# Difference between Privacy Guides Verified Apps and AppVerifier BG?

**URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/difference-between-privacy-guides-verified-apps-and-appverifier-bg/38567
**Category:** Questions
**Created:** 2026-06-16T08:17:17Z
**Posts:** 7
**Showing post:** 3 of 7

## Post 3 by @privacy.slouchy — 2026-06-16T16:15:11Z

They’re parallel efforts to tackle the same community issue: verification of downloaded apps on android

Both are forks of [AppVerifier](https://github.com/soupslurpr/AppVerifier). This tool has been used & endorsed by the privacy community for some years to authenticate app installs on android. Unfortunately, [AppVerifier is/was becoming abandonware](https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/33621-appverifier-needs-an-update-asap) - the original developer [no longer wished to update its internal database](https://github.com/soupslurpr/AppVerifier/issues/192), and while the app does allow users to paste in singular hashes, it does not support whole external databases

@jonah [pitched a PG-maintained database](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/maintaining-our-own-appverifier-directory) on May 22, and began [polling the community for submissions](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/submit-android-apps-to-our-appverifier-database) on May 25. PG [released a beta app](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/verified-apps-app-for-android-pre-release) on 4 June, positioning itself as a means to easily compare the PG database against your installed apps

Meanwhile, @RoundSalmon4 forked the AppVerifier repo on May 27, and began developing[a drop-in AppVerifier replacement](https://github.com/RoundSalmon4/AppVerifierBG) that would allow additional database sources. They [joined PG](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/submit-android-apps-to-our-appverifier-database/38125/21) when one of our threads produced [some feedback for their implementation](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/submit-android-apps-to-our-appverifier-database/38125/18)

So now there are two solutions to the app verification problem, both seemingly products of discussions on PG (nice):

> PG Implementation: maintained by jonah/PG. Intended to verify apps against the PG database only, and to provide an easy means to update the separate PG Database
> 
> AppVerifierBG: maintained by RoundSalmon4. Intended as a drop-in replacement for AppVerifier. Supports a broader range of databases & hash sources

Maybe they’ll be competing tools & we’ll reap the benefits of free-market competition. Maybe they’ll join forces & merge projects. Who knows.

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