Outside of Whatsapp (yes I know, unfortunately, that's the go-to messenger for my family) and Spotify, I install everything from F-Droid. In my opinion, opensource app catalogues (like linux...
Outside of Whatsapp (yes I know, unfortunately, that's the go-to messenger for my family) and Spotify, I install everything from F-Droid. In my opinion, opensource app catalogues (like linux distributions) are much better filters for quality applications.
There's also no shortage of garbage on F-Droid. Plenty of pet/hobby/student projects that barely passed the bar to be included, apps whose last commit is older than this website, not to mention...
There's also no shortage of garbage on F-Droid. Plenty of pet/hobby/student projects that barely passed the bar to be included, apps whose last commit is older than this website, not to mention the big name apps with half a dozen nearly identical forks you have to wade through.
Searching "file manager" returns over 25 results, ranging from apps last updated 12 years ago that I can't even install on my current device, to multiple modern alternatives, with no clear discerning factor between them.
There's no reviews, there's no filtering criteria, you can't even sort a category or search results.
It's great if you have some technical background and already know what you're looking for, but for everyone else it's a barely usable mess.
I installed one such app a couple weeks ago—Ruler, which was last updated 8 years ago and developed by a university research group. And yet, it worked perfectly and was straight to the point with...
apps whose last commit is older than this website
I installed one such app a couple weeks ago—Ruler, which was last updated 8 years ago and developed by a university research group. And yet, it worked perfectly and was straight to the point with no permissions used. There was also a more recent fork, but I didn't need any of the added features—I wanted a ruler, I searched for "ruler", I installed Ruler.
"Garbage" on the Play Store, on the other hand, uses a plethora of permissions and pushes ads and IAPs. Even apps that are highly-rated and well-regarded in there do this, since it's pretty much accepted as part of mobile apps these days.
For more complicated apps like file managers or launchers where you would want all the extra features and nuances between each one, I find it better to search online for input so I can get high-quality reviews and not people saying "nice app" and "don't work".
Those are some real rough edges you'll encounter; on the other hand, though, being there at all is a strong indicator that you're not getting spyware or malware that sends your data to a server or...
Those are some real rough edges you'll encounter; on the other hand, though, being there at all is a strong indicator that you're not getting spyware or malware that sends your data to a server or wants you to sign up for an account. For that reason alone, I'll check F-Droid first for something that will meet my need before looking elsewhere.
There's little problem with software that hasn't been patched or compiled in 20 years if it's not network-facing, especially if it's sandboxed. Could it be used in an attack chain? Possibly. But...
There's little problem with software that hasn't been patched or compiled in 20 years if it's not network-facing, especially if it's sandboxed.
Could it be used in an attack chain? Possibly. But unless a huge percentage of people are using said software the odds of someone hand-crafting an exploit for it seems low.
If Notepad++ stops being supported, yea probably a good idea to stop using it. If the compass app on my phone from Fdroid stops? TBH I'd be more worried if it keeps getting updates.
Outside of Whatsapp (yes I know, unfortunately, that's the go-to messenger for my family) and Spotify, I install everything from F-Droid. In my opinion, opensource app catalogues (like linux distributions) are much better filters for quality applications.
There's also no shortage of garbage on F-Droid. Plenty of pet/hobby/student projects that barely passed the bar to be included, apps whose last commit is older than this website, not to mention the big name apps with half a dozen nearly identical forks you have to wade through.
Searching "file manager" returns over 25 results, ranging from apps last updated 12 years ago that I can't even install on my current device, to multiple modern alternatives, with no clear discerning factor between them.
There's no reviews, there's no filtering criteria, you can't even sort a category or search results.
It's great if you have some technical background and already know what you're looking for, but for everyone else it's a barely usable mess.
I installed one such app a couple weeks ago—Ruler, which was last updated 8 years ago and developed by a university research group. And yet, it worked perfectly and was straight to the point with no permissions used. There was also a more recent fork, but I didn't need any of the added features—I wanted a ruler, I searched for "ruler", I installed Ruler.
"Garbage" on the Play Store, on the other hand, uses a plethora of permissions and pushes ads and IAPs. Even apps that are highly-rated and well-regarded in there do this, since it's pretty much accepted as part of mobile apps these days.
For more complicated apps like file managers or launchers where you would want all the extra features and nuances between each one, I find it better to search online for input so I can get high-quality reviews and not people saying "nice app" and "don't work".
There is no better file manager than MiXplorer and it's only available here: https://mixplorer.com/
Those are some real rough edges you'll encounter; on the other hand, though, being there at all is a strong indicator that you're not getting spyware or malware that sends your data to a server or wants you to sign up for an account. For that reason alone, I'll check F-Droid first for something that will meet my need before looking elsewhere.
There's little problem with software that hasn't been patched or compiled in 20 years if it's not network-facing, especially if it's sandboxed.
Could it be used in an attack chain? Possibly. But unless a huge percentage of people are using said software the odds of someone hand-crafting an exploit for it seems low.
If Notepad++ stops being supported, yea probably a good idea to stop using it. If the compass app on my phone from Fdroid stops? TBH I'd be more worried if it keeps getting updates.
Yeah, there's good stuff on there but expect to be digging for a while to find it. Some curation would do wonders.
quality burn