This Week in F-DroidTWIF curated on Friday, 18 Jul 2025, Week 29F-Droid coreLast week’s TWIF title was not a joke, but it became a meme two days later, on Saturday morning, when the week suddenly was upgraded to “interesting”.We reported on the removed categories backgrounds as just another adaptation based on years of feed-back and user experience, also tightening the focus on finer grained app filtering by better categorization. What we didn’t account for were edge cases in the old codebase as it evolved in time.Since these backgrounds were integrated, their code handling was untouched. When we added the “diff index” improvements, so that only the changes since the last index are downloaded, we started to merge the older local index and the new small update index locally to recreate the full index.On Saturday morning (UTC!) the first index without backgrounds was published, the information on them went from “categoryname.png” to nothing, or in the machine language to null. On your device, the database merge in the client was encountering a value that it was not expecting, and it errored out with not nullable: icon.The team was, as usual, spread around the world, in so many different time zones, ranging from Saturday evening to Friday night, yet we figured out what the issue was, reverted the offending commit (the one that removed said backgrounds), and brainstormed (and tooted) ways for users to get out of this conundrum in a couple of hours.When you read this, the index fix has already been deployed so users got updates again as usual. This took two cycles to deploy. Why two cycles? A build cycle started immediately after the faulty index update, as they do, and the fix was to be processed by the next cycle. Since we average an update every 4 days, other bugs aside and depending on the build queue, the fixed index was expected to go live in about 7 to 9 days, give or take. During this time users were affected by the mysterious “nullable” toast, but otherwise be okay.Going forward, we got this fixed in the Client code and will be part of the next 1.23.1, soon, with other nice fixes. Once this version is out for a while, we will proceed with the backgrounds removal as we intended initially.*UpstreamNonFree* was always a confusing and misleading AntiFeature. It’s used to flag the applications that are patched downstream by F-Droid to remove the non-free parts. All applications published in the F-Droid official repo are fully FOSS. However, users thought the flagged applications are somehow non-free while, in truth, many applications in F-Droid are patched more or less without getting this AntiFeature. After years of discussions, we decide to remove this AntiFeature.Community News@linsui is typing:The AnySoftKeyboard is a multi-lingual keyboard. It supports many different languages via a huge set of plugins. Though it’s actively developed and updated, it hasn’t tag a new release since 2022. Therefore, the version published on F-Droid is far behind other distributions channels. Besides, many plugins were never published on F-Droid and some of them are archived during the migration from Google Code to GitHub. The complicate version system and the lack of upstream response also prevented us from updating it automatically. Since this keyboard is popular and many users are waiting for an update, I finally took some time to update it with all the plugins to the latest version and added 40+ missing plugins. Enjoy them!We also did some cleanup, archiving some applications we had trouble to update to the latest versions, including Bliss Launcher which is still actively developed. If you are a user and want to update them, please help!Removed Apps20 apps were removed Battle for Wesnoth: A turn-based strategy game with a high fantasy theme Bliss Launcher: Launcher originally designed for /e/ Block6: Block6 is an SMS app that makes it easy to block messages from numbers you don’t Clock You: Privacy focused clock app build with MD3 CryptoTerminal: Secure Point of Sale cryptocurrency payment terminal Document Viewer: A highly customizable viewer for PDF, DjVu, XPS, cbz, fb2 for Android. Euro konverter: Calculator for converting Croatian kunas into euros at a fixed exchange rate GSMLocationNlpBackend: UnifiedNlp location provider (OpenCellID) GTFSOffline: Use with any pro-GTFS transit agency Kanji draw: Kanji recognition KeepScore: User-friendly score keeper NC Bookmark Viewer: This is a lightweight viewer for Nextcloud bookmarks NoPhoneSpam: Block unwanted calls PartyGames: Play popular PartyGames S Tools+: Collection of system tools Simple App Launcher: A customizable holder for your favorite