[App] Obtainium. Get Android App Updates Directly From the Source.
Awesome app. It is somehow not listed on android-foss list so maybe someone didn't know about it.
Obtainium allows you to install and update Open-Source Apps directly from their releases pages, and receive notifications when new releases are made available.
GitHub page: Link.
Never heard of it before, but it seems better than just using f-droid. Some of the apps I use are only available on GitHub.
Are you aware of the izzyondroid repo? That contains loads of github releases which for one reason or another haven't made their way to fdroid yet. So far, I haven't had to manually download any apks from github because everything has been available there.
I use it, but I have some games that are not there and only at github/gitlab.
Lots. But definetly not all releases. Very convenient app!
Literally just installed this and set up with all my Foss apps, couldn't be happier, works surprisingly well for "beta" haha
Yeah, "beta" label is kinda meh for such a good tool!
Been using this for a while now. Ngl, I didn't understand it at first and was sitting in my app drawer for months.
Revisited the app again few days ago, and I couldn't be happier. Pulls directly from developer's GitHub, Gitlab, or Codeberg as long as their Release page contains an APK.
Truly awesome concept and implementation. Kudos to developer!
I use APKgrabber just because it automatically checks for all my installed apps but this seems like a better option if you spend the time to set it up.
I don't want to watch the video on "why this app is better than fdroid". So, does anyone care to write an TL;DR?
For me it's best for the apps where people don't upload to Fdroid but I trust them
It's not better than F-Droid, it's useful for apps that aren't on F-Droid tho
Only reason I installed it is for it's ability to use GitHub releases as a source and notify me if there are updates. As far as I'm aware you have to use f-droid repositories with f-droid -- but it's been a long time since I had f-droid installed.
It can replace fdroid with caveats. Direct download from gitlab/hub/codeberg/fdroid official with searching. Other git/fdroid repos with manual web addy entry. Good for stuff both on and off fdroid.
You get app updates directly from the devs, without f-droid acting as a middle man.
I don't even know why that video is there. At first glance, you might think it's a video explaining how Obtainium works. But it's actually a video about how to manually set up an RSS feed of the apps you use from GitHub. This video is just what had inspired the developer to make Obtainium.
I've been using it for Thunder nightlies and it's worked great
Reading the Gitbub page it doesn't look like it supports automatic updates, so does this mean you get manual prompts to update every single day?! (given that you're using nightlies)
yup 😁
Yes, Obtanium notifies me there is a new update shortly after it's uploaded to GitHub. Then I just have to click update and it updates. Super simple and helpful.
What kind of apps are you all using that aren't on Google Play or Fdroid?
Many of the lemmy apps that are still in development are not released on any of these stores.
They don't seem like they have background installation mechanism right?
I went all of the troubles creating an automation with Tasker because I haven't found one that worked like Google PlayStore's auto-update back then.
I wonder if there is a couple of them out there that already has those? Maybe like with shizuku, ADBwidi, or root access?
Edit: typo
They don’t seem like they have background installation mechanism right?
From the readme on GitHub:
Auto (unattended) updates are unsupported due to a lack of any capable Flutter plugin.
If it's on F-Droid, you can use Droid-ify + Shizuku for automatic background updating.
There are two options that makes me a bit confused.
Auto update apps. Try to install updates automatically
Notify about new versions of applications. Show a notification when new versions are available
Do I have to turn off the later to let the auto-update runs fully in background or It's fine to keep both enabled?
On the first run, I think I had both enabled and I still tapped multiple times. Shizuku installer worked great though.
It doesn't work on 64bit only phones annoying
Thanks! I didn't know about it :)
It is really awesome app!
This doesn't seem super safe from a security standpoint. Can anyone comment on safety?
Yeah fdroid is vastly preferred over this because you can be sure that the source code provided actually produces the executable.
F-Droid installs an APK that F-Droid compiled. Obtainium installs an APK that the app developer themselves compiled. I'm not sure what you're getting at.
I disagree. Using F-Droid introduces another party and middle man that you have to trust, in addition to a single point of failure. Any checks that F-Droid does is very basic and they have said themselves that they can't ensure apps are safe.
https://privsec.dev/posts/android/f-droid-security-issues/
Am I missing something? In my experience using Obtainium it pulls apks from sources I tell it to, usually the developers git releases and even sometimes f-droid repos. This app doesn't compile anything.
The main benefit is watching for updates directly from developers which, again in my experience, has been quicker than waiting on f-droid. You could even have it do just the notification and you can manually go download and install if you're the cautious.
So this means you trust F-Droid? .. do you have proof that they aren't doing anything nefarious?
.. if we want to play the game of 'is it safe' play it all the way in each case.
Like we're acting like a dev would upload malware to a trusted repo. If we think that way, the could also slip it into the open source code and not be noticed. Anything's possible but don't live in fear.
There is a weird thing on Lemmy where people seem to be very worried about things that they probably shouldn't be; then we hit a line where its just 'ok'.
TLDR: For 99.99% of people I'd recommend just using the Google Play store.
Just be aware what you install. Check the developer name and the whole path.
Some apps on F-Droid are limited for example but you can download the full featured app from Github. Later updates are anyhow cryptographically signed.
What's your concern exactly? That they'll install malicious apps on your phone?