app catalog

[IzzySoft]

First: thanks for making your app available open-source using a libre license!

Second, in your Readme I discovered the following statement:

Due to costs, the app is not available on any of the mainstream app platforms (namely Apple AppStore and Google Play). It is only possible to obtain the app for Android through this GitHub repository.

And I thought I can help with that. To make your app easier to discover, install and keep it updated on-device, there is more than the "mainstream app platforms" – there are also libre FOSS platforms. So I took the freedom to add your app to my F-Droid repository, where it will show up in less than an hour (around 6 pm UTC, with the next sync). Be welcome to pick a badge and link there e.g. from the install instructions of your Readme!

I hope you like this idea. And while my repo is already well-known (listing more than 1.111 apps now with yours), if you wish for an even broader audience and additional trust, you could aim to bring your app to F-Droid.org itself. F-Droid builds apps from their resp. source, which then confirms the APK matches that. With reproducible builds, it then would ship the app signed by you for double-confidence: F-Droid this way confirms the app was built from the source you provided, while your signature confirms it was really your source.

Due to costs

No money involved – though this takes some of your and their/our time (disclosure: I'm one of the maintainers there, too). So let me know if this interests you, and I give you details on that.

That said: Enjoy :smiley:

[rovati]

Hey @IzzySoft !

Thanks for reaching out and sorry for the late reply, lately I've been caught up with personal stuff.

Thank you a lot for the heads up about other distribution platforms and especially for adding this project to your repo, it means a lot! If it might interest you, I'd just spend a couple of words to explain a little bit more in depth why I was not pushing my app around the various available platforms. Seeing that I can manage to publish just a couple of major updates per year, and the fact that the app is still mainly tailored to my needs, I did not see much interest in looking for exposure. AppStore and Google Play were straight up out of the questions due to costs as I explained in the README, but also platforms such as F-Droid were not so appealing because as you well said they still require investing a bit of time in it, which I was not so keen doing.

That said, I'm taking this as a golden opportunity since I've been thinking that having a little bit of exposure might motivate me to work on the project more frequently. As soon as I get some free time I will explore the process needed to bring the app directly to F-Droid, and obviously any info you can provide me on this matter is very much appreciated.

Thank you again and have a nice weekend!

[IzzySoft]

I fully understand why someone doesn't want to bring their apps to Google Play – there are many reasons apart from the monetary one. I personally left their eco-system years ago (I don't even have an account there anymore, and my devices run without Google Services and all that). So I happily help people still getting the apps they need – or get their apps published in a way they can be found :smiley:

Thanks for adding the badge to your Readme! By the way, updates of your app will be pulled within 24h of your tagging a new release and attaching the APK to it. And should you want your other app(s) listed with me, too, just let me know – I didn't pick your expenses app yet because its repo seems "stalled" with the last release (and commit) 1.5 years ago, but gladly pick it up should you pick up its development again :wink:

Bringing an app to F-Droid.org might take a little more work than for my repo, that's right – but with your apps it would probably be quite straight-forward. And once listed there, it takes little to keep it up. But take your time, no hurry. And if you have any questions, I gladly help whenever I can. One of the first steps might be to establish Fastlane structures (for description and graphics), which F-Droid will need and your listing with my repo can profit from as well (as you'd be in control of the presentation then). I could send you a PR with what is established at my end currently, and you're welcome to use my Fastlane Cheat Sheet to build on that. Again, timing is yours.

So I'm glad you like the idea and the listing, plus even got some motivation from it: a clear WWW – a triple win: for you, for me and for those now discovering your app while having the ease of update notifications and all :smiley:

[rovati]

Thanks again Izzy for all the info, I really appreciate it! I used to run a Google-less ecosystem on my device but sadly I had to abandon it, but I guess that would have been a nice motivation to bring the app to F-Droid ;)

Regarding my other projects I do not intend to go back working on them anytime soon so it's best to let them sit where they are. For this one though, I will try to list it as soon as I get time and energy to do it.

[IzzySoft]

but sadly I had to abandon it

I don't know the reasons, maybe it would have been avoidable – but I guess you've checked your options before doing the sad step backwards. My sympathies! Luckily, my Google-free devices do all I need them to do, and that for almost 10 years now.

Regarding my other projects

Then let's concentrate on this one – fair enough!