Android App Stores
I had heard and read of 3rd party android app stores. There are YouTube videos that discuss on how to “De-google your phone” or Alternatives to Google along with Reddit posts. With ever increasing reach on how many online services know too much about us. There are many android app stores listed on search engines. Here are the top ones that I tried out with my thoughts.
Google Play Store:
It is the default app store that comes with all Android smartphones. There are apps that are free, free with ads and paid premium ads. Google does a good job on making sure to remove apps that don’t meet their standards of security. Updating your apps is pretty easy within the Google Play App or Google Play website. You can install apps remotely from the website to your devices and see where you device is located. How can Google keep most of its services free? Allegedly, Google reads your information within email, notes, voice, drive and make money from your data to 3rd party marketing companies.
Aptoide – Aptoide is frequently mentioned on many Google Play Store alternatives. You can download the app directly from their website. Make sure your Android device settings are adjusted to install 3rd party apps. I did a fresh clean install on my Android tablet. Installed the software and did not even bother with Google Play Store. There is no easy way to do mass installation of apps. I assume without logging in to their service. Created an account and did not get the “Welcome” email. You can still proceed without creating an account. Aptoide does check every app to meet its standards. It does not have the same amount of apps compared to Google Play Store. It has no Geo-location restrictions meaning if your in a country that “removed” certain apps. You can install those apps with this Store. Aptoide has a TV app for Android TV box sets. It is a bit slow and by default. It goes for the WiFi connection but has the backup option for cellular data. That setting can adjusted to only use WiFi only. You can make your own App Store with your own list of apps to share with your company, family, relatives, and get a portion of revenue. All the apps are free. I believe the revenue split is done via ads. After every installation you will see an ad that will pop up which gets annoying.
F-Droid
Directly quoted from their website “F-Droid is an installer catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device.” You can download the app directly from their website. Once you install the app store on your device. It is a bit slow to load up at first. Certain things do not work right. When I clicked on the categories on my tablet it showed nothing. Until I closed the application and restarted it. There is a lot of software that is abandoned and not updated in years. One must do their due diligence when looking for software.
My final thoughts are that Google Play Store is easier to use, has way more apps to chose from, they don’t bombard you with excessive ads after install apps. They do make money off you through your data on the back end. Easier to queue up and install many apps at once. The 3rd party App Stores still rely and connect to Google Play Store to obtain their software. The 3rd Party sites only remove the tracking and Identifiable information and its not as stream lined to install many apps at once. Aptoide makes money via what I presume are with ads. The ads get annoying after every individual app install. Not many apps compared the Google Play Store. F-droid is another great alternative to open source apps. It may replace many apps but not everything. Looking for an app that is not listed on Google Play Store you have a chance at Apkmirror. I will stick with Google Play with F-Droid and see what can be replace from the stock Google Apps for now. Looking forward to the upcoming Linux phones. Having a full Linux phone as another Operating System choice is great in theory. I came in with an open mind to try out other software stores. It is good thing to have alternatives but they are not at the same scale as the default OEM Google Play Store for now.
