You can somewhat protect your own privacy via VPNs, adblockers... I personally use TrackerControl, which for the most part can identify and block unnecessary trackers and URL connections on an app-by-app basis to better protect your privacy
Obtainium. For all those cool apps you find on GitHub, GitLab, FDroid, Izzy, APKPure, and more. In some cases you can add your own links and it'll try to scrape them for APKs for app updates
TrackerControl