Obtainium: Get Android App Updates Directly from the Source

Obtainium: Get Android App Updates Directly from the Source
obtainium.imranr.dev

Obviously you have to be careful what you install, just as with any app not found in Play Store, but if you're getting your apps elsewhere anyway this is really convenient.

1. You have an app you want to use.

2. That app isn't on the google app store or you don't want to/can't use google services.

3. The app is not open source so it can only be built and packaged by the first party.

4. You don't want to manually update the app by downloading a new APK every time.

5. You don't want to give a black-box closed-source app you downloaded from the internet permissions to install new apps (and therefore grant them certain new permissions as well).

My example of this is WhatsApp. I hate the app. I think it's scummy as shit. However if I want the version of WhatsApp that doesn't package google services, I either have to download a 3rd party app store, update the app from their web page manually, or grant the app permission to update itself. I obviously don't want to install a (often closed source) 3rd party app store just to install this app without granting it keys to the castle. So instead as I already use F-Droid, I can install the FOSS build of Obtanium and pin my trust on F-Droid. Then I use Obtanium to manage my WhatsApp updates.

Technically this also extends to open source apps where you trust the first party enough to use the app but not enough to let it update itself and where you want to be able to just download updates from github releases.