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Android Developer Verification

android-developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Android Developer Verification

#201

Post by realusername »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #91
throwaway85825 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be good if there was less malware and outright scams in the play store but that's really orthogonal to the developer verification issue.

Not sure why your observation was received poorly. It's true. If they actually wanted to fight bad actors they could (for example) introduce a voluntary verification program where an app cost $$$ per year to list, is permitted only a fixed number of updates per year, and the uploads are manually audited by an actual person. This would add a second tier to the app store. Just to drive the point home. Not that you woul…

What you are proposing won't solve anything, the #1 source of malware on Android is Play Store ads, here I said it.

And Google benefits financially from the problem.

Re: Android Developer Verification

#202

Post by ozim »

cuu508 wrote: post #176
hansvm wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds a lot like my experience as an Apple Developer too, with the added bonus (unclear from your description if you experienced this too) that they took my money before the verification process was finished and wouldn't refund it once their AI couldn't connect my face to my ID and wouldn't let me connect with a real person (the first dozen times were on them, but after that it was maybe my fault for including…

> Is there a way around this shitocracy? Refuse to play. Switch to technologoy that the shitocracy has not gotten around to yet, or, eventually, pick up woodworking.

Do what everyone is doing a web app.

Re: Android Developer Verification

#203

Post by TiredOfLife »

creatonez wrote: post #113

> However, our recent analysis found over 90 times more malware from sideloaded sources than on Google Play Google has seemingly never seen an elderly person's phone, where it is completely infected with crap including literal popup ads (that somehow overlay other apps), yet all of it was downloaded from GPlay.

Worst of all is that the ad that leads to that download is usually in Googles Youtube app

Re: Android Developer Verification

#204

Post by pjmlp »

hansvm wrote: post #156
mrtksn wrote: post #35

The Android verification is such a broken experience. Recently I decided to purchase a dev account for my company, so far: 1) Provided my company DUNS number etc. once to create the payment profile. I did this some times ago, don’t remember the details but it was an involved verification process and it is marked as verified business payment profile. 2) Later on the payment step verified myself with a passport and ban…

That sounds a lot like my experience as an Apple Developer too, with the added bonus (unclear from your description if you experienced this too) that they took my money before the verification process was finished and wouldn't refund it once their AI couldn't connect my face to my ID and wouldn't let me connect with a real person (the first dozen times were on them, but after that it was maybe my fault for including…

Develop only Web applications, that are mobile friendly, notice I said mobile friendly, not PWA.

However, thanks to many of us that only favour Chrome like IE of yore, and ship it alongside their "native" applications, the Web is nowadays ChromeOS Application Platform, so we are only a couple of years away of Google owning that as well.

Re: Android Developer Verification

#205

Post by TiredOfLife »

glenstein wrote: post #65

Don't love it but (1) it's addressing a serious problem and I'm not sure what the alternative is and (2) if you all remember the starting place, it was staggeringly, dramatically worse, practically a death sentence for F-Droid and seemingly testing the waters for if they could simply power through and do it despite objection. This is a major course correction that doesn't kill F-Droid. A one time 24 hour hoop to jump…

It addresses Youtube app showing an ad that installs malware from Google Play?

Re: Android Developer Verification

#207

Post by kaizenb »

cuu508 wrote: post #176
hansvm wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds a lot like my experience as an Apple Developer too, with the added bonus (unclear from your description if you experienced this too) that they took my money before the verification process was finished and wouldn't refund it once their AI couldn't connect my face to my ID and wouldn't let me connect with a real person (the first dozen times were on them, but after that it was maybe my fault for including…

> Is there a way around this shitocracy? Refuse to play. Switch to technologoy that the shitocracy has not gotten around to yet, or, eventually, pick up woodworking.

Exactly. This is why I love building web apps, shipping features easily without needing any one's approval.

Re: Android Developer Verification

#208

Post by cubefox »

andersonpico wrote: post #92
cubefox wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people complain about being scammed with Windows or macOS? Apparently not. So they probably also don't complain about Android. The security seems more an excuse to become more closed. Like iOS.

> Do people complain about being scammed with Windows They do. They absolutely do. Where have you been in the last 20 years? Windows has had a reputation as an unsafe ecosystem for decades. Even amongst non-tech people. And even with the various exploits the biggest source of viruses on windows was always that, lacking a proper channel to distribute applications, they had trained their users to double click any .exe…

> They do. They absolutely do. Where have you been in the last 20 years?

The last time I heard these complaints were before Windows XP Service Pack 2, which added automatic Windows updates and ended the flood of viruses like Sasser or MyDoom.A. That was more than 20 years ago. On top of that, Windows Vista later added an integrated virus scanner and UAC dialogues, which gave you a big warning whenever you wanted to open an executable file. I haven't heard of any widespread viruses since. Nowadays most people don't even need to install software because most things are SAAS/cloud and run via the browser now.

Now the biggest "security issue" seems to stem from not-so-bright users being convinced by phone scammers to transfer them money or something like that. I don't think this is a problem with Windows.

Re: Android Developer Verification

#209

Post by izacus »

xigoi wrote: post #177
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both things might be true. Sideloaded apps are probably way more likely to be malicious, but also most installed malware/crapware is quite likely coming from Google Play.

I’ve never found a malicious app on F-Droid.

Are you really unable to comprehend just how small of a userbase F-droid represents for Android ecosystem?

Re: Android Developer Verification

#210

Post by izacus »

ethagnawl wrote: post #12

What % of Android users actually want this? Do they know or care? I've been using Android since 2010 because it was open in ways that the Apple ecosystem wasn't. I do not want this and imagine hardly any other power users (for lack of a better term) do. I'm already using a mostly deGoogled device but this really seals the deal. I have been longing for a true Linux phone for years and now seems like a good time to get…

Significantly larger than the number of users wanting to sideload.

There are millions of people affected by targeted scams every year, significantly outnumbering the non-developer sideload community. Especially when you take into account that the sideload community doesn't all use Google Android and isn't affected by this.

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