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Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

arstechnica.com

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Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#201

Post by [deleted] »

ravenstine wrote: post #190
grishka wrote: post #87

At this point I'm convinced that there's something deeply wrong with how our society treats technology. Ruining Android for everyone to try to maybe help some rather technologically-hopeless groups of people is the wrong solution. It's unsustainable in the long run. Also, the last thing this world needs right now is even more centralization of power. Especially around yet another US company. People who are unwilling…

This has nothing to do with keeping people safe. If it did then power users could continue to install their own software by being given that ability as a developer setting. The fact that some people are gullible enough to go into a hidden setting on their phone and enable that in order to install an app from a random Chinese website is not a good reason to take away everyone's freedom. Consolidation of power is all t…

[deleted]

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#203

Post by izacus »

janice1999 wrote: post #19
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #9

Seems like a very reasonable compromise. What's the catch?

Developers, including non-US citizens, are forced to give Google their government ID to distribute apps. This enables Google to track and censor projects, like NewPipe, an alternative open source Youtube frontend, by revoking signing permissions for developers.

This is downright wrong.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#204

Post by grishka »

warkdarrior wrote: post #196
grishka wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's quite a gap between this sort of opportunistic scamming that's happening all over the world and targeted multi-year campaigns that probably require the resources of a nation state.

> targeted multi-year campaigns that probably require the resources of a nation state Ha ha ha, "resources of a nation state"! One could run phishing campaigns at scale over many years without breaking the bank. This was true before LLMs, it's probably even cheaper now.

Sorry, I keep forgetting that LLMs are a thing. But I disagree because many people, especially tech-savvy people, can't possibly trust any communication that has the hallmarks of slop.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#205

Post by izacus »

ygjb wrote: post #45
fsh wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't find it reasonable that Google wants to make me wait 24h to install software on a device I own.

Meh. I get the annoyance, but it's a one time cost for a small subset of their users. I would prefer if there was a flow during device setup that allowed you to opt into developer mode (with all the attendant big scary warnings), but it's a pretty reasonable balance for the vast majority of their users. (I suspect the number of scammers that are able to get a victim to buy a whole new device and onboard it is probabl…

Note that adb won't have the 24 hour cooldown if you're in such a hurry.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#206

Post by jcul »

astra1701 wrote: post #14

This is going to hurt legitimate sideloading way more than actually necessary to reduce scams: - Must enable developer mode -- some apps (e.g., banking apps) will refuse to operate and such when developer mode is on, and so if you depend on such apps, I guess you just can't sideload? - One-day (day!!!) waiting period to activate (one-time) -- the vast majority of people who need to sideload something will probably no…

I don't know. I've been silently outraged and disappointed by this whole forbidding of unverified apps, but also hopeful it wouldn't affect me much as a user of grapheneos.

But this process seems pretty reasonable to me.

I'd like to think it is due in part to the efforts of F-Droid and others.

Waiting a day, once, to disable this protection doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I'd probably do it once when I got a phone and then forget about it.

I happen to have developer mode enabled right now, for no good reason other than I never disabled last time I needed it. Haven't had any issues with any apps.

I actually think these protections could help mitigate scammers.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#208

Post by Gander5739 »

hbn wrote: post #58
MishaalRahman wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Must enable developer mode -- some apps (e.g., banking apps) will refuse to operate and such when developer mode is on, and so if you depend on such apps, I guess you just can't sideload? Hi, I'm the community engagement manager @ Android. It's my understanding that you don't have to keep developer options enabled after you enable the advanced flow. Once you make the change on your device, it's enabled. If you tur…

> ADB installs are not impacted by the waiting period, so that is an option if you need to install certain unregistered applications immediately. Someone is just going to make a nice GUI application for sideloading apks with a single drag-and-drop, so if your idea is that ADB is a way to ensure only "users who know what they're doing" are gonna sideload, you've done nothing. This is all security theatre.

scrcpy can already do that.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#209

Post by plst »

gruez wrote: post #199
plst wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by impossible in this case? Can't you just have the coin-operated parking meters back? Where I live, in EU, parking meters even take cards. EDIT: I guess "just" is doing some heavy-lifting, so I won't argue this further, but "impossible" isn't the word I would use either. The city could revert this decision, definitely if enough people wanted them to (that's... I know, the hardest part). I just agree…

>Regina city council made the decision to remove the coin option at downtown meters as part of the budget deliberation process, said Faisal Kalim, the City of Regina's director of community standards.

Yes, I read the linked article. Yes, the city made this decision. The decision could be reverted. I understand that this is a type of thing the OP (top-comment in the thread) is wishing for.

I don't see the "impossible" in my understanding of the linked article.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#210

Post by torben-friis »

politelemon wrote: post #94

I'm not in agreement with most of you, hn. They've found a decent compromise that works for power users and the general population. Your status as a power user does not invalidate the need to help the more vulnerable. Having to wait a day for a one off isn't a big deal, if they kept it looser then you'd be shouting about the amount of scams that propagate on the platform.

>Having to wait a day for a one off isn't a big deal

It's my phone. It's my software. Period.

The general population is deterred by burying a setting deep. Waiting is a dark pattern and we're not idiots.

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