From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

Hi All,

I found out that Gemini Clients (like deedum) were removed
from the Google Play Store.

Quote from snehanshu on:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45238536

The android clients don't exist on play store[1][2]. And
the client's website is also not reachable[3].

1. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=oppen.gemini.ariane
2. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.snoe.deedum
3. https://oppen.digital/software/ariane/

I had install deedum a while ago on my phone and it is still
there and usuable. But the play store no longer has it.
--
csh(1) - "An elegant shell, for a more... civilized age."
- Paraphrasing Star Wars
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

John McCue <jmclnx@gmail.com.invalid> posted:

I found out that Gemini Clients (like deedum) were removed
from the Google Play Store.

Ariane has been abandoned for quite some time. Deedum is available on
F-Droid, along with a few other Gemini clients:

https://f-droid.org/fr/packages/ca.snoe.deedum/

Lagrange can also be installed on Android (fully operational beta
version):

https://gmi.skyjake.fi/lagrange/
--
Denez Van Dyck
Capsule : gemini://geminirCooxydable.fr
Web Proxy : https://gemini.oxydable.fr
Mastodon : https://mamot.fr/@dvd
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

On 9/15/25 18:36, John McCue wrote:

Hi All,

I found out that Gemini Clients (like deedum) were removed
from the Google Play Store.

Quote from snehanshu on:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45238536

The android clients don't exist on play store[1][2]. And
the client's website is also not reachable[3].

1. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=oppen.gemini.ariane
2. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.snoe.deedum
3. https://oppen.digital/software/ariane/

I had install deedum a while ago on my phone and it is still
there and usuable. But the play store no longer has it.

Were they all taken down? If so, why?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

[in reply to ReK2 Hispagatos <rek2@usenet_reborn.tui>]

John McCue <jmclnx@gmail.com.invalid> posted:

I found out that Gemini Clients (like deedum) were removed
from the Google Play Store.

Ariane has been abandoned for quite some time. Deedum is available on F-Droid, along with a few other Gemini clients:

https://f-droid.org/fr/packages/ca.snoe.deedum/

Lagrange can also be installed on Android (fully operational beta
version):

https://gmi.skyjake.fi/lagrange/

--
Denez Van Dyck
Capsule : gemini://geminirCooxydable.fr
Web Proxy : https://gemini.oxydable.fr
Mastodon : https://mamot.fr/@dvd

is lagrange on fdroid? I cant find it



Happy Hacking
ReK2
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

ReK2 Hispagatos <rek2@usenet_reborn.tui> posted:

is lagrange on fdroid? I cant find it

It is in a separate repository that can be added to F-Droid:

https://skyjake.github.io/fdroid/repo/
--
Denez Van Dyck
Capsule : gemini://geminirCooxydable.fr
Web Proxy : https://gemini.oxydable.fr
Mastodon : https://mamot.fr/@dvd
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

ReK2 Hispagatos <rek2@usenet_reborn.tui> posted:

is lagrange on fdroid? I cant find it

It is in a separate repository that can be added to F-Droid:

https://skyjake.github.io/fdroid/repo/
--
Denez Van Dyck
Capsule : gemini://geminirCooxydable.fr
Web Proxy : https://gemini.oxydable.fr
Mastodon : https://mamot.fr/@dvd
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 17:36:12 -0000 (UTC)
John McCue <jmclnx@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:

Hi All,

I found out that Gemini Clients (like deedum) were removed
from the Google Play Store.

Quote from snehanshu on:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45238536

[...]

I had install deedum a while ago on my phone and it is still
there and usuable. But the play store no longer has it.

Pardon me while i get my tinfoil before going on a lengthy tirade on
how they want to ensure that the gemini protocol is erased. First by
naming their AI gemini thus crowding out search results. Now this.

*cue x-files theme*

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini


On Mon, 15 Sep 2025, Cobra! wrote:

On 9/15/25 18:36, John McCue wrote:

Hi All,

I found out that Gemini Clients (like deedum) were removed
from the Google Play Store.

