Keep Android Open • Hacker News Board

Re: Keep Android Open

#21

Post by bayindirh » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC

safety1st wrote: post #16

bjornroberg wrote: post #6

The detail that keeps getting lost in these threads: the "advanced flow" for power users is delivered through Google Play Services, not the Android OS. That's the whole game. It means the safeguard is not part of AOSP. It ships as a closed component that Google can narrow, gate, or remove in any Play Services update, with no Android version bump, no OEM coordination, no user consent beyond the usual auto-update. "Ope…

What follows is the "advanced flow." I feel like there should be a class action lawsuit in response to this as when I purchased my device I had an expectation that I could install apps without this insane limitation Enable Developer Mode ↗ by tapping the software build number in About Phone seven times In Settings > System, open Developer Options and scroll down to “Allow Unverified Packages.” Flip the toggle and ans…

Even shutting down HAL9000 was easier than this, and I'm half joking.

Re: Keep Android Open

#22

Post by dhruv3006 » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 1:56 PM UTC

And I thought Google was always " do no evil ".

Re: Keep Android Open

#23

Post by creatonez » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

bjornroberg wrote: post #6

The detail that keeps getting lost in these threads: the "advanced flow" for power users is delivered through Google Play Services, not the Android OS. That's the whole game. It means the safeguard is not part of AOSP. It ships as a closed component that Google can narrow, gate, or remove in any Play Services update, with no Android version bump, no OEM coordination, no user consent beyond the usual auto-update. "Ope…

> the "advanced flow" for power users is delivered through Google Play Services, not the Android OS. That's the whole game.

What is the source for this claim? I can believe it, but I haven't seen where the claim actually comes from, and it doesn't seem to be mentioned in Google's announcements.

Re: Keep Android Open

#24

Post by jerojero » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

srslyTrying2hlp wrote: post #7

freedomben wrote: post #2

Hypothetically, if Pixel phones became the go-to phone on Android, would G be less or more likely to keep it open? I have a bad feeling that the former is more accurate. The fragmentation somewhat forces the openness, or at least a baseline of openness. If pixels went to 98% market share, a rug pull seems easy and desirable for the management classes. I'll admit that my cynicism is in no small part to having seen And…

[flagged]

I have a Pixel 8 pro, last year I went to NYC with a friend who had an iPhone.

We went to some of the museums and as we were taking pics, the difference in color accuracy were dismal.

The Google phone was much, much, worse. I think google used to be known for their good photography and I was very happy with my earlier pixel 6. But something happened.

I'm sorry to say, but when it comes to photos and videos I think the iphone is now much better than the pixel phones.

Not only that but theres a lot of things that are easier to do when you're inside the apple ecosystem. Particularly in countries with high iphone usage.

I think Google has dropped the ball hard, and yeah, people working in android use iphones, people working in the google watch use apple watch.

Re: Keep Android Open

#25

Post by lapcat » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 1:58 PM UTC

bparsons wrote: post #5

It feels like there is a wide open opportunity for some new OS's to enter the mainstream marketplace. I see nothing but dissatisfaction with the incumbents.

In order to enter the mainstream market and challenge the consumer OS duopolies, a new OS needs at least two things:

1. Retail presence

2. A large advertising budget

This is why it's so difficult to challenge the existing duopolies on desktop and mobile. If a consumer can't walk into a retail store, see a device on the showroom floor with the new OS installed by default, and buy a device with the new OS installed by default, then the new OS has zero chance of becoming mainstream.

Among other reasons, this is why Linux has failed to go mainstream. Linux has no retail presence, and it's not advertising to consumers.

Re: Keep Android Open

#26

Post by safety1st » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 1:59 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #8

bparsons wrote: post #5

It feels like there is a wide open opportunity for some new OS's to enter the mainstream marketplace. I see nothing but dissatisfaction with the incumbents.

We have other mobile OSes, even ones that support Android apps like Jolla and PostmarketOS. People don't use them.

Tell this to my banks (whose apps are the only way you can even pay at some businesses nowadays)

Re: Keep Android Open

#27

Post by zb3 » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

Android was never open. Its security model / the permission system is anticompetitive and the user is a third class citizen.

Google can do everything as they control the system - this gives full innovation capabilities. Then there are vendors which are restricted by Google via CDD (checked by CTS/VTS), they might add "privileged apps" but they can't touch what Google does on the system..

And only then there are regular developers/users, apps which they can install have very limited capabilities, they can't extend the system beyond a limited set of APIs that Google allows them to use.

This limits third party innovation already, but Google constantly makes it worse by restricting third party app capabilities even further under the guise of "security"..

Re: Keep Android Open

#28

Post by darkwater » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 2:01 PM UTC

bparsons wrote: post #5

It feels like there is a wide open opportunity for some new OS's to enter the mainstream marketplace. I see nothing but dissatisfaction with the incumbents.

We still have problems with websites only working on Chrome, moving to a new - or grow an already existing one - open mobile ecosystem in 2026 and beyond it's going to be much more difficult than the Year of Desktop Linux, unfortunately :(

Re: Keep Android Open

#29

Post by syoleene » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 2:02 PM UTC

bjornroberg wrote: post #6

The detail that keeps getting lost in these threads: the "advanced flow" for power users is delivered through Google Play Services, not the Android OS. That's the whole game. It means the safeguard is not part of AOSP. It ships as a closed component that Google can narrow, gate, or remove in any Play Services update, with no Android version bump, no OEM coordination, no user consent beyond the usual auto-update. "Ope…

If the "advanced flow" is delivered through play services, what does this mean for degoogled Android phones? Or are those not concerned with the new side loading limitations?

Put simply, If I were to install plain AOSP and F-Droid would I be able to continue installing apps normally?

Re: Keep Android Open

#30

Post by preisschild » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC

bparsons wrote: post #5

It feels like there is a wide open opportunity for some new OS's to enter the mainstream marketplace. I see nothing but dissatisfaction with the incumbents.

There are android distributions like Graphene OS and LineageOS that are completely open. The problem is application developers that specifically restrict their apps to only run on google/apple certified hard-/software