does it make it so that it's only "ready" to be triggered by ntfy when it would otherwise poll the server on its own very frequently (so you end up actually saving some battery)?
That's how I understand it, yes. You change the behaviour of the app by configuring it to use UnifiedPush, so there is less background usage to restrict
I left the background service on for all the messengers, it's not like the Unifiedpush ones have anything major to use anyway. This increased the reliability and peace of mind + they never show up as major battery users for me either
Most libre applications implement their own websockets for this. EDIT: some propriety spyware like WhatsApp use those too, can confirm myself, as I unfortunately have to use it on my GrapheneOS owner profile (which ofc doesn't have the sandboxed GPlay services installed; I could technically use it on my profile for personal proprietary apps, but it would be a major pita) ENDEDIT
(unfortunately Proton uses only Google FCM in most of their apps and doesn't publish them on F-Droid or Accrescent)
However, those can take a strain on your battery since every websocket maintains it's own connection.
This is where UnifiedPush in combination with either nfty or Sunup comes in
(EDIT: I use ntfy myself, also Sunup seems to be quite new, so it might come with some quirks; EDITEND there is also a plugin for your own Nextcloud)
Since Unifiedpush maintains only one connection for every app using it, this takes quite a bit less charge to upkeep
(it's explained quite well on their website, which is hyperlinked)
If you are looking for Unifiedpush support on Signal: Molly is a hardened fork of the client and does support it through Mollysocket
EDIT: If you use Telegram there is Mercurygram.
As for Matrix clients, I use Element and Schildichat.
All these support UnifiedPush
that's the thing though, it strips you of the options the four essential freedoms provide.
and imo it's not rly an argument. Libre software is free as in freedom and not necessarily free as in beer. You could license it under the (A)GPL, charge for downloads in the Play store or for compiled binaries on ur website and ask for donations on F-Droid.
You could even do a freemium version where some features are locked in the binaries you distribute and need a license from ur website or smth (for those who don't want to use Google Play).
(iirc SD Maid 2/SE does this)
I used to use Simple Gallery and later Fossify Gallery.
Now that I have a device new enough for Accrescent to work on it I discovered Aves Gallery Libre.
It's much nicer and polished in many ways but I do miss some features sometimes
seems like a good middle ground tbh. No cryptocurrency will ever reach the adoption of fiat. This could make online transactions that would otherwise be made over your creditcard, bank or insert fintech like Paypal quite a bit better
And I'd rather have this than a "digital Euro" or "digital Yuan"
Happy to help :)
(especially when it comes awesome libre software :p)