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

Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices

androidauthority.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 245 posts

Re: Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices

#71

Post by jojobas »

rockskon wrote: post #16
andrewaylett wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the Epic settlement means Google is allowing alternate app stores, and also the delay only applies for unregistered developers, I'm not certain it won't actually get easier to get folk set up on F-Droid. It still remains to be seen what the actual requirements are, and even if F-Droid could become "approved" that doesn't mean they want to. Time will tell.

Why the hell should we "mother may I" with Google for running apps on our own phones if it isn't sourced from the Play Store? The "security" rationale is horseshit given just how much malware is readily download able on the Play Store. Google never cleans its own house before going after others.

Somehow if you replace Google with Apple in the same sentence you'll get cursed to hell. Go figure.

Re: Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices

#72

Post by AlBugdy »

opan wrote: post #60
AlBugdy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because my new phone would be my new phone. And a phone is a computer. That should be enough of a reason. I'm quite surprised people who post here don't get that. I've been lurking for years even though my account is new and even though general hackerishness here has gotten a bit reduced over the years, but it's still Hacker News, not ConsumerNews. No offense implied - I just hoped I'd see more people willing to clai…

I do (re-)root my phone (after each update I have to flash the Magisk-modified boot.img again), but FWIW almost nothing needs root on Android, it lets you do way more by default than iOS. I think some people equate jailbreaking and rooting when there's not really a jail to begin with. You can install a custom ROM without having root and I think that's what most people really want to do. Cleaner base system, maybe som…

I agree you might not need it, but the issue is one of principle. I want it because I might need it. I don't want to find another OS that supports root if I realize I need it.

Just how I may be OK with staying at home for months with deliveries and internet access and everything else provided for me, but I want the freedom to go outside. There is rarely anything I need that's outside, to be honest. And outside is more dangerous. But I want to be able to sudo outside whenever I want for whatever reason I want.

Re: Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices

#74

Post by AlBugdy »

armadyl wrote: post #56
AlBugdy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 99% of the time nobody [...] needs root on their phone Do you also not have root on your laptops or desktops? I don't get why it's so different. I don't just want to open TikTok and Instagram, I want to use my phone computer as a computer. I assumed HN folks would get it. I would choose something as locked down as GrapheneOS for its security if I was going to use it to install random apps left and right and give th…

> Do you also not have root on your laptops or desktops? I don't get why it's so different. I don't just want to open TikTok and Instagram, I want to use my phone computer as a computer. I assumed HN folks would get it. The security models of desktop operating systems are far, far behind those of mobile operating systems (Android/iOS). ChromeOS, followed by macOS are the closest to mobile security but are still sever…

Can't edit my other reply.

Edit: I looked at your other comments to see if you had discussed Linux or Android security before (and to avoid repetitive threads). I'll reply to this post of yours here as you'll likely not see that I've replied there:

> Also linux only really has block level encryption, not file based encryption like iOS/Android. It would be trivial for LEO to access your device unless it was totally powered off and then the only protection is LUKS. Or really even if you lose your phone and someone was so inclined to they could just extract all the data if it was powered on but on the “lock screen,” as most if not all desktop (and I’d imagine linux phone) environments do not actually do any encryption or anything when the system is locked, it’s just a cosmetic lock for all intents and purposes.

With LUKS or plain dm-crypt unencrypted data never touches the storage. Small parts of the storage are decrypted in RAM, but what gets written is encrypted. FDE at the block level gives less info to the adversary than file based encryption. With detached /boot (and maybesome other stuff) (like on a USB stick), and plain dm-crypt, you can even have plausible deniability that the storage medium was just overwritten with random data. LEO can't do anything for LUKS or dm-crypt if they can't bypass the lock screen, short of a cold boot attack. That's true for file-based encryption, too. The lock screen (on Linux, at least) isn't related to disk encryption and doesn't have to be.

Re: Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices

#77

Post by diego_sandoval »

b112 wrote: post #3
croemer wrote: post #2

Google clarifies that this status can carry over to new devices, so you only ever have to go through it once.

Which makes no sense, if the property is in Android itself. For example, lots of people use phones without any google play framework installed. Without that framework, how does it "carry over"? This just raises more questions about how this whole process works. Is it only the play api doing so? If so, then if you de-google, this entire problem goes away? If not, then how can you 'carry over' to a phone unless you als…

AFAIK, all current versions of Android have Google Play Services. It's an essential part of the "official" Android.

If you run GrapheneOS, LineageOS or whatever, then it's not real Android, and the entire problem of your OS restricting you from installing apps does not exist.

Re: Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices

#78

Post by Taterr »

None of the comments here seem to discuss or even mention how this situation looks from googles perspective? I feel like HN readers are not aware of the scale of the problem they face or their motivation behind these changes.

If you look at the rate of growth of the call/text scam industry I think it's entirely possible that android owners are getting scammed out of more money than google themselves makes on the android platform as a whole. It's at least not that far off. Which doesn't even account for the humanitarian issues which they probably feel partially responsible for.

Re: Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices

#79

Post by toast0 »

Zak wrote: post #7

It's a very small concession. The high initial friction still means when someone comes to me with a problem and I tell them the solution is in F-Droid, they have to wait a day. Most give up and pick a different, less trustworthy solution from Google Play.

Do you have to wait a day, or do you have to set your clock forward a day?

Re: Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices

#80

Post by happymellon »

fluidcruft wrote: post #55
benoau wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside Play, on YouTube or via Google Ads for many of them. Likewise for Meta ads.

The scams that are happening in the rest of world are calls posing as bank support about urgent security issues and telling people to install apps to protect their accounts.

All the scams are for apps that are already in the Play and App store.
Post reply on HN