Top 12 App Stores that are Better than Google Play Store

Honestly, the Play Store nowadays is just way too limiting and just filled with too much junk. So in this video, I want to show you some of the best alternative app stores that let you discover way more unique and actually useful apps, including a bunch that you won't even find on the Play Store. And honestly, what better place to start than by improving the search functionality on the Play Store itself to actually help you find cool new apps. Because after all, we all know how terrible the Play Store search engine is, just constantly showing you outdated results. Like let's say you're wanting to find the freshest and newest KW-GT widgets out there. Well, right when you search for that on the Play Store, you don't get the option to filter out the new ones. You just end up seeing the same old outdated packs that have been around forever. And that's not just for widgets, too. It happens with most searches. So here's a great workaround. Download App Finder and you can search way more specifically on the Play Store. Before you begin, you can filter the apps by date released. Set the number of downloads to something like under 5,000. Adjust how recently the app was released, like within the last few months. And then at the top, you can just search for what you want. In my case, it's KW-GT widgets. And right away, I can see packs that were literally released just a few days ago. Widget packs at the Play Store never even showed me. Same thing with regular widgets, too. For comparison, if you search widgets on the Play Store, this time you actually do get filters. And if you switch it to new, it still doesn't really work. You'll scroll down and you'll see apps that were released around a month ago. But when you switch to App Finder and do the same search with those filters that we did earlier, you suddenly uncover the actual newest widget apps from a few days ago. Stuff the Play Store would have never even shown you. It's honestly one of the best new ways to new hidden gems on the Play Store. And speaking of widget packs, our team actually made some seriously clean Material 3 Expressive widgets that adapt perfectly to any wallpaper. We even created matching wallpapers to go with them, all available exclusively on my Patreon link down below. Now, if you're looking for an actual app store alternative, Zap Store is a great option. You've probably never heard of it because it's pretty new, but I've honestly been loving it because unlike most other app stores, this one doesn't use a random algorithm to show you low effort apps. Instead, it focuses on showing you quality apps from trusted developers. Like, it's built on a community and various developers will publish their apps themselves, cryptographically sign them, and you can even view the source code because they're open source as well, so you know exactly what you're installing and where the app came from. I've honestly found a ton of amazing indie tools, amazing privacy-focused apps on here, and a bunch of other open source forks, but probably the coolest and most unique feature here that most third-party app stores don't do is that you can support the developers of those apps directly. And those are just two out of 12 of the best third-party app stores you can download on your phone right now. I didn't really want to just show you guys the usual ones that everyone already knows about, like F-Droid, Droidify, or APKMirror. I really wanted to just go above and beyond and just highlight newer app stores and forks that seriously take app discovery to the next level, as well as mention a few classic app stores that most of you have already heard about, but probably forgotten, and since then they've received major improvements and redesigns. So if you end up downloading even one app from this video, I'd really appreciate a quick thumbs up to show your support. Let's try to hit 10,000 likes, that would honestly mean a lot. And believe it or not, only 18% of people who watch my videos are actually subscribed, so if you end up liking what you see, get subscribed with the notification bell turned on. I guarantee I've got even more amazing ideas coming every week, just like this video. Now another place that actually has tons of unique apps outside the Play Store is GitHub. The problem is, discovering apps on GitHub is kind of a nightmare. There are so many cool indie projects on there, but the search experience just isn't great, so most people never really find them. But that changes with this new app called GitHub Store. It turns GitHub into this clean app store style experience. No more hunting through random repositories, it automatically filters everything to show you projects that actually have installable Android apps. You can browse what's trending, see brand new releases, and even see recently updated apps, just like you would in a regular app store. Plus, just like the Play Store, each app has its own listing, you can see the full description, how many stars it has, open issues, forks, all that good stuff. And the best part is that you can even install the latest version of the app right there without needing to leave the screen. Plus, and this is huge, it even has an update section. If