I am on GrapheneOS, but this concerns Android as a whole. From the options of Fdroid and GitHub (Obtainium) which is the safest way to install an app?
From the GrapheneOS forums, I see many people recommending GitHub over Fdroid as it is straight from the source. I know its true, but if a developer adds a ‘not-so-safe’ piece of code or introduces tracking, Obtainium would automatically update my app without letting me know about the changes. But from what I have seen from Fdroid they usually pause or cancel the update or app if these changes were to take place (Example, Simple Gallery or Mull for Android).
So I am confused. Whom should I trust more, Fdroid with their own app builds or the Developers on GitHub?
Also I have seen that Obtainium when used with a VPN to fetch app updates, will get rate limited by GitHub. Also I don’t really like GitHub as a code repository, with their tracking and rate limiting. I don’t know if Fdroid tracks user.
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
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- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
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If you want F-droid’s moderation, you can still ensure the code is original to the developers by verifiying signatures with something like AppVerifier.
Most of them unfortunately don’t have a listing on AppVerifier. But from what I have seen, fdroid builds pass the appverifier for the listed ones.