So I am trying to get into these OSes like Graphene, Callyx, e OS…etc. If need be, I will try to de Google the phone too. Anyway, I understand that you can install apps using stores like Amazo, Fdroid, Acrescent, Aurora…etc, instead of relying on Google Play Store.
If an app I need relies on Play Store, then so be it; I think OS like Graphene allows you to run a profile with Google Play stuff?
Otherwise, I can just use apps from Fdroid, Aurora…etc. Say I have Firefox installed from Fdroid and it requires a serious security update, which store will get the update first: the Play Store or they come at the same time even to Fdroid?
Or I am a dev and I need to send an update for my app, where do I send it first?
Any developer who makes apps worth using will push releases to their git repo first. The release will then trickle through the various app stores release processes, which might be automated or manual.
If they push to a public git repo, then you can skip all the app stores and just use something like obtainium to download release when they are available.
In some cases, apps are only released in git and not placed in any store.
Most developers who publish on third party stores push all updates at the same time, then it really depends who’s quicker in the approval process.
If the dev is on github, that might be the fastest (below the overview section under ‘assets’).
Aurora store directly pulls from googles servers so as soon as its on the play store its available on aurora.
Fdroid has a rather complicated “reproducibility” check they do. (They check that when they compile the app themselves they get the same apk file bit for bit as the original provided by the developer) So Fdroid will always be a couple days later usually.
The fastest will always be directly going to the source so either the git repository directly or using a store that pulls directly from git/release source like Obtanium https://f-droid.org/packages/dev.imranr.obtainium.fdroid/
I would always go with Fdroid as the first choice tho simply because its well tested and reliable.
F-droid doesn’t just check for reproducibility, they build and sign apps themselves. They don’t take apks from devs, only source code (this also means that F-Droid apks are not compatible with play store apks and can’t be mutually updated die to different signatures. I.e. you can’t install app from play store or directly from dev and update it from f-droid, and vice versa).
What do they mean by “reproducible builds” then? https://f-droid.org/en/2025/05/21/making-reproducible-builds-visible.html
On f-droid.org, the app’s metadata can include a Binaries: URL where the original developer can post their own signed releases. The build process downloads the signed release from there in order to compare it to the version that was just built on our buildserver.
Sounds a lot like reproducible builds to me…
You can also see this in practice in their regular blog posts like recently:
https://f-droid.org/en/2025/08/21/twif.html
But we also host Element X and its fork SchildiChat Next which are not yet updated as these hit reproducibility issues that hamper determinism.
Usually it has to go through Google’s approval process for the Play store, but others don’t have any such thing, so they’ll be faster.
If you really want them as fast as possible, if the author publishes the apks, you can use Obtainium to fetch them directly without waiting for any store.
If its a foss app the first release will be his github which will make the apk available via obtainium. I’ve notices that it will then get to fdroid a couple days layer them finally get to google play. Aurora is just a 3rd party frontend for accessing google play store that doesn’t require u to have a Google account or the play services installed.
