This Week In F-Droid 35, Week 51, 2018

In this edition: New automated mirror monitor, repomaker released to Flathub, unofficial F-Droid meeting at 35C3 and talk about Off-Grid Services by @_hc.

There are 11 new and 68 updated apps.

F-Droid is a repository of verified free and open source Android apps, a client to access it, as well as a whole “app store kit”, providing all the tools needed to set up and run an app store. It is a community-run free software project developed by a wide range of contributors. This is their story this past week.

New automated mirror monitor

@_hc wrote a bit of code to automatically check up on the status of known F-Droid mirrors.

Repomaker released to Flathub

Only a few weeks after our request for help, @nicoalt was able to report the release of Repomaker on Flathub. For those who don’t know, Repomaker is a web app allowing you to create F-Droid repositories without needing any special knowledge.

Repomaker hasn’t had an official release so far, but it’s already usable, and we’ll make an official release soon. If you’re interested in trying it out before then, you can go to Flathub and install it easily on all major Linux distributions.

We would like to thank @Persival, @Marko10_000 and the Flathub staff for their help on making this release possible!

Unofficial F-Droid meeting at 35C3

The annual Chaos Communication Congress, called 35C3 this year, is taking place soon, from Dec 27th to Dec 30th at the Messe, Leipzig, Germany. As there will be a few F-Droid developers and community members present this year, we are planning to organize an informal meetup during the event. If you want to join us, keep your eyes on our Mastodon, or join #fdroid via Freenode IRC, Matrix, or Telegram.

Talk about Off-Grid Services by @_hc

@_hc will be speaking at 35C3 about Wind: Off-Grid Services for Everyday People - Integrating nearby and offline connectivity with the Internet on Dec 28th at 16:10.

“The internet has become an essential service, and offline methods of sharing data are rapidly disappearing. Other networks are often better suited when connectivity is not available or affordable. Radios, sensors, and computing are available in the cheapest of smartphones and routers. Wind is integrating nearby/offline data exchange with the internet services that we all rely on.”

Downgraded apps

Vespucci was downgraded to 11.2.2.0 because the auto-update process accidentally pulled in a buggy beta. (See here for technical details.)

New apps

PanicTrigger : Helps you and others in case of an emergency.

: Helps you and others in case of an emergency. Suntimes Calendars : The “Calendar Integration” and permissions added in Suntimes v0.9.0 have been removed in v0.10.0. The feature is now available separately via this add-on app.

: The “Calendar Integration” and permissions added in v0.9.0 have been removed in v0.10.0. The feature is now available separately via this add-on app. SMS Gate : Backup all your sms to an imap server or a local folder.

: Backup all your sms to an imap server or a local folder. LessPass : Generate unique passwords for your accounts based on a master password.

: Generate unique passwords for your accounts based on a master password. (F-Droid) Kaltura Device Info : Gsf, widevine l1/2/3, treble & a/b device infos (+other ids).

: Gsf, widevine l1/2/3, treble & a/b device infos (+other ids). MoneyWallet : Expense manager.

: Expense manager. Senior Launcher : A launcher app intended for oldies.

: A launcher app intended for oldies. Vädret : Weather app for sweden.

: Weather app for sweden. HACS : Hackspace access control system.

: Hackspace access control system. TowerJumper : Casual ability game.

: Casual ability game. Monochromatic: Enable the built-in black and white mode.

In total, 68 apps were updated this week. Here are the highlights:

The following updates won’t be automatically suggested to you unless you have “Unstable updates” enabled in the F-Droid app settings, but you can expand the “Versions” tab and install them manually. Note that these are marked beta for a reason: proceed at your own risk.

Removed apps

ICEcons was moved to the archive as it has been discontinued. You should use its successor Frost instead.

Tips and Feedback

Do you have important app updates we should write about? Send in your tips via Mastodon! Send them to @fdroidorg@mastodon.technology and remember to tag with #TWIF. Or use the TWIF submission thread on the forum. The deadline to the next TWIF is Thursday 12:00 UTC.

General feedback can also be sent via Mastodon, or, if you’d like to have a live chat, you can find us in #fdroid on Freenode, on Matrix via #fdroid:f-droid.org or on Telegram. All of these spaces are bridged together, so the choice is yours. You can also join us on the forum.

Thank you for reading, and Merry Christmas on behalf of all F-Droid contributors!