Disable update checker for F-Droid

[shuvashish76]

• The built signed by F-Droid - Update checker feature removed completely
  

• The built signed by original developer - Update checker enabled by default
  
  

As per their criteria It would require a Tracking Anti-Feature tag if enabled by default.

- Checking for updates without your knowledge or permission
Examples of where it would not be applied - any of the above, if the functionality is opt-in (i.e. you are asked before it happens) and disabled by default.

Request to disable update checker for the built signed by original developer as well.
F-Droid issue : https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/issues/3147

[licaon-kter]

The buzzword here is "opt-in", so a simple pop-up on (first) install "Hey, do you want to check for updates straight from the NewPipe Team? Y/N" can be a solution.

@shuvashish76

Request to disable update checker for the built signed by original developer as well.

Do note that, while the builds on F-Droid are signed one by F-Droid and one by NewPipe, the APK is the same (since it's reproducible)

[licaon-kter]

Now I'm confused, if I install each APK indeed the F-Droid signed one does not show the updater, the app checks the signature or what magic is it used? :)

[licaon-kter]

Ok, yup https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/blob/v0.25.2/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/util/ReleaseVersionUtil.kt#L22-L27

[licaon-kter]

The gist of it is this

The software must not download additional executable binary files (e.g. addons, auto-updates, etc.) without explicit user consent. Consent means it needs to be opt-in (it must not be harder to decline than to accept or presented in a way users are likely to press accept without reading) and structured in a way that clearly explains to users that they’re choosing to bypass F-Droid’s checks if they activate it.

Per https://f-droid.org/docs/Inclusion_Policy/

Regarding "bypass F-Droid", I've pointed above how this can be formulated so the same APK shows an universal message to all users (be it from Github, Newpipe repo, F-Droid repo)

[shuvashish76]

Yes the inclusion policy is strictly applicable to downloaders but in this case NewPipe has update checker only hence AF.
Would be nice have to opt-in i.e. disabled by default.

[TobiGr]

Thanks for making us aware. We should have considered asking for the users' consent. I implemented a proof of concept in #10790

[Stypox]

@licaon-kter @shuvashish76 thank you for reporting this. Here an APK that fixes the issue, let us know if its behavior is ok: NewPipe updatechecker.zip
This is the expected behavior:

• The first time the app is opened, no update check is run, and no consent is asked (this is to avoid a bad onboarding and welcoming experience)
• The second time, no update check is run, but the user is asked for consent
• If the user accepted to check for updates, from the third time onwards, the app will check for updates, otherwise it will never do so

_{The APK is signed with @Stypox keys. The fingerprint for which to check for updates has been set to f3c6b6ddf4f4c9e2fa5c5e65799dc388d17eae626acfa6e29f571b3520883b75, i.e. the fingerprint of my key. The version code of the APK is that of 0.26.0 (995) instead of 0.26.1 (996) so that version checks show a notification. The package name is org.schabi.newpipe.updatechecker.}

[shuvashish76]

Perfect, looks good to me unless F-Droid maintainers disagree. Thanks.