Understanding Different Versions of App Manager and Their Meaning

[AbhiTheModder]

There are several versions of App Manager available at a time which can be quite confusing to novice users. Here’s a brief description of what to expect from each type of release in order of stability:

1. Stable: Very stable releases in terms of features¹, expect no changes in any features in minor releases². Good for day to day use and for those who do not want to see new features or face compatibility issues. Only stable releases ensure backward compatibility for certain features such as backup/restore or rules.
2. Release Candidate (RC): Mostly stable release but intended for smaller audience for a final check before the next major release. The users should expect no major issues with the new or existing features. RCs are feature-locked, that is, each RC only receives bug fixes. Usually, there will be two to three RCs before the next major release.
3. Beta: Beta testing of App Manager, intended for a wide range of tester including those who may not have any technical or platform-specific knowledge. The users should expect a lot of issues with the app and report them via official means.
4. Alpha: Alpha testing of App Manager, intended for long term testers with technical or platform-specific knowledge. The users should expect a lot of issues with the app, including some nasty bugs that might cause data loss.
5. Debug: Rolling release of App Manager built by GitHub Actions each time anything is pushed to the specified branches of the App Manager repository in GitHub. Super unstable, expect a lot of bugs, including some nasty ones that might cause data loss.

Caution

For Debug Releases, the signing key is public. Therefore, ensure you install them only from official sources.

[Source]

Footnotes

1. Bugs can exist because Android is a diverse ecosystem and interacting with the private APIs (that is, the Android features not meant for public use) have proven to be problematic, especially, in highly customised operating systems such as MIUI. In stable releases, bugs that require nasty workarounds may not be fixed. ↩

2. App Manager’s versioning is roughly based on semantic versioning, that is, each version has three numbers separated by dots. For example, v3.0.0 or v4.0.0 means that it is a major release with many new features and changes in the existing features, v3.1.0 or v4.1.0 means that it is a major release with changes in the existing features along with some minor new features, and v3.1.1 or v3.1.2 means that it is a minor release with some bug fixes and performance improvements, and so on. ↩