[General Topics] JackDSRS:
Oh man, do we have a difference in opinions.

Github is one of the best sources for open source, constantly evolving and forking apps out there.

F-Droid and it's brethren are free, secure, declare permissions and trackers ahead of time as well as active development progress.

Aurora store can combine multiple sources and update apps that your system has put to "sleep," "deep sleep," and 3rd party apps have temporarily frozen or disabled; NONE of which Google regularly does.

And APK repositories keep powerful apps that Google eventually made the developer lose interest because of Play Store's ever increasing restrictive acceptance policies.

Even XDA apps have major differences between their XDA versions and their Play Store versions.

I'm not posting links. Search for them yourself.

Github examples: Shizuku, Termux plugins, Aniyomi, Mihon, Amarock.

F-Droid examples: dvd, GMaps WV, KeypassDX, NetInfo Widget. F-droid also distributes some Github apps, and some versions of Play Store apps free from their restrictive policies or trackers (even installation), like OpenKeychain, Tor Browser, droidVNC. Would you trust high security programs from Google?

Aurora Store has updated NMM, Accumu PDF, Multi Layer, Audio Cutter and more from "deep sleep" without Play Store ever picking them up. And you can filter searches by rating, free, paid, ads, and gsf required. AND you can update or install apps anonymously without ever logging into Play. PLUS it has Shizuku support. Hell, I froze Play with Hail.

But if you want to keep Play Store from mucking with your Git or F-Droid clean versions, blacklist them in Aurora Store, disable auto-updates in Play, and just use F-Droid or NeoStore to congregate tracker free F-Droid, IzzyDroid, Guardian Project and similar repositories with one app. Just check to see if Aurora or Play list them as installed apps.

APK repositories have insanely powerful apps that aren't on Play Store anymore but still work with my Android 10 regardless, like BFileSync (moving files from Internal to External storage based on your criteria) and Search Duplicate Files (no BS searching for every type of file with both storages at the same time, exact, near, and fuzzy searches, by size, video duration, document types, picture characteristics) and more. Even no longer on Play, it recognizes WEBM and WEBP formats. These aren't ripped, modded files. These are the original Play versions.

BFileSync is great for those with tiny Internal storage and huge External storage, because it can do things like move large downloads as soon as they're complete, or rename backup files before moving them. Er, I of couse mean downloading your own cloud files. Download manga with a crapload of scanner credits, some slightly different from each other? Search Duplicate Files can find them even if they have different file formats. Uh, rather, your 20 near duplicate pictures of your cat and upscaled versions of them. The other was purely hypothetical.

Even XDA's version of MiX Explorer is different than Play Store's version.

Oh, two more things. Due to Google's policies, even some of their approved apps can't be distributed fully functional and you have to go to the dev's website to download the modules they couldn't include. EDS's V1's exFAT module had to be enabled that way.

MURxPRO is a monstrously powerful file renamer, even including RegEx options, but advertising push options for apps moved it down Play Store's list on searches, interest waned, and the developer moved on. It's still there as it's almost globally compliant, but horribly overlooked, just because dev's can pay to bump up their apps in search results on Play. See the Sponsored notation?

Understandably, to keep your list short, you had to use some sort of rules for restriction, but not using these sources left some of the truly best and unique out. Play can manipulate your choices leaving you often missing some of the brightest developers to abandon promising work for other distribution channels.

If you've actually read all this, check these sources out for alternative apps.

Jack