The F-Droid project, which develops a catalog of open applications for Android, has released the official F-Droid 2.0 mobile app, featuring a modern design in the style of Material Design, rewritten key components, a revamped system for categorizing apps, and streamlined processes for searching and installing applications, while retaining familiar workflows. The project's code is distributed under the GPLv3 license.
By default, navigation is conducted through the catalog of free programs at f-droid.org, but there is support for connecting to any other repository compatible with F-Droid. The program handles tasks such as notifying users of updates, automatically downloading and installing updates, filtering out programs incompatible with the installed version of Android, searching for needed programs, and verifying integrity via digital signatures.
Among the changes:
- The application has been completely rewritten in Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, simplifying maintenance and lowering the barrier for new developers.
- The design has been revamped in accordance with the Material Design concept while maintaining the brand's style.
- Navigation has been reduced to three sections: Overview, Search, and My Apps, with settings and the Nearby Swap app-sharing feature moved to the top panel.
- Search functionality has been expanded to include not only names but also descriptions and categories. The app now saves the history of past search queries.
- Application categories have been expanded. Meta-categories have been added; for example, the Games section is divided into 17 sub-sections based on game genres.
- Support for filtering results by category, device compatibility, and the absence of unwanted features has been added.
- The current API for installing third-party applications has been utilized.
- Background checking and installation of updates is enabled by default. Manual checking has been moved to the 'My Apps' menu.
- Configuration for operation via the Tor network has been simplified.
- Support for the Android 6 platform has been discontinued (Android 7 or higher is required).
- The Nearby feature for direct app-sharing between devices has been temporarily disabled, but it will be restored in one of the upcoming releases.
Source: opennet.ru
