Anyone else having trouble anonymously connecting with Aurora Store?

[Andy Burnelli]

For two or three days I haven't been able to use the fantastic search engine
at the Aurora Store as it seemingly won't connect to the Google servers.

Is it just me?

Does your Aurora google play store client connect anonymously?

[Andy Burnelli]

Post by Andy Burnelli
Does your Aurora google play store client connect anonymously?

I suspect perhaps that last security update borked it, but it was weird:
a. Aurora Store wouldn't connect to the Google Play Store repo for days
b. Aurora Droid doesn't show any updates (that's the weird part)
c. Yet F-Droid shows an update a week ago (I only bothered to look now)

At first I didn't think much of the disconnect issue as I thought it might
be my internet connections as I had recently messed with icons to widgets
for connecting to any number of pre-defined Wi-Fi access points.

But after a couple of days I started wondering if Google changed a
connection to the Google Play Store repo or something...

But, I looked in Aurora Droid and there wasn't any Aurora Store update to be
had, so I initially dismissed that possibility before trying F-Droid today.

Just now I updated Aurora via F-Droid which, unlike Aurora Droid, _did_ show
that the Aurora Store google play store client was updated a week ago.

Funny that the Aurora Droid app _still_ doesn't have that APK... hmmmm.
Anyway, the _new_ Aurora Store solved the connection problem instantly.

Interestingly, when the _new_ Aurora comes up, it has a _new_ login method:
a. Google (yeah, right)
b. Anonymous (that's what I've been using)
c. Anonymous insecure (hmmm... what's that? Was that always there?)

The Anonymous (presumably secure) login worked!
Problem solved.
a. Previous Aurora Store Google Play Store client version: 4.0.7.38
b. New Aurora Store Google Play Store client version: v4.1.1(41)

It seems that the cat-and-mouse whack-a-mole game Google plays with NewPipe
is, perhaps, maybe, the reason Aurora went down this week; but it's back up.

[Andy Burnelli]

Post by Andy Burnelli
Funny that the Aurora Droid app _still_ doesn't have that APK... hmmmm.
Anyway, the _new_ Aurora Store solved the connection problem instantly.

Below are some related screenshots, which bring up new Aurora APK questions.
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/>
<https://gitlab.com/AuroraOSS/AuroraStore>
<https://auroraoss.com/>

Specifically, the 4.1.1 stable version was released on February 20th, 2022.
<https://files.auroraoss.com/AuroraStore/Stable/>
<https://files.auroraoss.com/AuroraStore/Stable/AuroraStore_4.1.1.apk>

Open questions which remain for me are the following:
1. Why was Aurora Droid behind on the Aurora Store updates off F-Droid?
<Loading Image...> Only F-Droid is updated

2. Should we turn on Google Play Protect (what the heck does it do)?
<Loading Image...> Turn on Play Protect?

3. The Aurora Store anonymous _insecure_ login comes and goes oddly...
<Loading Image...> Anonymous insecure login?
<Loading Image...> Anonymous insecure login?

[Andy Burnelli]

Post by Andy Burnelli
3. The Aurora Store anonymous _insecure_ login comes and goes oddly...
<https://i.postimg.cc/cHq7tL4J/aurora20.jpg> Anonymous insecure login?
<https://i.postimg.cc/FHBVmxM3/aurora21.jpg> Anonymous insecure login?

I lost the Aurora Store anonymous login into Google Play Store repository
today again, but it came back with turning off NetGuard & installing the
latest nightly build (dunno which one made that difference though).

Latest Aurora Store nightly build.
<https://files.auroraoss.com/AuroraStore/Nightly/AuroraStore-nightly-signed-202203070000.apk>

I've been meaning to search for apps for micky's thread on automatic shutoff
of Android when the power to the charger goes off, but I needed the Aurora
Store Google Play Store client filters to run those searches.