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Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

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Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#771

Post by grawprog »

dan-robertson wrote: post #712
grawprog wrote: post #677

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but it isn’t super easy It's pretty easy, in fact when I got a new phone and tried to install the f-droid apk, android took me directly to the setting to toggle side loading apps. The permissions seemed even a little more fine grained than before with a seperate one to allow f-droid to install apps also, but still only one tap away once I actually tried to do it.

I don’t disagree that you found it easy. I’ve done this in the past and found it easy too. But the things that you or I may find easy are not necessarily easy to the large fraction of the population who are not particularly good with technology. I’m not sure how I found F-droid. I think it was from knowing I wanted free software, finding myself overwhelmed with crap in the regular App Store and some combination of lu…

I'm not sure if you actually read most of what I said or are just responding to the part where I said it was easy, but, at least on android 9, it automatically takes you to the setting as soon as you try to open an apk, acquiring which, is pretty much exactly the same as downloading an .exe file on a computer. Depending on your browser, it will even ask if you want to open the file upon completion, thereby taking you to the 'enable apps from unknown sources' option without even leaving your web browser. I like to have faith that most people capable of downloading and opening a file from the internet, should be able to read a message pop up and tap a toggle button.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#772

Post by joshmn »

pgcj_poster wrote: post #769
parliament32 wrote: post #597

This is why Apple will always be a second-class citizen to Android. If I have a good reason, I can toggle a setting and install APKs built by anyone. If I have a good reason, I can wipe my phone and unlock the bootloader to literally replace and de-Google the entire OS. When I buy a phone, it's a hardware product I'm buying. Just like when you buy a PC/laptop, what you run on it is your business, not the manufacturer…

> If I have a good reason, I can toggle a setting and install APKs built by anyone. If I have a good reason, I can wipe my phone and unlock the bootloader to literally replace and de-Google the entire OS. This is not possible for many (and I suspect the majority of) android phones.

> This is not possible for many (and I suspect the majority of) android phones.

But it is.

You can install APKs from anyone on any phone. It's a feature of the OS.

> I can wipe my phone and unlock the bootloader to literally replace and de-Google the entire OS.

I've never had an Android phone I couldn't unlock and flash. From the original Evo to Pixel 2.

I have an iPhone as of two months ago. I just wanted to try something new. The amount of restricted access to things is boggling. I can't even download an mp3 on Safari or Chrome. I thought I was doing something wrong and spent 2 hours trying to figure out what. Then I learned it was just the phone.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#773

Post by song »

pgcj_poster wrote: post #769
parliament32 wrote: post #597

This is why Apple will always be a second-class citizen to Android. If I have a good reason, I can toggle a setting and install APKs built by anyone. If I have a good reason, I can wipe my phone and unlock the bootloader to literally replace and de-Google the entire OS. When I buy a phone, it's a hardware product I'm buying. Just like when you buy a PC/laptop, what you run on it is your business, not the manufacturer…

> If I have a good reason, I can toggle a setting and install APKs built by anyone. If I have a good reason, I can wipe my phone and unlock the bootloader to literally replace and de-Google the entire OS. This is not possible for many (and I suspect the majority of) android phones.

This is possible for pretty much all android phones. What's not necessarily possible for all phones is to root the phone but yes most android phones allow you to install apks downloaded via the browser after toggling "allow installation of apps from unknown sources" in the settings.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#774

Post by thekyle »

celdon25 wrote: post #763
parliament32 wrote: post #597

This is why Apple will always be a second-class citizen to Android. If I have a good reason, I can toggle a setting and install APKs built by anyone. If I have a good reason, I can wipe my phone and unlock the bootloader to literally replace and de-Google the entire OS. When I buy a phone, it's a hardware product I'm buying. Just like when you buy a PC/laptop, what you run on it is your business, not the manufacturer…

Why does it have to be Android? It's another commercial closed-source OS and therefore the business interests controlling it will at some point conflict with a user's definition of freedom. There are FOSS alternatives easily found by searching.

> Why does it have to be Android? It's another commercial closed-source OS

What do you mean? Android is FOSS not closed-source.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#776

Post by aianus »

braythwayt wrote: post #760
amatecha wrote: post #715

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's funny: "Apple will always be a second-class citizen to Android" You don't hear about 14 million iPhones being infected by malware[0], do you? Or malware stealing users' bank credentials[1]? Heck, there are people whose brand new phone comes pre-loaded with malware[2]. Oh, this one was just posted five hours ago -- applications on the Google Play store load with trojans and spyware[3]. I can keep going, but the…

This argument reminds me of the gun control argument. People in favour of "more guns" are fully aware that more guns means a more dangerous society. But they consider the freedom to choose whether to own guns more important than living in a statistically safer society. Whereas, people in favour of "gun control" consider the safety of society overall to be much more important than the freedom to own devices designed t…

This also mirrors Chinese vs. American values perfectly.

The Chinese believe in the Apple model of safety, greater good, social harmony, and the ends justifying the means over individual liberties. The concentration camps, great firewall, IP theft, everything we see as dysfunctional about China stems from this belief system.

Americans don't believe in the "greater good" or "the ends justify the means" and it results in uniquely American dysfunctions like mass shootings and homeless people shitting in the street in SF.

Still, like you, I have no interest in switching to the other camp. It is a basic value system ingrained in me.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#777

Post by rollinDyno »

shadowgovt wrote: post #714
s_dev wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And in one fell swoop, Apple has made it effectively impossible to install this app on your phone. There's no realistic workaround. Make the app a Web App and visit it in Safari. Apple has banned it being notarized and distributed from their App Store but iPhones still have access to the conventional web which Apple has no control over.

Converting an iOS app to "a web app" isn't exactly a trivial undertaking. Remember you're likely saying "Reimplement the app atop an entirely different family of libraries and APIs."

Additionally, a part of the device's API is not going to be available to the webapp.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#778

Post by [deleted] »

thekyle wrote: post #774
celdon25 wrote: post #763

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it have to be Android? It's another commercial closed-source OS and therefore the business interests controlling it will at some point conflict with a user's definition of freedom. There are FOSS alternatives easily found by searching.

> Why does it have to be Android? It's another commercial closed-source OS What do you mean? Android is FOSS not closed-source.

[deleted]

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#779

Post by kumarharsh »

But the app was also being used to track the whereabouts of law enforcement officers, and the HK rioters have not exactly been peaceful.

I'm not usually on Apple's side. Their holier-than-thou marketing speak, walled garden and crippled Safari browser are enough to send me to an early grave with blood pressure. But I think Apple might be correct in this particular instance given the fraught nature of the situation there.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#780

Post by chrischen »

mmastrac wrote: post #250

It's time that North Americans take a stand and use economic power for something other than furthering that goal. There are so many places where a simple refusal to kowtow/censor or technical attack on censorship infrastructure could help so many that don't have the luxury of living in our world. If we're not going to use all this economic power for good, what's the point?

Yes let’s meddle with the sovereign affairs of other countries and use military force to impose our values and democracy just like we used to in the good old days of the 2000s!

Those heathen commies don’t know what’s good for them as much as I, an ill-informed American, do. I must dictate to them what laws they can or cannot have after briefly hearing about their society in the news!

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