"Medical apps are some of the most intrusive, especially in Apple Devices. It is refreshing to see a FOSS break into this niche app area."

https://news.itsfoss.com/dosage/

"This list is for those who may have Mac Computers. This list does not include Apple Silicon."

https://www.geeksmint.com/best-linux-distros-to-install-on-macbook/

"For a good while we didn't have the Brave Browser on Pi, since at the time they did not support Arm64. Now you can have Brave on a Pi."

https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-brave-browser/

"Couldn't find anything relevant or decent today. Will leave today open for admins to post things or make it a ask about things that interest you day."

GrapheneGoat's latest quick start privacy guide to peruse:

https://rumble.com/v47euf9-welcome-to-privacy-in-2024-download-a-free-privacy-guide-and-checklist.html

"Before Nextcloud the first server I experimented with was Open Media Vault. Much more simple than Nextcloud this may be all the server you need for your files."

https://linuxiac.com/openmediavault-7-nas-debuts-with-debian-12-upgrade/

"If you are interested in trying a Fedora based distro. These are the package manager commands."

https://www.tecmint.com/20-practical-examples-of-rpm-commands-in-linux/

"If you run a website security is a constant concern. Here are some possibilities if you run a word press site."

https://www.geeksmint.com/wordpress-security-scanners/

"Usually Arch is always the first to see these bleeding edge updates. They will slowly filter their way out to any Arch based distro in time as each team integrates it into their flavor with all the tweaks needed. Debian will see this types of updates in their point releases or major releases."

https://linuxiac.com/plasma-6-landed-in-archs-stable-repositories/

"The adoption rate for Windows 11 has been around 23% of all Windows users. Better than previous versions like Windows 8 and Vista. Microsoft backpedals on forced update.

This doesn't mean you should stay on Windows. Linux is a clear alternative that will allow you to compute your way without the operating system making those choices for you, or a software company that has no respect for it's users."

https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-11-22h2-optional-updates-another-year/

In the tech freedom community, alternative Android app stores are a touchy subject. We have a complicated relationship with Google. Google is one of the biggest threats to our freedom, yet we depend on their Android source code for our degoogled operating systems. I would expect that Android would be as locked down as iOS if in its early days Google hadn't made the decision to buy an open source operating system.

We are similarly in an awkward position with regards to the apps provided by the Google Play Store. We try to avoid them, but there are constantly stories of someone needs some app because of work or school or other community that is still in the Google universe.

The Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) universe is the best and most secure source for our Android and Linux OS applications software. In our surveillance capitalism and political surveillance environment, trust in your sources is the main issue. You have the maximum safety and security by choosing FOSS apps, and the greatest trust in FOSS apps that come from the known FOSS community. While no one person can be an expert on every available app, with the large size of the FOSS community, we can be fairly confident that if something nefarious is going on with any particular app, someone in the FOSS community will be involved enough to notice what is going on and report it to the greater community.

The F-Droid repository is the only FOSS source that rivals the Play Store in terms of having a large application base. You don't necessarily have to use the F-Droid app to use the F-Droid repository. There are many popular F-Droid front ends, with Neo Store and LeOS Droid being favorites. These F-Droid alternatives also offer additional repositories to add to your available app choices. The developers of these alternative app stores carefully curate the additional repositories so that you can generally feel safe with the repository sources they are offering.

When you get away from the known and trusted FOSS community, you are venturing into uncharted waters and taking on a degree of risk. If you really need something from Google, the best place to get it is from Google. Notwithstanding the frequent reports of malware getting past the Google filters, at least there is a degree of security in the Play Store app universe. Since you will primarily be restricting yourself to FOSS apps and only going to Google for work and school required apps, these will primarily be from big name sources where the degree of risk is known and can be addressed.

And if we have to use something from Google, the best way to do that is the Aurora Store since you can get these apps anonymously without having to use a Google account. Because of this, Google has somewhat of an adversarial relationship with Aurora. Use of the Aurora Store is technically a violation of Play Store terms of service, and Google keeps tweaking its APIs to inhibit the use of Aurora. This cat and mouse game leads to occasional outages of the Aurora Store until the developer has a chance to catch up and adjust the Aurora functionality. Aurora can also cause occasional headaches because it functions by using proxy accounts donated by volunteers, many of which are overseas and will not be able to access apps which are region locked to the US. When this happens, you can close Aurora and log in again to see if it connects you to a US proxy that can show the app you need.

Once you leave the universe of F-Droid and Aurora, choices become more obscure. APK mirror is generally considered safe just by reputation, but they are part of the mainstream Google Android community. Nevertheless, this is my first go-to source when I need something I can't get in Aurora. Note that this type of app store is not beginner friendly because if you are on an older device, you need to be able to read the minimum API requirements among the many versions of an app available for download. The LeOS support channel also recommends Up to Down as a reliable source which is similar to APK Mirror in offering various versions of an app.

1/2

Beyond these sources, the other alternatives offered in this Make Use Of blog post depend on how well you know and trust the communities they represent. I used to run the Amazon Store as an alternative way to get Google apps until I found out that apps downloaded from Amazon won't run if you uninstall the Amazon Store from your phone.

When it comes to having to use an installer app to install your app instead of a direct apk download, it introduces an unacceptable degree of risk. This rules out APK Pure (not mentioned in this review), and though Aptoide seems to only offer their installer to overcome technical issues, it still adds a layer of doubt to the trust, and Aptoide's spotty app support doesn't give a compelling reason to accept the risk.

If you're a gamer and well connected to the gaming community, you may know enough about TapTap to know if there are any trust issues. Simarly, Itch seems loosely connected to the FOSS community with Mitch, but you would have to know more about the apps they offer and whether they are open source or not. I suspect not since you have to use their app instead of an F-Droid repository to access them. Listing in F-Droid is free, so if developers are publishing in Itch or some other source instead of on F-Droid, you have to ask yourself why.

2/2

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-play-alternatives-downloading-android-apps-without-fuss/