Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

makeuseof.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

501–510 of 564 posts

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#501

Post by sidewndr46 »

observationist wrote: post #267
calgoo wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been thinking of secondary machine that would just use my phones wifi and encrypted vpn tunnels. Basically, the phone is only used for the banking app and whatever future government ID app will be required. The secondary device would basically be built on a open platform etc. Once we can't use the phone for sharing the connection, then we are basically stuck using other wireless connections, LoRa for short to…

Seems like setting up a shareable wifi6 hotspot should be trivial, in this scenario - either a wifi 6 usb dongle or an m2 board like Intel WiFi 6 AX200/210 , can turn on hotspot mode for other devices. WRT banking, you'd just use the browser - the whole point is to get away from the whole 'you need to spend $150/month and subscribe to a device and open yourself up to a whole suite of third parties in order to use an…

There are a number of banks that require the use of an app now, using a browser is not permitted

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#502

Post by porridgeraisin »

strix_varius wrote: post #426
drnick1 wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I just switched to the iPhone with the new cycle, explicitly because of this news. And guess what, sideloading has never been allowed on iPhones. So you just went from bad to worse. The only rational option for tech-minded people nowadays is to buy a device that supports Lineage or Graphene (ironically Pixels are good for this) and to replace the stock OS.

Well no, the iPhone has niceties that Android lacks (as evidenced by its total market dominance for markets who can afford Apple devices). Lots of engineers use Android phones, but the C-suite invariably uses iPhones. So if the reason you're choosing Android over iOS is freedom and flexibility, once that's gone, why not choose slickness, speed, battery-life, photo quality, and an integrated experience?

> battery life

Eh? I have a 6000mah Android. Everyone with an iPhone that I know struggles to get half the battery life I get.

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#503

Post by array_key_first »

Aachen wrote: post #487
array_key_first wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Not cheaper. 2. I think it's better, I like the UX but that's subjective. 3. Not open source. AOSP is open source. Android is not open source.

1: citation needed 2: yeah okay with that logic "I just subjectively feel that way", there's no point having a conversation 3: Android is short for AOSP. You're probably thinking of things like Google Play or OneUI?

> citation needed

Most android flagships are about the price of iPhones.

> Android is short for AOSP.

This actually made me laugh out loud.

Uh, no. AOSP is a showcase project which currently cannot run on any phones produced on Earth.

Android is the most popular mobile operating system.

AOSP does not include code to run almost any viable hardware and also does not include code necessary to run android applications. Everything that is Google play services is not in AOSP.

Bear in mind Google play services isn't the Google play store. It's basic device functionality, like cellular service and GPS.

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#504

Post by southernplaces7 »

GeekyBear wrote: post #168
jadbox wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still install apps outside the play store, but the developer does need to verify their signing information. Effectively this means that any app you install must have a paper trail to the originating developer, even if its not on the app store. On one hand, I can see the need for this to track down virus creators, but on the other, it provides Google transparency and control over side loaded app. It IS a conce…

Google is following the same game plan we saw when they decided that the full version of uBlock Origin (the version that is still effective on YouTube) should no longer be allowed within their browser monopoly. The fact that there was a temporary workaround didn't change the endgame. It's just there to boil the frog more slowly and keep you from hopping out of the pot. It's the same game plan Microsoft used to force…

Curiously, for me Ublock light works just as well after I was essentially forced to switch. I could still get the original to function, but with every random chrome update, the thing would be deactivated, obviously as "insecure".

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#505

Post by benjaminoakes »

ohman876 wrote: post #59

I know this is side topic but if buying the Android or iPhone hardware gives us hardware we don't control, then what alternatives we realistically have? I do own pinephone (and I was recently reading that they kinda staled with development of new phones hardware), I know about librem.. is there anything else on the market?

LineageOS? /e/OS? ArrowOS? Android has so much momentum that seems like it would be difficult to avoid a fork. I know Waydroid exists, but I'm not sure that's good enough. Ubuntu Touch sounds really cool too, but I've put effort into it with a used Google Pixel 3A and it's not an easy, cheap thing to try out right now. And it's still dependent on binary blobs for drivers, as far as I know. Not a great situation.