apps, reorder icons as you wish. Simple Dialer: Manage phone calls with this simple phone dialer app with phonebook Simple SMS Messenger: SMS messaging and MMS messaging app for Android, send messages fast, nice UI SoundWaves: Manage and listen to podcasts Turbo Editor: Simple text editorNewly Added Apps47 apps were newly added App Lock: Secure your sensitive apps with powerful biometric protection using AppLock! Deskflow Android: A fully functional (90%) Deskflow client application for Android devices MapComplete: Thematic, editable maps based on OpenStreetMap TLSFragment: TLS fragmentation to bypass China’s Great Firewall. Transport You: Privacy focused public transport app built with MD3 WHPH - Work Hard Play Hard: Productivity app for task management, habit tracking and time optimizationAnd many AnySoftKeyboard plugins: AnySoftKeyboard 3D Theme: 3D Buttons theme for AnySoftKeyboard Arabic for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Arabic Language pack Armenian for AnySoftKeyboard: Armenian Language Pack for AnySoftKeyboard Belarusian for AnySoftKeyboard: Belarusian Language Pack for AnySoftKeyboard Bribri for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Bribri Language pack Bulgarian for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Bulgarian Language pack Coptic for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Coptic Language pack Croatian for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Croatian Language pack Czech for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Czech Language pack Finnish for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Finnish Language pack Georgian for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Georgian Language pack Hacker for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Hacker Keyboard layout pack Hawaiian for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Hawaiian Language pack Hindi for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Hindi Language pack Icelandic for AnySoftKeyboard: Language pack for AnySoftKeyboard ICS Theme for AnySoftKeyboard: Ice Cream Sandwich Theme for AnySoftKeyboard Israel 64 BDay Theme: AnySoftKeyboard theme for Israel 64th birthday. Kachin for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Kachin Language pack Kurdish for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Kurdish Language pack Lithuanian for AnySoftKeyboard: Lithuanian layouts and wordlist for AnySoftKeyboard. Luxembourgish for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Luxembourgish Language pack Nias for AnySoftKeyboard: Nias language addon for AnySoftKeyboard Old North Arabian for ASK: AnySoftKeyboard Old North Arabian Language pack PC Numpad for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Numpad keyboard Pack Persian for AnySoftKeyboard: Language pack for AnySoftKeyboard Piedmontese for AnySoftKeyboard: Piedmontese language pack for AnySoftKeyboard Pilagá for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Pilagá Language pack Polish for AnySoftKeyboard: Language pack for AnySoftKeyboard Portuguese for AnySoftKeyboard: Language pack for AnySoftKeyboard Romanian for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Romanian Language pack Rusyn for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Rusyn Language pack Sardinian for AnySoftKeyboard: Sardinian language pack for AnySoftKeyboard Serbian for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Serbian Language pack Sinhala for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Sinhala Language pack Slovak for AnySoftKeyboard: Slovak language pack for AnySoftKeyboard Slovene for AnySoftKeyboard: Language pack for AnySoftKeyboard Songhay for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Songhay Language pack Swedish for AnySoftKeyboard: Language pack for AnySoftKeyboard Tamazight for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Tamazight Language pack Thai for AnySoftKeyboard: AnySoftKeyboard Thai Language pack Ukrainian for AnySoftKeyboard: Language pack for AnySoftKeyboardUpdated Apps 115 apps were updated (expand for the full list) AAAAXY was updated to 1.6.257+20250708.3875.0b12940a Afrikaans for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Amber was updated to 3.4.2 AndroidSDK easter egg showcase was updated to 2.0 AnkiDroid: Flashcards was updated to 2.21.0 AnySoftKeyboard - Hebrew Language Pack was updated to 5.1.6158 aShell was updated to v0.17 Auxio was updated to 4.0.8 Aves Libre was updated to 1.13.4 baresip was updated to 67.2.0 baresip+ was updated to 54.2.0 Basque for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Bim! was updated to 9 Blood pressure monitor