Alternate app stores for Android

[Feathers McGraw]

I flashed this:

http://goo.im/devs/paranoidandroid/r...207-signed.zip

It seems to have done what I wanted: given me just enough Google stuff to sign in to their services, without having all the intrusive bloat. I can now use my Google account with ChatSecure , but I don't have the play store.

Google keyboard with continuous input is back, something I use all the time and was missing.

So I've got rid of some of the proprietary stuff that was annoying me, and I still have the bits I actually wanted, which is an improvement. Baby steps...

[Feathers McGraw]

I think this is an OK place to ask this question, since it's relevant to the OP, but I don't mind moving it into another thread if you'd rather not clutter a sticky!

Anyway, I re-flashed CyanogenMod and didn't flash Gapps this time, I want to see if I can go without it (and without as much proprietary software as possible). I think the answer is generally yes, but my plan has come unstuck slightly:

I was hoping to use ChatSecure (formerly Gibberbot) to use Google's messaging service without Hangouts installed. I've installed it before and connected fine, but it seems that's only possible when all the Google framework is there on the device.

So, I reluctantly pulled the .apk's from the latest Gapps and installed the bits I thought I needed (basically the bits in /system/priv-app/) ...no dice, when I try to add a Google account I get a message saying "there was a problem connecting to the Google servers".

So, have you lot tried using a FOSS-only Android? What do you use for messaging (Hangouts/WhatsApp kind of thing, but FOSS)?

I can see a few Jabber clients in the repos but the drawback is that most people I know either use WhatsApp or Hangouts, which are incompatible with the open standards :/

The only non-free apps I have on the device now are SlideMe and GPS Status, which I need to provide GPS tracking for OsmAnd.

Feathers

[Feathers McGraw]

Sure, but I think the developer has to submit the apk, so it is up to them to provide the software to the various stores.

Fdroid has the latest stable K9, the version 4.8 was put in the play store specifically for KitKat users because (iirc) 4.40something was broken for android 4.4, and is not considered a stable release. If you are not running Kit Kat, you get 4.409 from the Play Store.

I didn't realise that the apks are self submitted! Interesting.

Yeah, I actually started looking into it because after I upgraded to KitKat, K9 wasn't displaying emails properly (couldn't see the top few lines). I quite like the new K9 look, it's more touch friendly.

Still waiting for CM11...

[claydoh]

Sure, but I think the developer has to submit the apk, so it is up to them to provide the software to the various stores.

Fdroid has the latest stable K9, the version 4.8 was put in the play store specifically for KitKat users because (iirc) 4.40something was broken for android 4.4, and is not considered a stable release. If you are not running Kit Kat, you get 4.409 from the Play Store.

[Feathers McGraw]

https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/wiki/ReleaseNotes

A bit complicated, as 4.8 is specifically for android 4.4, 4.409 is the current stable version, and there are other, newer test builds in their Google code page.


I think that it might just be too much work for many developers to keep things up to date on these other app stores, considering the smaller audiences they bring.

Sent from my dlx using Tapatalk

Fair point. Presumably, there's no reason it has to be compiled separately for each repo though? Compile once and upload to all would do? Is there a reason why F-droid couldn't use the Google Play .apk?

Feathers

[claydoh]

https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/wiki/ReleaseNotes

A bit complicated, as 4.8 is specifically for android 4.4, 4.409 is the current stable version, and there are other, newer test builds in their Google code page.


I think that it might just be too much work for many developers to keep things up to date on these other app stores, considering the smaller audiences they bring.

Sent from my dlx using Tapatalk

[Feathers McGraw]

It's strange, but both F-droid and SlideMe seem to have quite old versions of apps in the repository.

For example, K9 mail is at version 4.8 on Google Play, 4.409 on F-droid, and 4.200 on SlideMe.

I guess it requires quite a lot of effort to recompile new versions, but I'd expect K9 to be quite a widely used app and therefore up to date...

[Feathers McGraw]

Thanks!

Have been using F-droid for a while and like it, but it lacks ratings.

Had a quick look at Slide me, it seems it may be what I was after all along!

Feathers

[SteveRiley]

That's true. Different phones have varying degrees of difficulty getting into. But eventually they all fail. Yay for software bugs!

[dmeyer]

The XDA Developers forums have plenty of information for rooting just about every phone in existence. Have you checked there?

Oh no. I'm all sorted. I have an international S2 running CM10.1. I have no problem at all, never have and probably never will. For us its easy, but some of these things can seem daunting for average users. I was just sort of playing devil's advocate.

[SteveRiley]

The XDA Developers forums have plenty of information for rooting just about every phone in existence. Have you checked there?

[dmeyer]

and why not ??

VINNY

Carriers can lock everything up so that getting root is difficult. Then, its also possible to disable installing non-market apps entirely even with the menu option. Fortunately most carriers do not do this but some indeed do. Verizon limits sideloading a lot!

[vinnywright]

This is great for those of us who can sideload apps but unfortunately there are a huge number of people who can't.

and why not ??

VINNY

[dmeyer]

This is great for those of us who can sideload apps but unfortunately there are a huge number of people who can't. Might I also recommend the Amazon app store. It gives away 1 free paid app a day, has a decent selection of apps and has quite a nice interface.

[vinnywright]

LOL ,,,,, sory but had to add ........ I coped the URL of this page , opened Klipper , clicked show bar code , scanned it , and it opened this page in the browser on the G1,,,,,,,how cool.

VINNY