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Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

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Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#151

Post by uyzstvqs »

xandrius wrote: post #121

I take the opportunity to let people know that there are alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile. Link: https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ Sure, GrapheneOS is often suggested but Ubuntu Touch is a really interesting alternative, their own store and ecosystem. The community is amazing and welcoming. If there are Android apps which you can't do without, they can be emulated and used anyway. Imagine switching to Linux…

Ubuntu Touch has amazing UX, IMO. Sadly it's been non-viable for practically forever, and is non-viable today unless you want to use a 7-year-old out-of-production device. It's practically abandonware with a few hobby maintainers at this point, as much as it had potential compared to other alternatives.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#152

Post by shakna »

[deleted] wrote: post #138
hans_castorp wrote: post #135

Can we please stop calling it "sideloading"? It's simply "installing" software on hardware that I own, and that I should have full control over.

[deleted]

If that's your bar - you should ban the whole of Android's ecosystem from your networks.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/malicious-and...

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#153

Post by pmlnr »

juliie wrote: post #141
xandrius wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why jump to another abuser when you could seriously start looking into alternatives? Ubuntu Touch has a really active community and it's very stable, you can even emulate android apps which you might absolutely need. I don't see Apple as the obvious next step; the obvious step, when one is pissed off with abuse of power is open source, not Apple.

Can I install my banking apps? Is there a Google pay equivalent? As much as I want open source, I really don't think it's there yet for most people.

> Can I install my banking apps?

Choose a bank with viable web banking.

> Is there a Google pay equivalent?

It's called a debit/credit card.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#155

Post by michaelt »

direwolf20 wrote: post #101
londons_explore wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If google push too hard, someone will make a "youtube mirror" - ie. a complete copy of youtube at a different domain. The actual data could be hosted p2p across all the users devices, and any missing data retrieved one-time-only from real youtube servers.

That website will have an IP address and a registered owner. Taking down piracy websites is routine for governments, server providers, and domain registrars now, and they don't care whether the site is actually illegal. You can only get away with this long-term if the site is hosted in Russia, but Russia is sanctioned so how will you pay them?

Eh, somehow The Pirate Bay, Fitgirl Repacks, Anna's Archive, Sci-Hub etc seem to manage it.

The real challenge is delivering good enough performance that your site is better than waiting through 30 seconds of ads; and making it worth your time to run the site: there's hassle, legal risk, and it's not like you can run ads to make some cash.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#156

Post by Jedd »

karlgkk wrote: post #80
onli wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any iOS advantage with the apps anymore. That was maybe true in the very beginning, during the gold rush time of the app store. But not since then. In which category are there better iOS apps? Browsers? No, strictly worse. Youtube app? No, worse. Texting? Worse or equal (Whatsapp). Podcast client? I assume worse, since there is no Antenna Pod. Social media apps? The iOS variants of those apps are afaik in…

Honestly, you’re so wrong about the app situation that it’s almost staggering. iOS apps tend to be more stable, better polished, have better integration with system features (like the Dynamic Island), and even often have more features. This isn’t even an unfounded opinion, it’s a material problem for Google and led them to vastly investing in automated testing and quality efforts App addressable user base is another…

FWIW, starting a sentence with "Honestly ..." always makes me think the rest of what this person has to say is dishonest.

Your BIO on HN is:

> I HAVEN'T SHOWERED AT ALL! THAT'S WHY I REEK! WORKING IN FINTECH! AIN'T SHAVED IN WEEKS! POUR CRUMBS FROM MY KEYBOARD! THAT'S WHAT I EAT! WROTE A CURRENCY LIBRARY! 3RD TIME THIS WEEK! LURKING HN! I PREFER /b/! IN MOM'S BASEMENT! I'M THIRTY THREE! IT'S 3'O'CLOCK AM! THAT'S WHEN I SLEEP! AH!!!! COME ON FUCK A GUY!!!!

What level of credibility are you seeking?

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#157

Post by tentacleuno »

spondyl wrote: post #136

I'm sure I'm missing something but wasn't this already the case where the first time you try to install an APK, you had to go into Settings and mark the relevant application as a trusted source for installing APKs from?

Some friction is probably wise. I remember them introducing the requirement to individually allow each app you're installing things from. The question is, how much more friction will they add? I suspect they will add prompts per install, too.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#158

Post by microtonal »

Devorlon wrote: post #112
bloqs wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sorry this is not correct. (do you consistently use both?) iOS apps are consistently better, because people prefer using swift

As an Android power user (I’ve ran Lineage, Graphene, rooted with Magisk and passed safetynet) that’s moved to IOS this last month. My subjective opinion: app quality is the same.

I have both an iPhone and an Android phone and I agree. The largest chunk of apps are the same anyway, using something like React Native or Ionic.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#159

Post by Culonavirus »

necovek wrote: post #36

I would like to see a high friction flow for installing all the crap from the Play Store to "protect and educate users". "Are you sure you want to install this app? It's only got a score of 2.8 and only 7 reviews, and will ask for all of these permissions?"

Even if it has 4.8 and 7000 reviews it's often fake 4.8 because the reviews are botted / paid / dark patterned (e.g. when you pop up star rating on your users and beg them "rate the app plz" and when the users tap anything but 5 stars you say "k, ty" and keep those "bad" reviews for yourself)

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#160

Post by direwolf20 »

michaelt wrote: post #155
direwolf20 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That website will have an IP address and a registered owner. Taking down piracy websites is routine for governments, server providers, and domain registrars now, and they don't care whether the site is actually illegal. You can only get away with this long-term if the site is hosted in Russia, but Russia is sanctioned so how will you pay them?

Eh, somehow The Pirate Bay, Fitgirl Repacks, Anna's Archive, Sci-Hub etc seem to manage it. The real challenge is delivering good enough performance that your site is better than waiting through 30 seconds of ads; and making it worth your time to run the site: there's hassle, legal risk, and it's not like you can run ads to make some cash.

They're all severely bandwidth limited. Wouldn't work for YouTube. TPB and FGR get around this using torrents.
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