was updated to 1.8.8 BOINC was updated to 8.2.4 Bold Bitcoin Wallet was updated to 1.3.0 Brazilian Portuguese for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Brethap was updated to 1.8.0 Cartes IGN was updated to 3.3.18 Catalan for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Celestia was updated to 1.8.7 Classic PC Theme was updated to 5.1.6158 Conversations was updated to 2.19.0-beta.4+free Copy SMS Code - OTP Helper was updated to 1.19.1 Cryptographic ID was updated to 0.5.6 CryptX was updated to 1.3.1 Cuscon was updated to 4.0.5.4 Danish for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 DEMOCRACY was updated to 1.5.11 DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser was updated to 5.240.0 Dutch for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Esperanto for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Etar - OpenSource Calendar was updated to 1.0.49 FixupXer - URL Enhancer was updated to 1.4.0 Flip 2 DND was updated to 6.0.1 Flowit — Block Puzzle was updated to 4.2 Fossify Notes Beta was updated to 1.3.0 Fossify Phone was updated to 1.6.0 FossWallet was updated to 0.22.0 French for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 FTPClient was updated to 2.12.1 Gallery for PhotoPrism was updated to 1.38.0 German for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Goodtime - Minimalist Pomodoro Timer was updated to 3.0.12 Greek for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Guileless Bopomofo Keyboard was updated to 3.4.1 Habit-Maker was updated to 0.0.32 Halachic Prayer Times was updated to 15.01 Home Assistant was updated to 2025.7.1-minimal Home Medkit was updated to 1.8.1 Hungarian for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Iam Pirate Dice was updated to 1.0.3 Indonesian for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Italian for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Jami was updated to 20250708-01 JetBird was updated to 1.3.2 Joplin was updated to 3.3.11 KISS Launcher was updated to 3.22.0 KitchenOwl was updated to 0.7.2 Kotatsu was updated to 9.0.1 LabLog was updated to 1.14 Latvian for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 LibreOffice & OpenOffice document reader | ODF was updated to 3.34 Librera Reader was updated to 9.0.5-fdroid Lightning Address to Invoice was updated to 1.4.1 Limpazap was updated to 4.0.1 Linphone - open source SIP client was updated to 6.0.11 Lissen: Audiobookshelf client was updated to 1.5.6 Materialious was updated to 1.9.20 Mindfulness Meditation was updated to 2.3.2 Money Manager Ex was updated to 5.4.6 Musify was updated to 9.6.0 NATINFo+ was updated to 0.7.2 NeoStumbler was updated to 2.1.3 Nextcloud Dev was updated to 20250712 NoiseCapture was updated to 1.3.1 Norwegian for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Notely Voice: AI Voice to Text was updated to 1.1.2 OnTime was updated to 2.5 OpenPaperView was updated to 1.3.4 OpenTopoMap Viewer was updated to 1.22.2 OpenTracks (Non-reproducible) was updated to v4.21.1irreproducible OpenTracks (Reproducible build) was updated to v4.21.1 P.CASH Wallet was updated to 0.43.1 personalDNSfilter was updated to 1.50.58.0 qBitController was updated to 2.0.0 Read You was updated to 0.14.3 Recurring Expense Tracker was updated to 0.17.5 Russian for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Sapfir was updated to 1.0.9 Schulrechner was updated to 1.10.0 Simlar - secure calls was updated to 2.13.0 (alwaysOnline) Simple. : Fitness Simplified. was updated to 1.7.11 SimpleTextEditor was updated to 1.28.4 sing-box was updated to 1.11.15 Spanish for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Swiss Bitcoin Pay was updated to 2.5.14 Turkish for AnySoftKeyboard was updated to 5.1.6158 Tuta Calendar was updated to 296.250709.0 Tuta Mail was updated to 296.250709.0 Unciv was updated to 4.17.4 Unexpected Keyboard was updated to 1.32.1 Unstoppable Crypto Wallet was updated to 0.43.2 Valentin’s PowerTools #016 - Tomato Potato Clock was updated to 1.0.4 Vidya Music: Aersia VIP Player was updated to 2.1.1 whoBIRD was updated to 4.5 WiFi Widget was updated to 1.7.0 Wiki Fronted was updated to r/2.7.50540-r-2025-07-08 Wikipedia was updated to r/2.7.50540-r-2025-07-08 Xed-Editor was updated to 3.1.4 XiVPN was updated to 1.5.1 Xtra was updated to 2.45.5 Zimly S3 Backup was updated to 3.1.2 Zulip was updated to 30.0.261 聚在工大 was updated to 4.16.1 Thank you for reading this week’s TWIF 🙂Please subscribe to the RSS feed in your favourite RSS application to be updated of new TWIFs when they come up.You are welcome to join the TWIF forum thread. 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