Quote from snehanshu on:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45238536

The android clients don't exist on play store[1][2]. And
the client's website is also not reachable[3].

1. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=oppen.gemini.ariane
2. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.snoe.deedum
3. https://oppen.digital/software/ariane/

I had install deedum a while ago on my phone and it is still
there and usuable. But the play store no longer has it.

Were they all taken down? If so, why?

This is going to be a bit lengthy, so here's a TLDR:
google has been increasingly increasing (heh) the requirements to
publish apps in their app store, to the point (in my opinion)
of absurdity.

so, if some apps/developers don't comply with their conditions, apps
won't show in their play store.

And, now, the longer story:

More than 10 years ago, I got a "developer account" for google play. I
left it pretty much abandoned until maybe a couple years ago, when
google thratened with canceling that account if I didn't publish
something. I quickly discovered how annoying this can be.

I tried modifying an open source project with my own pull requests and
my plan was to publish it with a note saying "for testing only, use the official one". It was repeatedly rejected, because it was lacking things
like my personal contact info for users to contact me, or a privacy
notice, or this or that. Luckily, in between all this stupidity, they
notified me that the account would not be canceled, so I promptly
proceeded to ignore them again.

One year later, back to the same spot: your account is inactive, and
we'll delete it, blah blah. So I looked a bit more into their
requirements, and more or less then I discovered that they also are very
keen on restricting the apps they show to only those using their latests frameworks (due to the same old reasons: "security", "user experience",
bla bla)

And this explains why deedum has fallen off the play store: deedum was
built with support for android 4.4 (and up, in theory). The project was
quite abandoned, but it's basically the only gemini client that would
work in an "old" tablet I have, so I installed it via f-droid.

(shameless plug later, if you are interested in deedum)

I'm not sure about ariane and the others, but I suspect this might be
the case for a lot of people. Google basically requires a constant
effort to update and make your apps compatible with their latest
nonsense of the week. This is not a good model for the gemini ecosystem,
where clients/servers can easily be considered "done" once your goals
have been met (no continuous moving goalposts with the protocol or
whatever), So I can understand why a hobbyist developer would choose
to ignore their demands.

And now, the plug: as I said, deedum was the only client that would work
in my 'old' tablet, so I decided to try my hand at adding some features
to it. I forked the repo to, initially, try and add ansi color support
to it. Then I asked to merge my changes, but discovered some problems...
I never really tried to merge my repo again, so I carried on adding stuff.

Nowadays, my (messy) additions can be found at:

https://github.com/jchaves/deedum

Every now and then, I publish an apk when I make changes (mostly for
myself, but feel free). I used to publish it via github, but their heavy
use of javascript made it inaccesible from my tablet due again to
google's artificial limitations on support for old versions, etc
(stupid modern world...). There are very few web browsers I can install
in that tablet.

So, anyway, here's another link (as I always say, maybe you shouldn't
download and install a random apk on your phone, but I pinky promise
it's not malware, unless I fucked something up, which is always possible):

https://tilde.team/~jmcs/deedum-gopher.apk

(as you might suspect, the latest things I've been working on include -rudimentary- gopher support...)

(also, I pretty much have given up on publishing anything on the play
store, I'm not super eager to play google's games)

PS: when looking for that first link, I saw that snoe, the original dev, recently added this to their README:

"Keeping flutter for the project up to date completely sapped my
motivation to maintain this project."

https://github.com/snoe/deedum/

Further shows google's lack of respect for their developers, in my
opinion.

Anyway, no need for elaborate conspiracies to explain google's stupidity
and 'versionitis'.

Cheers!

