Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

541–550 of 1001 posts

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

#541

Post by fsniper »

rtpg wrote: post #509
whatshisface wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say I'm sitting outside of your office with a bazooka and boxes of high explosives. You ask my why, and I say, "someone might try to rob this office." You say, "somehow, that does not persuade me that a stranger should loiter outside of my workplace with a massive stockpile of ordinance." I reply, "what's your solution to combat robberies?"

let's say I put a lock on an office door. You say "Why? Bazookas will get through the door anyways". I don't know how I feel about this change but context does in fact matter about whether something is a good idea or not

Is it a lock? I buy a building and the builder put an id verification lock on the doors and I am not allowed to remove it. And they also require a separate one time fee of 2 to 5 percent of the purchase price.

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

#542

Post by stavros »

armadyl wrote: post #410
bityard wrote: post #268

Welp, I guess my current Android phone will be my last one. At least half of the apps I use on a daily basis come from f-droid. This enforced 24-hour wait is simply not acceptable. Android has always been a far inferior overall user experience compared to iPhone. Android's _only_ saving grace was that I could put my own third-party open-source apps on it. There is nothing left keeping me on Android now. I'll probably…

GrapheneOS phones are still an option, it’s unaffected by these rules.

If they manage to expand their lineup a bit, that'll be my next phone. Or, if a company makes a phone with GrapheneOS preinstalled, I'm giving them my money.

Fuck Google for doing this, and Play Integrity making me unable to use banks is even worse.

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

#543

Post by _cenw »

userbinator wrote: post #536

Yet more reasons to keep using an old rooted Android for as long as possible and contribute to any efforts that make it easier to do so. I suspect the reason Android become dominant was the ease of modding and the community that created, and now they're trying to turn it into another authoritarian walled-garden like Apple. To paraphrase the famous Torvalds: "Google, fuck you!" "Those who give up freedom for security…

This comment makes no sense to me. As an individual user, opting out takes 24 hours and is much easier than rooting. Either your criticism is that this is prohibitive for too many users who aren't likely to care enough to ever root their phone (which might be fair, but your response doesn't fit) or it is that Google is locking down the ecosystem for some nefarious purpose (they're evidently not).

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

#544

Post by jwrallie »

MishaalRahman wrote: post #40
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…

>- 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…

Why don’t you create an option to bypass this whole thing permanently on adb then? You can even add your 24h delay.

I’m not convinced this is really to protect users from being hurt by scammers, it is really about protecting the users from doing what hurts your company interests.

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

#545

Post by _cenw »

teroshan wrote: post #16

That's a lot of words to explain how to install things on the device I supposedly own. Wondering how long the blogpost would be if it explained what the flow for corpoloading applications approved by Google's shareholders would be?

Those don't usually have problems with providing ID for attestation??! Like, this is not a gotcha, at all?

The casual cynicism on this website really is something.

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

#546

Post by userbinator »

wswin wrote: post #387
tavavex wrote: post #271

The part in the flow where you select between allowing app installs for 7 days or forever is a glimpse into the future. That toggle shows the thought process that's going on at Google. I can bet that a few versions down the line, the "Not recommended" option of allowing installs indefinitely will become so not recommended that they'll remove it outright. Then shrink the 7 day window to 3 days or less. Or only give us…

what's your solution to combat scammers?

Something called personal responsibility and intelligence.

...which clearly companies don't want, because complacent mindless idiots are easier to brainwash, control, and milk.

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

#547

Post by fsniper »

fluidcruft wrote: post #455
RobotToaster wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.' - Benjamin Franklin

'essential' means can't be bothered to wait 24 hours (once)?

You are missing the part that new 24 hour process was a response to backlash. It was not even in their plan.

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

#548

Post by lyu07282 »

nout wrote: post #451
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…

(some) people are starting to understand why cash is so important. It's the neutrality that it provides. The fact that it can't be programmatically limited or censored and you can't be excluded from the economy. Cash is inclusive. Obviously cash becomes much harder to "use" online and in apps...

Activists and human rights lawyers are constantly getting their bank accounts closed or denied, even UN human rights council members, members of the ICC, journalists, pro-palestine activists or people in the BDS movement, it happens ALL the time now in europe, people have no idea how bad that has become, nobody in mass media is ever reporting on it.

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

#549

Post by userbinator »

rozap wrote: post #463
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…

I parked in a garage in downtown Tacoma, Washington. The only option to pay was via an app. So I downloaded the app (by walking outside to where there was cell service, because I was, you know, underground in a garage) at which point it threw an internal server error when adding my card. There was no attendant on duty, and no way to pay with a credit card. So I left - just drove out of the garage. Then a few months l…

Just ignore it and never park there again. Change your plate if you really want to pay someone for something.

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

#550

Post by vachina »

lelandfe wrote: post #497
tavavex wrote: post #271

The part in the flow where you select between allowing app installs for 7 days or forever is a glimpse into the future. That toggle shows the thought process that's going on at Google. I can bet that a few versions down the line, the "Not recommended" option of allowing installs indefinitely will become so not recommended that they'll remove it outright. Then shrink the 7 day window to 3 days or less. Or only give us…

An actual example of this lives in the Gmail iOS app. Click a link in an email and every x days, a sheet appears: https://imgur.com/a/nlGS4Yk 1. Chrome 2. Google 3. Default browser app (w/unfamiliar generic logo) They removed the option for Safari some time in the last two years; here's how it looked in 2024: https://imgur.com/1iBVFfc And the cherry on top of dark UX patterns: an unchecked toggle rests at the bottom.…

Why are you even using the Gmail as your mail app?
Post reply on HN