Earlier quoted context omitted.
Taking away adb install should be the next step. It's a slippery slope
Is there any evidence that Google plan to do this?
adb backup is gone
Answering questions about Android developer verification
41–50 of 128 posts
Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#42Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#43So this is saying you have to have an Android developer account and sign the app with your identity… so a one-time $25 cost and that’s it? You can still distribute and sideload apps as long as you sign them. Microsoft does this for Windows apps if you don’t want scary warnings popping up everywhere. Apple doesn’t even let you sideload at all for iOS and for macOS they do the forced trash malware thing unless you run…
It's not about the $25. It's about Google centralizing control. If they don't like your app, oops, no verification for you.
Goodbye NewPipe. Goodbye anything that doesn't align with Google's capitalist interest or American imperial interest.
Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really though, as you can still install apps over adb without developer verification, same as always.
You can sideload apps in ios too, but you may not run it.
On Android you can both install and run apps over adb. The linked article explains:
> Participating in developer verification will not affect your experience in Android Studio, the official IDE for Android app development. You will continue to be able to build and run an app even if your identity is not verified. Android Studio is unaffected because deployments performed with adb, which Android Studio uses behind the scenes to push builds to devices, is unaffected. You can continue to develop, debug, and test your app locally by deploying to both emulators and physical devices, just as you do now.
Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#45This mostly confirms that it's exactly as bad as we thought. The only clarification is that building from source and installing via adb will continue to be allowed. For now.
My understanding was that those packages still had to be signed with a key known to Google.
The current blog post does appear to say that you don't need to be verified to install and run apps with adb.
Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#46Yep, it's as bad as everyone expected it to be. "We aren't taking away sideloading, we're just going to fully control it now! No Google-unapproved code on user devices! For security reasons!" Chrome isn't enough. We need Android to get clawed away from Google too.
Not really though, as you can still install apps over adb without developer verification, same as always.
Not really though. That's not how apps are usually installed on Android outside of Google's control.
Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#47Can an non-profit LLC verify itself and submit apps on behalf or anonymous developers after vetting their code? If so, that would probably a nice middle-ground. The reaction to this change has truly changed my opinion that developer's opinions on a lot of subjects affecting the public's safety and security shouldn't be valued much (and yes, I realize I am on HN). If this is a bridge too far, then why should anyone li…
> This is just to address malicious code
Where "malicious" is defined as anything that Google or the American Empire doesn't agree with.
Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#48This isn't so bad. Unlike other mobile OSes (namely iOS and HarmonyOS), you will still be able to install whatever you like on Android over a USB debugging connection (adb) without any developer verification. It doesn't take much effort to enable Developer Options, plug into a laptop and run "adb install whatever.apk". It's kind of like the floppy disk era again, having to physically insert things into one's computer…
At least as far as I understand, this would be a huge issue for F-Droid, to the extent that it isn't clear if it can continue at all. Half of my apps come from there, and gets automatically updated. Starting to download APKs manually and install them with ADB isn't impossible, but a huge downside.
This might open up a market opportunity for an "F-Droid box" that one would plug into an Android phone over USB, to install and update F-Droid apps over adb. Or the equivalent software for a laptop.
Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#49Googles decisision to add developer verification killed my interest in handset development entirely. But hey, at least I know what to focus my time on rather than third party app development ie. F-Droid. I look at my android phone differently now that its on the table which sucks but hey they made me switch my development time to linux drivers now instead.
After 15 years of professional development on Android I too am now thinking about switching my focus to something different. And it sucks. Just wished there was a viable* FOSS Linux based mobile OS project out there that I could offer my time and energy to instead.
Aren't Graphene and Lineage exactly that?
I have been running Graphene on a Pixel for a while now and I don't think Linux phones are a viable alternative. The vast majority of Android apps just work on Graphene, and there are millions of them. The UI experience is polished, everything just works with the exception of apps that require Google Play Integrity. And of course these projects aren't affected by Google's restrictions on sideloading.
Re: Answering questions about Android developer verification
#50The year of the Linux Phone is coming!
There sadly isn't a single viable option for a Linux mobile phone out there.
- Purism runs ancient hardware, charges way too much and has questionable business ethics.
- Pine64 has equally bad hardware but reasonable prices. I don't like the Hong-Kong connection though. Not sure how the security patching environment is in practice.
The only option on the table as I see it is buying from the devil and installing GrapheneOS.