Privacy Guides @lemmy.one MoonlitSanguine @lemmy.one 12 mo. ago

Aurora Store on non rooted devices

Hey everyone, I recently learned about Aurora Store, a platform that allows you download Play Store apps even if you don't have Google services, like on Graphene OS. I'm curious if there's any benefit to using it on my non-rooted device. Any thoughts?

31 comments

You get access to playstore apps from trusted sources. That's about it.
- And without google tracking your used apps.
  
  When I discovered the Play Store history in my google settings, that creeped me out completely.
  
  Thankfully I had already switched to Aurora and F-Droid by that point
You get apps from a safe source without needing a google account.
- Thanks for providing us with so many links and options with your comment instead of a vague mention. You made a great contribution here instead of being useless. /s
Sometimes you can use it to get access to apps that aren't whitelisted for your device.
Aurora is great when it works but it's having a lot of issues recently.
- Just in case the issues you're referring to are the 'This account is rate limited' problem when trying to search for apps while using an anonymous account, I've found a workaround:
  
  Make sure Aurora Store has permission to open supported links (Open by default) in the app's settings, and add the available Play Store links. (If you have the Play Store on your phone you'll likely need to first remove them from there)
  
  Search for the app you want in your browser and copy the link.
  
  Paste the link in a messaging/notes app.
  
  Click the pasted link and it should open in Aurora Store, allowing you to install it.
Imho it's better to go to the root of the problem. F-droid. FOSS apps, no ads, no google.
If you don't have a Google account (my situation) it is great.
Aurora Store is safe and clean, there's no reason to be concerned about using it.

Although the code for it is good, in order to Aurora Store you must have your own individual Google account. The anonymous account has been rate limited because it was ierating as a shared account for all Aurora users, and Google can't data mine personal info when thousands of people are using one account.

You can install and update all apps that are in the Play Store through Aurora Store, but you must have your own account wirh the password to use Aurora Store.

In my view, I consider Aurora as being dead and gone. It's over, because I am not willing to create a Google account.
- I use it all the time without an account.
- It's also good for accessing the Store on a device that does not support Google Play services.
- What is your substitute atm or in the near future?
  
  For settng up a new phone, the only choices are to get everything from F-Droid or manually downloading the APK files.
Honestly I've moved to just directly pulling from APKPure or apkmirror. Arora or any of the play store frontend alts were too much hassle.
Sure, it can be useful for bypassing staggered rollouts of app updates.
If I have aurora store, I can Delete Playstore without risk?
- I've disabled play store on my device... sadly can't delete it as it's the only app than can update Carrier Services for RCS

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