F-Droid's biggest update in a decade is coming despite Google's sideloading crackdown

F-Droid, the most popular app store for free and open-source Android apps, is about to get its biggest update in a decade. As one of the biggest critics of Google’s new sideloading restrictions in Android, F-Droid is bracing for the change with a modern interface that makes app discovery feel far less intimidating.

In a recent blog post detailing version 2.0, F-Droid said the new app store experience improves search and offers a “simpler experience that works well.” Visuals definitely feel refreshed, and the app now supports Google’s Material Design for aesthetics that feel more modern and cohesive with the rest of Android. The team says the update goes beyond a visual refresh, and that the app has been rewritten in Kotlin to ensure more frequent updates in the future.

The app store’s main navigation has been reworked and now comprises three core options: Discover, Search, and My Apps. The Discover tab now offers a decluttered UI for finding apps, segmented into specialized categories, while the dedicated Categories tab has been removed. The Discover section also uses high-level categories and groups related or similar apps into sub-categories within them, leading to a more hierarchical structure.

F-Droid says the improved search lets you look for apps through different categories “without tracking you or trying to ‘engage’ you to spend increasingly more time” inside the app store. Beyond names, the search also relies on app descriptions, tags, and even translates those from other languages to furnish better results.

To ensure more efficient searches, F-Droid also incorporates filters to narrow down results to fit your queries better. For instance, you can choose a particular category of games and only include ones that don’t serve ads or require the internet to work.

F-Droid is also incorporating a new installation flow that uses a new pre-approval API, so getting new apps is as seamless as it would be through the Play Store. The newer version also allows users to update all apps more easily, with the option to auto-update multiple apps at once.

The team thanks the EU for its intervention, possibly lauding its recent €430 million penalty on Google for restricting app distribution and violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Despite the update, F-Droid still implores that its ecosystem is under threat from Google’s announced measures for developer verification. A banner at the top of the page draws your attention to these changes, linking to a page that counts down the days remaining before the measures go into effect. While Google initially planned to implement a new developer verification mandate in September 2026, the date has since slid to 2027.

If you’re not aware, Google requires every developer to create an account on its developers’ portal, pay a one-time $25 fee, and verify a government-issued ID for their app to be labeled “verified.” While developers can still distribute apps through unofficial channels, users must enable developer options and endure a 24-hour wait before they can install the apps.

Time and again, Google has insisted that this isn’t going to impact sideloading on Android, but the increased complexity definitely makes it seem otherwise. For some users, especially those prone to installing apps without checking, it could improve device security. But for others, the blanket solution feels cumbersome and oppressive.

That said, F-Droid 2.0 is currently under development and isn’t quite available to download yet. You can get the alpha build from APK Mirror, but it does not include all of the changes that the team spoke of in its blog post. There’s no timeline attached to the release, but we hope to learn more soon.