you've ever installed apps from GitHub before, you know that you never get notified when there's a new version. This fixes that completely. Now a lot of you have heard of FDRIB by now, it's the biggest third-party app store for free and open source apps. And yeah, it recently got a material you make over, but I've got to say there are still way better alternatives out there. I used to swear by Droidify because the UI was so much nicer, but honestly, lately I've been leaning more toward Neo Store. It has a similar clean interface and works the same way, showing all the new apps in one big scrollable feed. But where it really shines though, is the extra details. For example, for each app, you get this nice little color-coded chart showing how many trackers and permissions it has. Green means it's clean and red means maybe think twice before installing. You can also see the most downloaded apps based on stats from the IZEON Droid repository, which makes it way easier to spot what people are actually using. And it's honestly way more customizable, like you can change the entire layout, see descriptions when enabling new repositories so you know what kind of apps they offer, even enable a kids mode to prevent new app installs. There's a lot more where that came from. It's easily my go-to app store for installing FOSS apps from F-Droid. Next up is Dragon Store, and this one's another really solid find. It pulls together apps from around the web that aren't available on the Play Store, so you don't have to go hunting for APKs on sketchy websites. Instead, it either takes you straight to the app's official website to download the latest version, or for some, like those from GitHub, it lets you download the APK a bit more easily. So you always know exactly where the file is coming from. It also doesn't connect to any outside servers too, which is a plus for security. It uses a repo as a backend setup, which makes it more private and secure. I even love how clean the UI looks. Everything loads fast and downloads really smooth too. Honestly, my only complaint is that I wish it had screenshots for each app. Other than that, it's absolutely worth checking out. Now, if you're into indie games, especially the kind that you never see on the Play Store, you gotta check out Mitch. Mitch is basically an unofficial app for itch.io, which is this awesome website full of indie games. A lot of them aren't even on Android officially, but with Mitch, you can browse, download, and install them right from your phone. And just like on the website, you don't even need an account to download anything. You can just start right away. With each game that you tap on, it just takes you to their website to grab the APK and some even let you try them out without even needing to download anything. It's like a little preview. Just keep in mind that some games aren't compatible with every device out there. I myself found a few issues with some games when I tried to run it on some of my Androids. So just keep that in mind. Then there's FF Updater. This one's a bit different. It's like an app store for just alternative browsers to Chrome. So if you've been looking to switch to a better browser, you'll find it inside this store. It's got a huge library of options, including a bunch you won't find on the Play Store. We're talking Firefox-based forks, Chromium-based browsers, privacy-focused ones, security-focused ones, basically everything that's better than Chrome. Tap on any browser and you get a description and you can install it right there. Updating them is super easy too because it's literally on the main page and you can update the app from there. And by the way, my personal favorite browser, if you must know, is Chromeite. It's inside the app too and it just feels like Chrome, but it has a built-in ad blocking experience and it doesn't really have any of Google's tracking nonsense. So it's a great option. From there, we can even get a store for your TV. That's right. It's called Flicky and it basically brings F-Droid to your Android TV. I mean, you can use the app on your phone, but the interface is really designed for bigger screens so you can easily browse and sideload apps from your couch using your remote. It's got big icons, simple navigation, a built-in search. It all feels really smooth. And to get it on your TV, you can use apps like LocalSend, the Downloader app by AFTV, which is what I used, or even just use any web browser. So if you ever want to sideload apps on the big screen, this is easily the best new way to do it. This next store is an absolute classic and has been around for a really long time. It's called Aurora Store and I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it, but here's something that not everyone talks about. It's Nightly version. That's where you get all the newest, coolest features first. For anyone who doesn't know too, Aurora Store lets you download pretty much any free app or game from the Play Store, but without actually needing a Google account or Play Services. That means Google is tracking everything you install. Plus, to take it even further, you can spoof your device. So it looks like you're installing apps with a different phone, which is great if you want to download apps that