this, tap settings and then Allow from this source. Go back and your phone will ask you again if you want to install F-Droid – tap it To install break up.
[Related: How to sideload Android apps, and why you would want to]
You need to follow similar steps for F-Droid to work. When you try to install software from it for the first time, you will see the same message that you saw in the browser. Beat settings and then Allow from this source to give F-Droid permission to install apps. Press the back button to install the desired application.
About F-Droid Security
It’s generally a good idea to be careful when sideloading applications on Android, as a malicious application could wreak havoc on your security and privacy. A team of volunteers maintains F-Droid, so you might be right to worry about patchy software being injected.
That’s certainly a valid concern, but F-Droid currently has extensive security practices and has been meticulously scrutinized in multiple third-party security audits. The platform also has a strict policy of not allowing apps with tracking capabilities, which is one of the reasons researchers at the Yale Privacy Lab have declared that F-Droid is even more secure than Google Play.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exercise healthy skepticism when installing apps. You should still take control of your apps permissions and constantly review your Android security settings like any other app. But other than that, you can install software from F-Droid without much worry.
Our favorite apps on F-Droid
F-Droid won’t replace Google Play for most people, but it’s a nice and easy alternative to finding free and safe apps before plunging into the swamp that’s Google’s App Store.
[Related: 12 essential apps for any Android phone]
If you don’t know where to start, here are some of our favorite apps. Tuner is a great app for tuning a guitar or any stringed instrument, while Tusky is a very good customer for Mastodon. Unciv is a free version of the popular civilization -Game series slimmed down graphically to run well on a phone but with all the addictive gameplay. DNS66 makes it easy to block malware and other intrusive code, and Turmux lets you run a full-fledged Linux command line on your phone, opening up all sorts of possibilities.
We could go on, but the best way to find something relevant for you is to just dive in.
