F-Droid finally stands out as the alternative store par excellence for free and open applications. Pleasant to use, simple and with quality applications, it deserves to be given a little more importance!
If sometimes there are application stores that flirt with the legality, others rely above all on open source! This is particularly the case with F-Droid, a benchmark today in the alternatives to the Google Play Store. His particuliarity ? It only offers free and open applications, without registration.
Few applications available on the default store
With just over 1,500 free applications available in the basic repository, F-Droid is not the most complete store. However, having managed to gather so many free applications is still difficult and therefore it is rather very positive. Obviously, this number increases over time, you just have to be a little patient because remember that it is the community that offers all this for free.
Regarding applications, you will find all types and that is also what makes the strength of this store. Everything is classified in clear and understandable categories: connectivity, development, finance, graphics, games …
The application, although simplistic, makes it easy to navigate. We may simply regret the home page which is a little clutter. As for the interface, we are indeed rather far from its competitor Aptoide for example. Note anyway that if you do not want to go through the application, you can download all the APKs on the F-Droid website from your browser. Installation of the application is still recommended.
Add new repositories for more choices
In addition to the application repository which is installed as standard on the application, the user can also activate others. You will find them in particular on the internet and they allow you to add many applications to the catalog.
Another very positive point: thanks to an integrated functionality, you will be able to install applications from other devices located next to you thanks to your Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection. Clearly, someone will be able to share their applications with you so that you can install them on your phone.
All applications are checked before they are available for download on the store. Therefore, you will have no malware problem for example. Please note that the quality of these applications may vary. During our tests we sometimes had some unpleasant surprises with applications that were not always very interesting or very effective.
Many parameters
As for the parameters, this remains very complete. You can configure almost everything: downloads via Wi-Fi or with a cellular connection, activation of Tor for more security and anonymity, automatic download of updates … F-Droid is therefore a very serious competitor who wants to be finally full. We may just regret the home page where we tend to get lost easily.
Remember that it is an open-source and free solution that can exist thanks to donations. If you ever become an active user and you like this store, do not hesitate to contribute to this beautiful project.