Cannot download apps from IPFS gateways if repo domain is blocked

• Device OS and version: Nexus 5
• Device model/manufacturer: Emulator device
• F-Droid version (in the About screen): 1.17.0
• F-Droid privileged extension version (if installed): None

What did you do? (clear steps if possible)

I created an repo at https://f004.backblazeb2.com/file/myawsfdroid/fdroid/repo/index.html can also be found at https://myawsfdroid.s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com/fdroid/repo/index.html that consists of apps that are pinned onto IPFS. I then blocked the domain from etc/hosts and then tried to download some apps.

What did you expect to see?

Apps to be downloaded whereby they would be fetched from the IPFS network.

What did you see instead?

Download failure since the used IPFS gateways are not working.

Below is an image of the requests being received from the IPFS gateways

Possible workarounds

• Use public IPFS gateways
• Create custom IPFS gateways that is more reliable
• Allow users to add own IPFS gateways they can use