--
Manually adding a signature, because why not?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

[in reply to ReK2 Hispagatos <rek2@usenet_reborn.tui>]

ReK2 Hispagatos <rek2@usenet_reborn.tui> posted:

is lagrange on fdroid? I cant find it

It is in a separate repository that can be added to F-Droid:

https://skyjake.github.io/fdroid/repo/

Thank you!
--
EfA|rCiryaN+AEfA|EfuNN+AEfA+N+Ari?N+AEfna {gemini,https}://{,rek2.}hispagatos.org - mastodon: @rek2@hispagatos.space [https|gemini]://2600.Madrid - https://hispagatos.space/@rek2
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

jmcs <jmcs@nowhere.invalid> writes:

Nowadays, my (messy) additions can be found at:

https://github.com/jchaves/deedum

Every now and then, I publish an apk when I make changes (mostly for
myself, but feel free). I used to publish it via github, but their heavy
use of javascript made it inaccesible from my tablet due again to
google's artificial limitations on support for old versions, etc
(stupid modern world...).

People here might be interested in Obtainium:

https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium

which facilitates downloading apps and their updates directly from the
relevant project sites. A variety of app sources are supported:

Currently supported App sources:

Open Source - General:
GitHub
GitLab
Forgejo (Codeberg)
F-Droid
Third Party F-Droid Repos
IzzyOnDroid
SourceHut
Other - General:
APKPure
Aptoide
Uptodown
Huawei AppGallery
Tencent App Store
CoolApk
vivo App Store (CN)
RuStore
Farsroid
Jenkins Jobs
APKMirror (Track-Only)
Other - App-Specific:
Telegram App
Neutron Code
Direct APK Link
"HTML" (Fallback): Any other URL that returns an HTML page with links to APK files


Alexis.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

On Fri, 26 Sep 2025 12:14:14 +1000
Alexis <flexibeast@gmail.com> wrote:

jmcs <jmcs@nowhere.invalid> writes:

[...]

People here might be interested in Obtainium:

https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium

which facilitates downloading apps and their updates directly from the relevant project sites. A variety of app sources are supported:

Currently supported App sources:

Open Source - General:
GitHub
GitLab
Forgejo (Codeberg)
F-Droid
Third Party F-Droid Repos
IzzyOnDroid
SourceHut
Other - General:
APKPure
Aptoide
Uptodown
Huawei AppGallery
Tencent App Store
CoolApk
vivo App Store (CN)
RuStore
Farsroid
Jenkins Jobs
APKMirror (Track-Only)
Other - App-Specific:
Telegram App
Neutron Code
Direct APK Link
"HTML" (Fallback): Any other URL that returns an HTML page with
links to APK files

Alexis.

I do indeed find this interesting.

Any resilience in the face of google's plans to nuke non google play
app sources?

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

Andrew Singleton <singletona082@tilde.club> writes:

Any resilience in the face of google's plans to nuke non google play
app sources?

Here's a recent discussion:

https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium/issues/2548


Alexis.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gemini

[in reply to ReK2 Hispagatos <rek2@usenet_reborn.tui>]

On Fri, 26 Sep 2025 12:14:14 +1000
Alexis <flexibeast@gmail.com> wrote:

jmcs <jmcs@nowhere.invalid> writes:

[...]

People here might be interested in Obtainium:

https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium

which facilitates downloading apps and their updates directly from the relevant project sites. A variety of app sources are supported:

Currently supported App sources:

Open Source - General:
GitHub
GitLab
Forgejo (Codeberg)
F-Droid
Third Party F-Droid Repos
IzzyOnDroid
SourceHut
Other - General:
APKPure
Aptoide
Uptodown
Huawei AppGallery
Tencent App Store
CoolApk
vivo App Store (CN)
RuStore
Farsroid
Jenkins Jobs
APKMirror (Track-Only)
Other - App-Specific:
Telegram App
Neutron Code
Direct APK Link
"HTML" (Fallback): Any other URL that returns an HTML page with
links to APK files

Good work! this is great I like that they included sr.ht (sourcehut ) I been using it not since I left github when microsoft bought it and I am super happy with it.


Happy Hacking
ReK2
--
EfA|rCiryaN+AEfA|EfuNN+AEfA+N+Ari?N+AEfna {gemini,https}://{,rek2.}hispagatos.org - mastodon: @rek2@hispagatos.space [https|gemini]://2600.Madrid - https://hispagatos.space/@rek2
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2