Hello, I’m David from Rootpk! I would like to suggest the addition of our alternative Android app store to the Android > Obtaining Applications section. We believe that our platform offers a good alternative to existing applications.
Additionally, we are excited to announce that we will be one of the first alternative app stores for the iPhone, made and hosted in the EU. Apple currently restricts the free installation of our store on iPhone, but things could change in response to the upcoming enforcement of the Digital Market Act, set to take effect next week.
Key features of our app store include:
Independent: In contrast to other alternative like the Aurora Store, which heavily relies on the Google Play Store, our app store operates independently. This ensures that even if an app is banned by Google, it may still be found on our platform. Additionally, we do not make calls to the Google Play API, thereby protecting users’ IP addresses from Google.
Very limited set of permissions: Our app only requests the necessary permissions for proper functionality, ensuring user privacy and security.
Covered by European Union’s strict laws on fair practices and data privacy. Proof of EU hosting
While there is still much work to be done, and some apps are not yet available, we are putting a lot of effort into improving our platform every day. We appreciate your consideration in including our alternative Android app store in the recommended section.
You are correct, we currently use BugSnag for error monitoring, we have just updated our privacy page to explain its use:
We use an error monitoring system to detect and address unknown errors within our services. In rare cases, this involves the transmission of anonymous data outside of the EU. It’s important to note that this is a temporary measure, as we are actively exploring options to either self-host or migrate to an EU-based solution.
The founder is located in the US and they are using Google domains DNS services.
just as an outsider looking in, not sure i like the idea of using twitter as your main and only method of communication for a service supposedly about freedom. the site doesn’t even allow properly viewing profiles without logging in or using nitter, which is dying a slow death. imo it’s an awful platform to use for just posting updates now
@david-rootpk, you have a lot of trackers. Remove them please, ore use privacy oriented ones like Matomo. Code seems not to be open source so it can contain malware (you will say no, but where is proofs?).
thanks. looks like nitter has fallen a lot in the past day. gone from at least loading profiles consistently to getting rate limits 19/20 times you refresh
Thank you for your feedback, we’ve included Mastodon as an alternative to communicate with us.
Could you please provide more details about the “trackers” you mentioned? We only use the open-source solution Plausible Analytics.
While our app store may not be open source, we prioritize other critical aspects that contribute to both security and user privacy. Most open-source software does not ensure reproducible builds, making it challenging to verify that the code has not been altered or compromised during the compilation process. The Android and iOS permissions system grants apps specific authorizations, preventing potentially harmful ones from accessing sensitive data or functionality without your consent.
I would say that as a minimum, there should be a github repo with the client source code, albeit with a restrictive license. That would ensure we can trust it, because there are already so many “shady”(closed-source) apps stores like ApkPure, Aptoide, etc.
