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Total Commander forced to stop letting you install APKs

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Re: Total Commander forced to stop letting you install APKs

#21

An app on google play can't update itself...except if the app was made by google (YouTube updates itself almost weekly, all server side). That's why it's called google play, because it's where google plays with all of us.

PWAs are basically websites with a home screen icon. But they can be published in the playstore and update everything but the icon and name.

Re: Total Commander forced to stop letting you install APKs

#22

The logical conclusion of applying this rule evenly is a scenario where you can't install apps except via the Play store, even if third party app installation is technically "allowed" on paper, because you can't actually install an app that will install apps. This is (yet another) stupid decision by Google, and Hanlon's Razor might not apply since they have a vested interest in the Play store being the only place to…

Yeah, doesn't seem different from browsers in this case. Malware apps known to misuse sideloading usually seem to come from different categories like torches/cameras/social apps. There should be an exception for file managers and browsers.

Re: Total Commander forced to stop letting you install APKs

#25

I'm confused, I thought the ability to install apps outside of Play is supported by the OS. In fact there's a permissions dialog that pops up when an app tries to install another app. This is critical functionality for, say, the FDroid app store, as well as the browser, which is how most people would acquire FDroid. Seems like a bad omen.

> I'm confused, I thought the ability to install apps outside of Play is supported by the OS. It is. What this is doing is forbidding apps that can install other apps from being in the Play store. Basically, if Total Commander wanted to give the finger to Google and refuse to remove the function, Google would remove them from the Play store, meaning you'd likely have to either use your browser to find and download th…

Your browser is also an app. A general-purpose file manager is pretty clearly not trying to become an app store.

Re: Total Commander forced to stop letting you install APKs

#27
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm confused, I thought the ability to install apps outside of Play is supported by the OS. It is. What this is doing is forbidding apps that can install other apps from being in the Play store. Basically, if Total Commander wanted to give the finger to Google and refuse to remove the function, Google would remove them from the Play store, meaning you'd likely have to either use your browser to find and download th…

Your browser is also an app. A general-purpose file manager is pretty clearly not trying to become an app store.

[deleted]

Re: Total Commander forced to stop letting you install APKs

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its functionality is hindered by Google in that it can not download and install updates in background as Google Play does. One has to root the phone and loose access to banking and SSO apps to get enough permissions for F-Droid. EU anti-competition monkeys should have looked at that a long time ago.

Android 12 supports background updates: https://developer.android.com/about/versions/12/features#aut...

Yes, but f-droid et al cannot update in the background. That's a problem.

Re: Total Commander forced to stop letting you install APKs

#29
post #2

Alternative app that's not encumbered by the Play Store's rules: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.ghostsq.commander/

You can also download the Total Commander APK from its own site[0] which includes that functionality, as mentioned in the forum post linked by the article this is only for the Play Store version. [0] https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=76644

Dev should publish TC via Fdroid. I always check for Fdroid versions first. Fdroid are more honest about app perms and policies than Google are.
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