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Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

9to5google.com

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Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#861

Post by Cthulhu_ »

PeterStuer wrote: post #492
throw10920 wrote: post #393

This is really bad. I think that most people on HN will agree with that. The problem is that most normal people (HN is not normal - mostly for the better) don't even understand what sideloading is - let alone actually care . How can we fix this? (aside from making people care - apathy enables so many political problems in the current age, but it's such a huge problem that this definitely isn't going to be the impetus…

People install games from Steam or the Epic Store on their computers without Microsoft preventing that or taking a cut all the time (not for lack of trying. I know). But somehow, in the mobile world, we went with total lockdowns and platform extortion as the rule? The irony of that iconic Apple 1984 add .

That's also because Microsoft has their own game / app store and video game monetization scheme in the form of xbox live, which is integrated into Windows installations.

I don't know if it's actually used much much on windows, but iirc xbox live is pretty popular.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#863

Post by archvile »

arielcostas wrote: post #765

Meaning to use your device you need to have a contractual relationship with a foreign (unless you are in the US) third party that decides what you can or cannot do with it. Plus using GrapheneOS is less of an option every day, since banks and other "regulated" sectors use Google Play Protect and similar DRMs to prevent you from connecting from whatever device you want. Client-side "trust" means the provider owning th…

Less and less of AOSP is being updated also, as Google rolls most of its new features and updates behind the Play Services system. Install Graphene and you will see what I am talking about - the SMS app for example hasn't been updated in probably a decade and looks and functions like it did back in Android 4 (KitKat). Same with the other built-in apps. While I used Graphene myself for a solid 6 months, the features you have to give up on using or find some obtuse workaround for aren't appealing to the "normies" who just want their phone to do what they want, no matter the unseen ethical cost (in this case, sacrificing the ability to freely install 3rd party apps). Someone on another forum said it very well - people like "us" were Google's foot in the door, now along with Apple they have such a stranglehold on the mobile OS space that a 3rd viable and comparable contestant becomes less and less likely by the day. Throw in how Google starting with Android 16 is not releasing updated drivers with AOSP and Graphene probably doesn't have much life left in it, either.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#864

Post by Yaina »

godelski wrote: post #467
rvnx wrote: post #406

If this is a thing then the solution they offer is incorrect. A big giant red screen: “warning the identity of this application developer has not been verified and this could be an application stealing your data, etc” would have worked. What they want is to get rid of apps like YouTube Vanced that are making them lose money (and other Play Store apps)

> What they want is to get rid of apps like YouTube Vanced I think it is also very telling where they're rolling out first. Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. It felt weird that the official press release was quoting entities from these countries, as if it should give confidence to the rest of the world. I can't imagine what these countries would want with apps that can be traced back to a government id... V…

Hm, not sure about that. I know from browser add-ons that markets like Brazil do suffer from increased scams, especially banking scams. I could see that this is also an issue for scam apps.

Firefox for instance does not allow you to install unsigned extensions. You don't need to list them on their storefront, but they want to perform automated tests and have the ability to block extensions through this signing requirement.

So in principle I can see them wanting to address a legitimate issue, but the way they are going about this is way to centralized. IMO they should do something like we have for web certificates, where vendors can add more root authorities than just the one from Google, and users should be able to add their own root certificates if they want to side load apps.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#865

Post by chaostheory »

fooqux wrote: post #797
arielcostas wrote: post #765

Meaning to use your device you need to have a contractual relationship with a foreign (unless you are in the US) third party that decides what you can or cannot do with it. Plus using GrapheneOS is less of an option every day, since banks and other "regulated" sectors use Google Play Protect and similar DRMs to prevent you from connecting from whatever device you want. Client-side "trust" means the provider owning th…

> Maybe it's time for a third large phone OS It's been that time for years . But it's easier said than done. The closest we've currently got are the various phone-targeted Linux distros out there. But they're not quite ready for serious usage for me; at least not on the Pinephone. Still, that's where to put your time & money if you're serious about wanting a change.

There was Firefox OS, but they ended it too soon. Now, they’re just trying to make money from ads

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#867

Post by blinding-streak »

rollcat wrote: post #803
arielcostas wrote: post #765

Meaning to use your device you need to have a contractual relationship with a foreign (unless you are in the US) third party that decides what you can or cannot do with it. Plus using GrapheneOS is less of an option every day, since banks and other "regulated" sectors use Google Play Protect and similar DRMs to prevent you from connecting from whatever device you want. Client-side "trust" means the provider owning th…

> Maybe it's time for a third large phone OS [...]. Apple and Google conspired to never allow that to happen. They've pushed Microsoft out of that sector. Microsoft! Name a bigger challenger.

Microsoft pushed itself out of the sector by having a lousy mobile platform.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#868

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

I've been saying in threads on iOS vs Android for years how we're lucky the only other phone OS out there allows sideloading, and the nightmare we'd be living in if it didn't.

Guess we've arrived, I wish people voted with their wallets more, iOS could have added this a decade ago.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#870

Post by tcfhgj »

ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #687
zmmmmm wrote: post #183

The worst part is the Orwellian opening sentence they start with in their blog post [0]: > You shouldn’t have to choose between open and secure 2+2=5 Truly the end of an era. I've spent nearly two decades buying Android phones because of a single checkbox in settings that let me have the freedom I consider essential to any computing device that I own. In a way, it's liberating, I've missed out on a lot from the Apple…

GrapheneOS will put it back into your hands.

"Which devices are supported?"

follows: list of Google devices - great, but I don't have Stockholm syndrome

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