Aurora as PlayStore replacement

General
#1

I noticed that most people here use APKPure which is, as far as i know, an closed source app known for spreading malware from time to time.

I am a bit suprised that Aurora is not the thing everyone uses here. At least in the AOSP community, Aurora is the default.

  1. Its a GUI for the Google PlayStore (not its own Store). It works with random accounts or you can use an original playstore account and get access to apps you payed.
  2. Its FLOSS (available from F-Droid)
  3. The APK are, obviously, the original ones from the Google Play Store and so checked by Googles Security stuff
  4. It supports Split APK

I highly recommend to use of Aurora for security and compatibility reasons. You can even fake your location to get access to other countries app stores and stuff like that.

11 Likes
#2

Many users use Aurora Store. I also recommend using F-Droid directly for FLOSS app, which is a more sustainable option (Google can cut Aurora access at any point).
For non-FLOSS apps, other options: either use the official website if they provide an APK (signal, whatsapp), or there is other closed stores that are usable too (Amazon Appstore, Huawei AppGallery).

3 Likes
#3

Using F-Droid for FLOSS Apps is of course the first choice. Aurora is designed to be used with non-free apps not available from F-Droid.

Google announced roughly a year ago that they will not intervent Aurora and plan to provide access to the play store without any credentials at all in the future to not motive people to use unsecure Play Store alternative. I can’t find the link but it was quite a big deal back then in the AOSP community.

Amazon Appstore, Huawei AppGallery

They don’t contain a lot of the apps i use, there is no access to geo-restricted apps like a lot of japanese apps and if, they are outdated. I can’t recommend them.

5 Likes
#4

Good to know that Google is ok with Aurora. But a lot of us still use a Xperia X, and Aurora is only compatible with Android 5+

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#5

There is also Yalp. It is pretty much the same but in old. Nobody uses it anymore because it doesn’t support split apk but i think for the Xperia X, yalp is the better solution

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#6

Yalp has not worked for a while or is there a new version?
You don’t need an app for APKPure, it can also be used with a browser. It’s his own fault who installs the app ;-).

1 Like
#7

Thats a tough question. To my knowledge, support for Android 4.4 was dropped roughly 5 years ago as it was released in 2013 so nobody is using it. It could still be broken and just nobody really noticed it or did care.

#8

I won’t touch anything Google related with a 1000m pole, part of the reason I’m using Sailfish.

3 Likes
#9

I hope you’re using the Free Version of SailfishOS then on a device that didn’t shipped Android. Because otherwise you payed royalties to Google and support them by using Android Apps.

#10

I doubt Jolla are paying anything to Google for using some open source Android components in AD.

1 Like
#11

No, but Sony pays a royalty for every Xperia they sell because it comes with Android pre-installed

#12

That’s true, Sony could actually save money by releasing some of their devices without the Google tie-ins. I guess the small market would probably not warrant the hassle, though. It’s like with Microsoft in the old days when you had to buy a Windows laptop (and thus support Microsoft financially) just to install Linux.

#13

Yes, Sailfish OS is in a very complicated position. Because Google does offer AOSP for their Pixel Devices (with support!) so except for the Vendor Drivers, you can have an completely Free and OpenSource OS from Google or an half-free/open System from Jolla which you have to buy an Android Phone for.

Right now Jolla profits from people who either want a real Linux or people who don’t want to support Google (but you need to support Google to get a phone to run Sailfish OS on it).

Somethings does have to change in the future

#14

I guess one has to always make some compromises in life :slightly_smiling_face:
But it gets even more ridiculous - basically the only thing I have to fire AlienDalvik up for is the browser.
I could get rid of Android support altogether if Jolla just provided a browser that would work with a majority of every day sites.

1 Like
#15

Sadly i need more Android Apps. My Flashcard Learning Software (Anki) is Android only, my App for public transport (DB Navigator) and my Apps for Bike and Carsharing (altough i rarely use Carsharing at all), the messenger LINE (because for Japanese there is no FLOSS alternative to LINE) and so on.

For some Android Apps i use, there are replacements in the Jolla store but they either lack essential feature or they no longer work since the last update was somewhere in 2014

#16

Do you mean OpenRepos or are you the last person still using Jolla Store? :grinning:

#17

Taken from the main page of Aurora Store’s github:

Aurora Store was originally based on Sergei Yeriomin’s Yalp store. Aurora Store v4.0 is a rewrite of version 3 in Kotlin and runs on all devices running Android 4.4+. Read the roadmap page on our Wiki for more info!

Is that the same Aurora Store?

1 Like
#18

ANKI!!! haha my only Android app too :wink: But, it still works with 4.4

1 Like
#19

Nice!
Yes it’s the same Aurora Store, but the Android 4.4+ compatibility has only been added with the v4, a few weeks ago! :tada:
You can see that v3 was only for Android 5.0+: https://github.com/whyorean/AuroraStore/blob/v3/README.md

That’s good news! The OP should have started with that :stuck_out_tongue:
Indeed it should probably be advertised by Jolla then.

5 Likes
#20

Maybe you give Google some money, the most important point is, that you don’t pay with your data.

2 Likes