others say no and they offered some other "app store" which downloads APK direct from github somehow (I forget that name).

obtainium?

Personally i use lineage os without play store (MUCH better than shitty miui). I download apps from fdroid with some more repositories (guardian project and izzyondroid), aurora store for apps from play store and that's it.

Damn i remember how i used for a month ubuntu touch, and changed to lineage os because of absence of apps (waydroid wasn't working).