Regarding banking apps and things like that, I don't run into to any issues except for not being able to scan checks for deposit on the mobile website. And also I have to have physical credit cards. If you can't do what you need, consider changing to a local credit union which has your interests in mind far more than a for-profit bank.

I've never run into a need for apps for a government purpose, but perhaps I will someday.

I'm sure my situation where I live may be different than your situation where you live.

I don't use an open source fork of Android daily and from what I can tell the best option that exists today.

The only hardware that I know will continue to be open enough for this to be viable in the future is Fairphone. I hope there are others. I would definitely would NOT trust Google Pixel to remain open for the foreseeable future.

Personally, I'm trying to get out of the habit of using my phone anyway, so I might as well have laptop or desktop hardware that can fulfill my needs.

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#506

Post by ethbr1 »

Nursie wrote: post #422
ethbr1 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better hardware, yes. But you'll be reminded quickly how comparatively shit Apple's software is. Aka the litany of "Oh, yeah, everyone knows that's broken but just deals with it, because there's no way to fix issues on a closed platform other than {wait for Apple}."

What are all these things that are broken? The only thing I can think of that's worse on iOS is that you're forced to use safari or another skin on webkit rather than true alternative browsers. Everything else works better thatn android AFAICT, and integrates amazingly with MacOS.

There being a different keyboard with a period next to space that's only used for address bars.

Tapback emoji choice being uneditable.

There's a lot of little annoyances that on Android can be user-fixed, but on iOS it's just... wait and hope.

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#507

Post by JohnFen »

spogbiper wrote: post #230
JohnFen wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, although using adb requires the use of the usb port, which for some of my projects is highly impractical. Also, with this move, Google has made it very clear that they don't want people to have any real control over their machines -- so I'm not inclined to think that using adb to work around the problem will always be possible. It's fine, though. My hobby projects will continue into the future, just probably wi…

I didn't think a usb port was required since the introduction of wifi adb? https://www.androidpolice.com/use-wireless-adb-android-phone...

Ah, I didn't know this was a thing. Thank you!

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#508

Post by Nursie »

ethbr1 wrote: post #506
Nursie wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are all these things that are broken? The only thing I can think of that's worse on iOS is that you're forced to use safari or another skin on webkit rather than true alternative browsers. Everything else works better thatn android AFAICT, and integrates amazingly with MacOS.

There being a different keyboard with a period next to space that's only used for address bars. Tapback emoji choice being uneditable. There's a lot of little annoyances that on Android can be user-fixed, but on iOS it's just... wait and hope.

Honestly, now you mention it, space bar/period thing is annoying :)

I’m always searching for things with unnecessary dots in them, and I’d forgotten about the keyboard options on Android.

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#509

Post by jezek2 »

01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote: post #247
brazukadev wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Installing any app I want outside the Play Store was the primary reason I decided to go with Android You still can do that with PWAs in Android. Let's see for how long.

Do you have a single friend who isn't a programmer who has installed a PWA in the last two years?

Game streaming services like GeForce Now, Xbox Live, Amazon Luna use PWAs for iOS/iPad support, used by a lot of ordinary users. They're not in AppStore because of incompatibility with Apple rules.

Re: Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

#510

Post by grepex »

NoPicklez wrote: post #335
grepex wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. "Sideloading" has been marketed as a boogeyman opening doors to malware, when in fact malware exists on the play store anyway.

It hasn't been marketed that way, its a term which differentiates installing apps from the app store and installing them outside of it.

I understand what sideloading means, as I'm sure the rest of HN knows. But to the layman non-techie, it has indeed been marketed as a boogeyman.

Even in the Android developers blog post:

> We’ve seen how malicious actors hide behind anonymity to harm users by impersonating developers and using their brand image to create convincing fake apps. The scale of this threat is significant: our recent analysis found over 50 times more malware from internet-sideloaded sources than on apps available through Google Play.

The research paper that shows their methodology for discovering these results AHS not been published by Google, to my knowledge. Just a mere "trust me, bro".

Edit to include link to source: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-...

Post reply on HN