F-Droid, one of the biggest alternatives to Google Play for open-source apps, has begun rolling out version 2.0. Given the decade-old UI design and features, this update brings a complete overhaul to the interface, stronger search and easier app discovery, and a more straightforward installation process.

According to F-Droid’s official announcement, the update follows more than a year of work and 14 test releases. It will reach users gradually over the coming weeks, although anyone impatient can download it from F-Droid’s versions page now.

F-Droid has always been a compelling alternative to Google Play

It’s just that the storefront was stuck in 2016

F-Droid has always been a user favorite, thanks to making open-source Android apps available worldwide without tracking what you tap or pushing sponsored recommendations. Its official client, however, looked and behaved like a remnant of a long-forgotten Android era; one in which apps were mostly clunky and slow, and the Galaxy Note 3’s 5.7-inch display was considered heresy in the phone industry. (Ah, good times…)

The neglected interface had become frustrating enough that some users replaced the official F-Droid client with more polished alternatives such as Droid-ify. This update could finally persuade them to return.

Version 2.0 gives F-Droid a long-overdue overhaul with a rewritten client using Kotlin and Jetpack Compose. The general interface now follows the same design language as modern Android apps, with Discover, Search, and My Apps as the three main sections.

Moreover, F-Droid has expanded its categories, reaching into more specific areas like VPNs, firewalls, password managers, and such. The search bar is also more user-friendly now, as it can examine app descriptions, categories, and translations as well as app names. You don’t have to know exactly what an app is called before finding it on F-Droid. That’s a welcome feature, since the app carries open-source replacements for Chrome, YouTube, Gboard, Google Maps, and plenty of other mainstream apps. Now such apps are more discoverable.

For several reasons, Google prefers you download apps from the Google Play Store rather than sideloading them. Security concerns in particular are what Google’s leveraging to make sideloading more restrictive through its developer-verification system — something that F-Droid and other free-software advocates have criticized.

Thankfully, F-Droid now uses Google’s pre-approval API, which allows you to approve an installation before downloading the APK file. This eliminates the need to navigate an Android security obstacle course every time you want to install something. What’s more, the 2.0 version also allows for downloading multiple apps simultaneously and automatically checking for and installing updates.

On its website’s main page, F-Droid still offers the old version. If you want to get the 2.0 update now, you can head over to the website’s versions page, where it’s available. Otherwise, you can wait for the new client to roll out gradually over the next couple of weeks.