Obtainium
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 14 app stores by recommenders
Free Android app that installs and updates apps straight from their GitHub, GitLab and other release pages, so you get developer-signed builds. Critics say setup is fiddly and not user friendly.
Free Android app that installs and updates apps straight from their GitHub, GitLab and other release pages, so you get developer-signed builds. Critics say setup is fiddly and not user friendly.
44 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 38
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 1 year
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 38 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Installs apps directly from developers
“Best way to install it right now is use Obtanium and put the github url for the app inside Obtanium”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Kahawai – An open source, modular media system” “such as via Accrescent or Obtanium (pulls directly from github, gitlab, etc releases)”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “Gpg.fail” “I get all my apps from GitHub releases straight from the developers now.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “F-Droid 2.0” - Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “F-Droid 2.0”
- Comment from 31 Dec 2025 in “A faster heart for F-Droid. Our new server is here”
Pairs well with F-Droid
“I typically search on F-Droid to find the apps and then add the github to Obtanium.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “F-Droid 2.0” “switched from F-Droid to Obtanium for any apps not yet on Accrescent”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “F-Droid Board of Directors nominations 2026” “I primarily go for apps via obtainium and fdroid.”
Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “Android: Balancing Openness and Choice with Safety” - Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Android Developer Verification”
- Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “F-Droid 2.0”
- Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “A big win for Android interoperability”
Keeps tracked apps updated automatically
“point something like Obtainium at the releases page of your vibed app to get auto updates straight from CI”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “Today, we hacked what we'd set out to hack: the iPhone” “I've found using Obtanium to be a great tool for tracking github android apps”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Off Grid – Run AI text, image gen, vision offline on your phone” “I use Obtainium to update directly via signal.org for a very long time now.”
Comment from 10 Aug 2026 in “Signal is working on a paid option to create an account without a phone number” - Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock”
Favored by GrapheneOS users
“The GrapheneOS community favors Obtanium due to its ability to fetch developer-signed apps from places like Github.”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “GrapheneOS fixes Android VPN leak Google refused to patch” “I'm a GrapheneOS user happy with Obtainium and without Play Services installed in main user space.”
Comment from 25 Jul 2026 in “Android May Soon Restrict On-Device ADB” “happy with Obtainium and without Play Services installed in main user space”
Comment from 25 Jul 2026 in “Android May Soon Restrict On-Device ADB”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Setup is awkward and unfriendly
“Obtainium is great but not user friendly.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “There's a high chance of devices being sold with GrapheneOS preinstalled in 2027” “I tried Obtainium and it was PITA to set up”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “F-Droid 2.0” “I remember Obtainium being PITA to set up”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “F-Droid 2.0” Some apps stop updating or fail
“Two stopped updating due to Obtanium falling behind how app releases”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “F-Droid 2.0” “1 or 2 apps that didn't work on Obtanium”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “F-Droid 2.0”
Other app stores people recommend
The four most recommended other app stores, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F-Droid | 230 | 91 | 72% | 12 | 10 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Apple App Store | 75 | 483 | 13% | 12 | 10 yrs4 owners | — |
| Google Play | 62 | 353 | 15% | 11 | 5 yrs5 owners | — |
| Aurora Store | 61 | 20 | 75% | 11 | 11 mo4 owners | Approved |
| ObtainiumThis page | 38 | 6 | 86% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 52 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“point something like Obtainium at the releases page of your vibed app to get auto updates straight from CI”
“or Obtanium, where you can find all the real privacy-respecting and non-enshittified apps”
“Best way to install it right now is use Obtanium and put the github url for the app inside Obtanium”
“Just set up an auto update with Obtanium”
“Install FOSS apps whenever possible, via Obtainium.”
“I do use both F-Droid and Obtainium though”
“I tried Obtainium and it was PITA to set up”
“I remember Obtainium being PITA to set up”
“1 or 2 apps that didn't work on Obtanium”
“If you like the Obtanium user experience, I recommend you get involved”
“I am using ObtainX now and installing from Github sources.”
“Obtainium makes it easy to download apps directly from their webpages”
“has plenty of apps that don't have F-Droid releases”
“The benefit is to maintain app list at one place, so you can export/import to another device”
“it's also prominent in the Obtainium app UI itself”
“You can use it with non-github releases too, but it's super rare when one isn't available.”
“I typically search on F-Droid to find the apps and then add the github to Obtanium.”
“Two stopped updating due to Obtanium falling behind how app releases”
“I get all my apps from GitHub releases straight from the developers now.”
“Obtainium is great but not user friendly.”
“I greatly appreciate that I can now get Signal via Obtainium directly from your VCS.”
“I very much prefer Obtainium these days despite the setup steps.”
“I actually came to like Komi-Store in combination with obtainium”
“I use Obtainium to update directly via signal.org for a very long time now.”
“Fdroid and obtainium work flawlessly”
“I've been very happy to see the number of new apps being developed”
“I'm a GrapheneOS user happy with Obtainium and without Play Services installed in main user space.”
“happy with Obtainium and without Play Services installed in main user space”
“Android app updates for apps not on F-Droid”
“The GrapheneOS community favors Obtanium due to its ability to fetch developer-signed apps from places like Github.”
“you can just pick them up with Obtainium”
“Went with Obtanium and F-Droid for most software.”
“I primarily go for apps via obtainium and fdroid.”
“switched from F-Droid to Obtanium for any apps not yet on Accrescent”
“as a last resort Obtainium to install Apps”
“I've found using Obtanium to be a great tool for tracking github android apps”
“https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/15490-f-droid-or-obtainium”
“a friendly UI that pulls packages directly from the original source”
“such as via Accrescent or Obtanium (pulls directly from github, gitlab, etc releases)”
“downloading free, as in open source, software from alternative sources like Obtainium”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.