Use F-Droid App Store For Freedom and Privacy in Android phones
Published on: January 18, 2022 | Reading Time: 2 minf-droid privacy android
We have been emphasizing the importance of Free Software (software which gives users freedom to use, study, modify and share) for years now and the problems with nonfree/proprietary software. For users of Android operating system, there is a very easy way to download and use Free Software– via the F-Droid app store. This will help you in replacing proprietary/nonfree apps with Free Software ones, an action which is important to take control of your own device.
F-Droid is an app store for Android which contains only Free/Swatantra Software. It is a community-driven project which ensures that the app you download matches the source code. F-Droid also verifies the apps for any malicious code– for example, whether the app has some tracking or not. F-Droid also lists Anti-features for each app in the F-Droid app store. It will also give updates for the recent versions of the apps.
Get Started
To get started, grab the apk file for the F-Droid app store by clicking on ‘Download F-Droid option’ from F-Droid’s official website. Allow your browser to download apk files on prompt. After the apk file is finished downloading, please open it and the F-Droid should be installed and shown in the app drawer. Open F-Droid and swipe down to update the repositories. Now you are ready to go!
A few app recommendations to get started with F-Droid:
- Indic Keyboard: Indic keyboard is a privacy-respecting keyboard which supports English and many Indian languages. It currently supports 23 languages and 60 layouts.
After downloading Indic Keyboard, don’t forget to set it as default keyboard.
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Newpipe: Newpipe is a frontend of YouTube. With Newpipe, you can watch YouTube videos without giving away your privacy. Further, Newpipe does not show you any ads, lets you download the video/audio in your device, and you can stream videos in the background as well.
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Quicksy: A chatting app which respects your freedom, privacy, and at the same time provides convenience.
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pep app: App for reading and writing emails which automatically encrypts emails between two pep users. Check out our email encryption guide.
Support projects with donations
In the end, we would like to encourage you to donate to the projects behind the apps you download and enjoy! A lot of Free Software apps and services rely on donations by their users. And finally, don’t forget to donate to the F-Droid project.
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