If you browse the F-Droid website they actually mention that it's possible to use the .apk distributed by the developers, if the apk is reproducible. It's cumbe

If you browse the F-Droid website they actually mention that it's possible to use the .apk distributed by the developers, if the apk is reproducible. It's cumbersome and requires a lot of goodwill from both the developers and the F-Droid maintainers, but it's not impossible. The thing is, people using F-Droid are most likely already aware that they can install the .apk directly from https://signal.org/android/apk/ https://signal.org/android/apk/ so there's not much to gain (the .apk prompts the user when an update is available too).