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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

#121

Post by xandrius »

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 and then using Wine for the apps you really still need.

Yes, it's not perfect but Linux isn't either. If you think you're sufficiently tech savvy and want to make a change, give Ubuntu Touch a try. Find a cheap second hand supported device and play around, make some fun apps. (devices currently supported: https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/ )

To me it's like being back when there was only Windows and Macs as viable home computer OS, and people were getting their feet wet with Linux and all its flavours. Now, it's the same but for mobile.

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

#122

Post by WhereIsTheTruth »

In the technofeudal new world order, your smartphone is not just a device, it is your gov issued digital ID/wallet

The Apple/Google OS duopoly exists by design, they view bootloader unlocking and sideloading as threats because they break that control

They want to be able to define and/or revoke your existence in the system

No escape, because no alternative

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

#123

Post by dotancohen »

gambiting wrote: post #58
AlotOfReading wrote: post #12

Google's long term strategy with Android is baffling to me. Apple has had better mobile hardware for years. Apple has higher consumer trust. Apple has better app selection (for most people). Apple has been increasingly implementing the core features that differentiate Android devices, like USB-C and RCS. Every Android user lost to the increasing iOS market share is another customer Google has to pay exorbitant fees t…

>>Apple has had better mobile hardware for years Are you joking? Look at the latest Xiaomi, Oppo and other Chinese manufacturers, Apple would love to have the hardware they are shipping right now. From batteries to cameras and screens, apple is way behind on hardware tech. Yeah they are better than Samsung - but Samsung has also massively fallen behind what's the state of the art. >>is another customer Google has to…

  > Look at the latest Xiaomi, Oppo and other Chinese manufacturers, Apple would love to have the hardware they are shipping right now.
If any of these manufacturers decide to include an EMR pen in the body of the phone, like Samsung's S-Pen, they'll have me as a customer. The S-Pen so completely changes the experience that I am unwilling to go back.

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

#124

Post by ReptileMan »

swe_dima wrote: post #33

I am not very well educated when it comes to alternative stores landscape. But I do know that in Russia there's now Rustore: https://www.rustore.ru/en which functions by automatically downloading and updating APKs for you. During the APK install, however, you do see the ugly Android prompt about how this app may be dangerous. Rustore has its own app payment system, which obviously circumvents Google Play fees. This w…

Unfortunately both Russia and Ukraine are slacking in losing the war so it doesn't seem that making payments to Russia will be easy soon. Now of course if they were Uzbeki or Kazakhstani stores it would be completely different.

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

#125

Post by theshackleford »

onli wrote: post #56
AlotOfReading wrote: post #12

Google's long term strategy with Android is baffling to me. Apple has had better mobile hardware for years. Apple has higher consumer trust. Apple has better app selection (for most people). Apple has been increasingly implementing the core features that differentiate Android devices, like USB-C and RCS. Every Android user lost to the increasing iOS market share is another customer Google has to pay exorbitant fees t…

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…

> I assume worse

You know what they say about assuming.

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

#126

Post by faust201 »

PunchTornado wrote: post #57

I agree with high friction sideloading. it is the best of both worlds. no friction sideloading is too easily exploited by scammers. having a member of my family exposed to this kind of thing in the past taught me some things.

[flagged]

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

#128

Post by rowbin »

BatteryMountain wrote: post #59

If the make sideloading high-friction, either via account-bound or apk upload or permissions from MNO/ISP, I will leave android. I have a bunch of my own apps that only I use, not released to the public, if I cannot use them, I have zero reason to stay on android. I think one of the reasons they want to lockdown the system is to prevent guys like me from locking THEM out of my home/ecosystems, as and example, I build…

Sideloading is already worse on iOS

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

#129

Post by faust201 »

throwa356262 wrote: post #65

I think i have an idea that would better protect normal users while not getting in the way for power users and developers: 1. All applications must be signed with a valid store key. 2. Anyone can import a store key after rebooting into the bootloader (similar flow as custom roms) 3. Google can maintain a list of malicious keys and reject them Why is this better? Because it makes it much harder to trick grandma into i…

1. google can arbitrarily revoke key. Countries can revoke key.

3. Like the amazing malicious crapware from PlayStore that they allow. They don't reject that.

4. Grandma installs crap mainly from PlayStore

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

#130

Post by swe_dima »

necovek wrote: post #110
swe_dima wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh, right! Didn't have my coffee yet :-) But one difference is Rustore actually has payments and subscriptions, which hurts Google more.

I was expecting Google has stopped doing most of the business in Russia due to sanctions. Do you still see Russian-company ads in Google Search results or Youtube? Similarly, I thought they were not selling apps or ads in Google Play store in Russia either (they might be showing ads from non-Russian companies because, well, that just increases the show-count and absolute number of clicks).

I no longer reside in Russia, so I am not being targeted by these.

But I think that it mostly comes down to companies being able to pay for these ads. Mastercard / Visa payments no longer work in Russia. If a company has a way to pay (by having another business entity in another country), then it probably works.

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