Version 1.19 of F-Droid finally introduces support for the API introduced in Android 12, as spotted by Mishaal Rahman on X. This makes it possible to install updates fully in the background, without any user interaction required. Naturally, this only works for apps originally installed via F-Droid. With this change in place, F-Droid can be an even more viable alternative to the Play Store and other pre-installed apps for people who want to rely on the best open source Android apps.
In the past, F-Droid had to rely on a helper app with root access to install updates in the background without disturbing the user, the F-Droid Privileged Extension. With the app now using the unattended updates API, this is no longer necessary.
I think its kind if funny that this article makes it sound like F-droid wasn’t trying to make auto install a thing before this.
Its google that was holding it back. They still might if they randomly kill off the new api.