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The importance of F-Droid, an Android app store
F-Droid is an app store for Android where only open source applications are available for free. It provides an alternative to the proprietary Google Play Store, which is where most Android app distribution currently takes place. Because the Google Play Store is where most users go to find and install apps, this gives Google the power to exercise control over Android app developers. In this blog post, I describe the design, mechanism and results of this control from the perspective of a long-time Android app developer.
Installing an apk file that was not sourced from the Google Play Store triggers errors and warnings on the device that try to stop the user from continuing. And every time Google increases the minimum target API level, hiding apps that do not meet the new requirement, more applications are lost forever. Anyone considering publishing on Android with hopes of achieving a sizable audience reach must commit to remaining vigilant and responsive to the ever-changing requirements, API changes and the consequential app breakage.
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