The vast majority of software on Google Play is absolute spyware-laden slop. There are turstworthy apps, sure, but they are drops in an ocean. F-Droid’s trustworthy-to-ad-ridden-slop ratio is pretty much definitionally lower than Google’s, by virtue of it being actually curated. That everything on it is libre and they are working hard on reproducible builds just makes it all the better.
This is a bunch of opinion though. I'm not saying I disagree, but I do think it's bad faith to state as fact what is opinion. Is Play a "walled garden" or is it not curated? It can't be both depending on what suits the argument. You may disagree with the policies, but suggesting there are no policies in favour user privacy is just false. You may think they aren't enforced sufficiently, but again this is opinion. The…
It can be both - a walled garden full of malware, that rejects many apps which are not malware.
Play store is the largest distributor of spyware and viruses for Android. Not even a small fraction of a percentage of scams come from installing software normally, but only from Google Play store.
This raises the question: Why publish web pages that discuss topics such as "sideloading". Who would be interested in that information Who (besides you, dear HN reader) reads googleblog.com, androidauthority.com and other sites that discuss these topics Is it only a small fraction of a percentage of Android users When Google makes the obviously bogus claim that Google Play policies, e.g., "sideloaoding" restrictions,…
This is exactly why I gave the example of Debian repos.
Which again work on a model of a single entity having all the curation power.
Right, but the Debian Developers don't prevent you from installing (installing, not "sideloading") other programs. If you want to install malware you're free to, but they don't distribute it.
This is a bunch of opinion though. I'm not saying I disagree, but I do think it's bad faith to state as fact what is opinion. Is Play a "walled garden" or is it not curated? It can't be both depending on what suits the argument. You may disagree with the policies, but suggesting there are no policies in favour user privacy is just false. You may think they aren't enforced sufficiently, but again this is opinion. The…
It can be both - a walled garden full of malware, that rejects many apps which are not malware.
Sure but it's very obviously not that, so we're back to opinion and bad faith arguments.
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.
It's not just the US, story through the grapevine is that Google is under a lot of pressure Asian governments over "online scams". (Allegedly the main actor behind this push is Singapore)
They're free to make changes to Asian country phones and not let the political pressure of Asian countries impact non-Asian countries.
Stories like this is all my family members get iPhones. If Google wants to move to a walled garden too it should at least deliver on the walled garden benefits. No point otherwise.
Apple will enshittify at some point. The only long term way to go is open source.
Indeed, unfortunately most manufacturers are against it, even the smaller/niche ones. I am waiting for more people to wake up so we get good hardware with open firmware/OSs.
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 mor…
Well, as far as I know, none of the popular Android custom ROMs prevent root, though what you found about them not wanting to support you when you run into issues is probably somewhat true everywhere. I think the idea is that if something you're doing to get root or after getting root is causing problems, it would be outside the scope of the ROM itself and not their problem. I do still get help in the #LineageOS IRC channel and mention issues in there despite being rooted. I don't mention it unless it seems relevant, but I've seen bug report forms where they specifically ask. Ultimately it's gonna come down to whether they can reproduce it, consider it an issue, and if it's a problem with the ROM or something else. I don't think they intend to be malicious. I used to work in tech support for some enterprise backup software, and if there were signs that the customer's issue was because of their OS or network or someone else's software, that wasn't our problem to fix, and as soon as we could prove that, we could usually close the case. We were only there as support for a specific piece of software, it was their problem, or at least someone else's to keep the general servers and network working. I imagine the volunteer maintainers of LineageOS don't want to help you with things unrelated to what they do either. Have not used GrapheneOS as I've never owned a Pixel, but I imagine it's a similar situation.