Obtainium (Android App Downloader)

Fossforus · October 8, 2022, 2:38am

Obtainium is an Android app, found on Github that downloads and installs applications direct from the Github/lab/source page.

Advantages over RSS method:

Faster to setup than RSS method for those that don’t use RSS feeds
Less steps involved than the RSS method to install
sends push notifications when updates are available.
tells you the version of the app you’re running
can bulk import from your starred github/gitlab pages
Non technical users that aren’t comfortable with installing APKs can have it all done for them.

General Limitations:

App installs are assumed to have succeeded; failures and cancelled installs cannot be detected.
Auto (unattended) updates are unsupported due to a lack of any capable Flutter plugin.
For some sources, data is gathered using Web scraping and can easily break due to changes in website design. In such cases, more reliable methods may be unavailable.
Cannot install apps from source that require compiling or are contained within an archive (e.g. .ZIP)

I recommend adding prior to the ‘Manually with RSS Notifications’ section of the Android page here.

The “Verifying APK Fingerprints” section is also still relevant to this method.

jonah · October 8, 2022, 2:41am

I do like this app, however I’m not sure it’s a better solution than what we currently recommend without this feature being added:

github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium

Figure Out Silent/Background Updates

opened 09:12PM - 22 Sep 22 UTC

ImranR98

help wanted blocked high priority

This app is nearly exactly what I was just looking for, except I need unattended…/background updates. I'm not an Android dev, what exactly would be required for you to be able to add this feature? I'm almost tempted to hire an Android dev that could build a Flutter plugin that would work for this project, because that would make this the perfect app updater 🤔 At a glance though, it seems like replacing install_plugin_v2 with [flutter_install_app](https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_install_app) would provide the functionality you're looking for, is there a reason this plugin couldn't be used? > - Without user action (Android 12 or higher): > > If set, user action will not be required when all of the following conditions are met: > > > > - The app being installed targets API 30 or higher and is running on Android 12 or higher: > > - The app is the installer of record of an existing version of the app (in other words, this install session is an app update) or the installer is updating itself. > > - The installer declares the UPDATE_PACKAGES_WITHOUT_USER_ACTION permission. > > > > `AppInstaller.installApk('/sdcard/apk/app-debug.apk', actionRequired: false);` https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_install_app _Originally posted by @jonaharagon in https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium/issues/12#issuecomment-1255538404_

We may still consider adding it because some of the other benefits you mentioned are pretty nice, however this one is definitely possible with RSS feeds already.

matchboxbananasynergy · October 8, 2022, 12:25pm

github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium

Figure Out Silent/Background Updates

opened 09:12PM - 22 Sep 22 UTC

ImranR98

help wanted blocked high priority

This app is nearly exactly what I was just looking for, except I need unattended…/background updates. I'm not an Android dev, what exactly would be required for you to be able to add this feature? I'm almost tempted to hire an Android dev that could build a Flutter plugin that would work for this project, because that would make this the perfect app updater 🤔 At a glance though, it seems like replacing install_plugin_v2 with [flutter_install_app](https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_install_app) would provide the functionality you're looking for, is there a reason this plugin couldn't be used? > - Without user action (Android 12 or higher): > > If set, user action will not be required when all of the following conditions are met: > > > > - The app being installed targets API 30 or higher and is running on Android 12 or higher: > > - The app is the installer of record of an existing version of the app (in other words, this install session is an app update) or the installer is updating itself. > > - The installer declares the UPDATE_PACKAGES_WITHOUT_USER_ACTION permission. > > > > `AppInstaller.installApk('/sdcard/apk/app-debug.apk', actionRequired: false);` https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_install_app _Originally posted by @jonaharagon in https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium/issues/12#issuecomment-1255538404_

The new plugin mentioned above has a dealbreaker - see #46. Switching back to the old one; this issue is blocked for now…

It seems that this won’t be happening for now. In light of that, I think it’s best to hold off until this happens, because the other benefits are dubious compared to a normal RSS reader.

ph00lt0 · October 8, 2022, 6:15pm

It is still in beta afaik so it can’t be recommend for the masses. Generally the updates work really well.
It does install updates now without any user prompts after downloading the APK which is neat.

ph00lt0 · October 8, 2022, 6:17pm

Not really sure why this is required. Aurora also does not have this and neither did Neo Store. The app notifies the user pretty well that it has to trigger download. This is at this point the only required interaction. Still would wait until it is out of beta.