aren't supported for your device. Now the stable version of Aurora Store is super reliable, but it hasn't been updated in a few months. The Nightly builds, on the other hand, get updated almost daily. That means you get new features and redesigns first. For example, the latest Nightly versions recently switched over to a new Material 3 expressive look and everything still works normally when downloading apps. Just remember though, like any alpha software, you might run into a bug or two here and there, but if you want the newest features, it's totally worth it. All right, next up is Izzy Android Unofficial. This one's a little different because originally it wasn't really meant to be a standalone app store. It just started off as an after repository that you plug into clients like Neo Store, for example. But it's grown so big that why not just use an unofficial app style front end? Everything in here is open source and free, and it tracks GitHub releases almost instantly, so you're not waiting weeks for updates. And what I really like is that it actually shows you the changelog for each app too. You know, what's new in the latest version, just like the Play Store does. The huge downside obviously is that the store's UI is really outdated, but everything still works. I mean, it loads fast, installs apps without a problem. But with that said, just keep in mind that you don't need to download this if you're already using stores like Neo Store or Droidify. Those are already using the Izzy Android repository there by default. This standalone app really only makes sense if you specifically want apps from this repository and nothing else. Moving on, this next one doesn't even require you to download an app. Instead, it's a website called OpenAPK.net. However, you can still install it through the browser as a progressive web app, so it gets added to your app drawer and still lets you launch it right from your home screen, just like a regular app. Now, OpenAPK isn't anything fancy. It's kind of like a lightweight version of FDroid. It just pulls apps from GitHub and other open-source repositories. The big plus, though, is that it takes up almost no space on your phone since you don't need to install it like an app, and you don't need to create any accounts, and it still lets you browse, search, and download apps just fine. The only real downside, though, is that there's no built-in update system that you get in most other app stores, so you'll need to manually update apps or use a separate update manager. I'll show you some good ones in a bit too. So while it's not the flashiest option, it's a super simple, no-nonsense way to grab open-source apps without installing yet another app store. Then there's my favorite app store on this entire list, OrientStore. It's a modern, serverless app store that runs entirely on GitHub repositories and GitHub Actions. That means every app on here is open-source and free, and it supports over 90,000 apps, which is kind of wild. Everything loads super smoothly, app pages open instantly, screenshots show up right away, which honestly is something that a lot of other app stores struggle with. Downloads are also fast, installs are seamless, and it'll even give you the option to delete the APK too right after the install, which is nice. Plus, it even supports Shizuku for silent background installs, so you don't have to manually confirm every single app. And here's a cool bonus. It doesn't just show you Android apps. You'll also find great apps for your PC and your TV. Definitely give this one a look. It's incredible. And those are the 12 best app stores I recommend you check out. But wait, this video isn't over yet, because if you're looking to sideload apps, you may also need a good update manager app to keep all those sideloaded apps updated. Because even though a lot of these app stores have a built-in update page, they don't always get the absolute latest version right away. That's why I always use a dedicated update manager. The most popular option is Uptanium. You add an app by pasting a GitHub or GitLab link, or even just searching for it. And from there, it tracks new releases and notifies you when there's an update for that app, just like the Play Store. It's really a solid way to keep sideloaded apps up to date, and it even supports Shizuku for silent installs. But with that said, manually pasting links for every app can get pretty annoying. So a better alternative, one that I've been using, is APKUpdater. It works in a similar way, but instead of adding apps one by one, it instead scans the apps already installed on your phone and looks for updates across GitHub, APKMirror, FDroid, EasyAndroid, and more, all in one place. That way, you can update them all right then and there, and it makes your life easier too, because you don't have to paste each one manually. Anyway, if you want to keep it going, just tap this video right here to check out the top 20 apps to get you started this year, or this one to learn about the future of Android in 2026, this year. If you end up downloading even one app store from this entire list, just drop a quick thumbs up. It would mean the world. Thanks for sticking around to the end, and I'll catch you guys in the next one. Ka-pow!