Can't speak for the person you're replying to, but I always check the F-Droid repository first, too... but not using the F-Droid app because it's been a sub-par choice for years.

Droid-ify is what I use, but there are others. Many include/allow other FOSS repos and have additional useful features.

The repo, yes. The fdroid app was pretty shit for a long time. You had to update apps individually, for instance (I think that's fixed now?)