F-Droid Basic 2.0 alpha debuts with rewritten UI, better search and improved app discovery

F-Droid has released the first alpha version of its modernized 2.0 app, following a year-long effort to overhaul the open source Android app store. The new user interface is built from scratch with Kotlin Compose, aiming for greater usability and modern design standards.

This initial release is limited to F-Droid Basic, while the full feature set is still in development. Among the improvements, the search feature now allows queries within app descriptions and translations, and the most downloaded apps are highlighted to aid discovery.

Building on workflow enhancements, installation approval is now required before downloading, and multiple updates or downloads can proceed in parallel. The app will also alert users to issues such as changes in an app’s signing key. To further enhance customization, users can switch to a Material You color theme and benefit from improved filtering in app lists.

While these updates mark clear progress, several features remain absent, such as IPFS gateway support, screenshot prevention, the ability to prefer foreign mirrors, DNS cache, and installation history. Users should also be aware of current issues: some installations require confirmation twice, update notifications might not always open the correct screen, and occasionally the ongoing installation notification does not clear on certain devices. Despite these gaps, the alpha is considered stable for daily use by “adventurous” testers.