Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps • Hacker News Board

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#951

Post by lyu07282 » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

th2o3i43498324 wrote: post #654

lyu07282 wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activists and human rights lawyers are constantly getting their bank accounts closed or denied, even UN human rights council members, members of the ICC, journalists, pro-palestine activists or people in the BDS movement, it happens ALL the time now in europe, people have no idea how bad that has become, nobody in mass media is ever reporting on it.

I'm not surprised - the Zionist lobby has basically criminalized all opposition to it. Trump's "anti-DEI" geniuses ensured that any censure of Israel and its crimes would lead to the total destruction of one's life in the US (Gleen Greenwald talks about this on Tucker). Given how this is going, I'd not be surprised if anti-semitism comes roaring back by the end of the decade.

> Given how this is going, I'd not be surprised if anti-semitism comes roaring back by the end of the decade.

This is a huge issue yeah, so many jewish organizations that used to be fighting antisemitism are now more concerned with fighting anti-zionism, calling everybody who doesn't lick Israel's boot an antisemite. This will blow up in all their faces so hard.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#952

Post by grishka » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

yaro330 wrote: post #781

grishka wrote: post #87

At this point I'm convinced that there's something deeply wrong with how our society treats technology. Ruining Android for everyone to try to maybe help some rather technologically-hopeless groups of people is the wrong solution. It's unsustainable in the long run. Also, the last thing this world needs right now is even more centralization of power. Especially around yet another US company. People who are unwilling…

You live in a bubble. The roles are inversed. This is "ruining" Android for the 0.001% of power users that install .apk files and improving it for the huge chunk of population that are still getting hit by malicious ads that try to push app installs onto you.

So then let it be such that only 0.001% of people will use smartphones.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#953

Post by MishaalRahman » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:42 PM UTC

codethief wrote: post #626

MishaalRahman wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Developers, including non-US citizens, are forced to give Google their government ID to distribute apps. Developers can choose to not undergo verification, thereby remaining anonymous. The only change is that their applications will need to be installed via ADB and/or this new advanced flow on certified Android devices. Either way, you can still distribute your apps wherever you want. If you verify your identity, th…

> Developers can choose to not undergo verification, thereby remaining anonymous. The only change is […] "The only change" – with all due respect, are you even listening to yourself? The "only change" is that you, as a developer, will be completely excluded from publishing apps in the Play Store and that people effectively won't be able to install your app anymore! (Unless you were targeting only e.g. F-Droid users t…

>The "only change" is that you, as a developer, will be completely excluded from publishing apps in the Play Store

Google Play already requires developer verification: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#954

Post by dietr1ch » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

Anonyneko wrote: post #850

ninjagoo wrote: post #845

It is way past time to build a 'people's phone', funding it through a platform like LiberaPay [1][2] or Open Collective [3][4], with a requirement for the device to be completely open-source. [1] https://liberapay.com/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberapay [3] https://opencollective.com/ [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Collective If we start today, we could have a new phone in 2-3 years. Future generatio…

Open phones are all fine and well, but good luck convincing banking and government applications to work on those (especially in countries where bank login is used to access government services).

A single manufacturer convinced a lot of them to work with Apple phones.

It's definitely doable, but the product has to be appealing to users, which also seems doable as phones already peaked in capability and making a good phone now is more about polish in build + software than being technologically ahead of the competition.

I consider my 2yo mid-range phone a great phone, and with today's politics owning my phone is in the top-3 things I'd like my next phone to improve on, not a better camera, screen, battery, slimmer build nor gimmicky stuff (ok, maybe an IR to replace remotes or LoRa support would be kind of cool)

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#955

Post by aboardRat4 » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

lelandfe wrote: post #497

tavavex wrote: post #271

The part in the flow where you select between allowing app installs for 7 days or forever is a glimpse into the future. That toggle shows the thought process that's going on at Google. I can bet that a few versions down the line, the "Not recommended" option of allowing installs indefinitely will become so not recommended that they'll remove it outright. Then shrink the 7 day window to 3 days or less. Or only give us…

An actual example of this lives in the Gmail iOS app. Click a link in an email and every x days, a sheet appears: https://imgur.com/a/nlGS4Yk 1. Chrome 2. Google 3. Default browser app (w/unfamiliar generic logo) They removed the option for Safari some time in the last two years; here's how it looked in 2024: https://imgur.com/1iBVFfc And the cherry on top of dark UX patterns: an unchecked toggle rests at the bottom.…

Please don't use imgur, it blocks off half of the internet. Use catbox.moe or imageban

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#956

Post by aboardRat4 » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #607

al_borland wrote: post #579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate this pop-up so much. I don’t even have Chrome installed on my phone. How about open up on the only browser I have installed… This kind of thing should be illegal. The default browser is the default for a reason, to avoid this kind of stuff. I think I’ve reported this as a bug to Google a couple times, in a couple different apps… as they do it in their other apps too. The only thing that bothers me more are the…

It's OK. This is the dying, last gasp effort that a company makes when it has no way to innovate, no way to add any real value, no capacity to drive change internally, and has become completely non-user focused. In short, it's what companies like IBM and Broadcom are now. Shallow husks of their former self, mere holding companies for patents, with a complete lack of care and concern about any end-user retention. Goog…

Alternatives are not that better :(

Also Google search degradation is partly due to the web becoming infested with AI slop and most content moving to chat apps, which are walled gardens by default.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#957

Post by storus » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

LtWorf wrote: post #761

storus wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily; coding agents might help to accelerate getting to Android/iOS feature parity much faster than what was the case with Linux.

They do not have the hardware specs in their training, which is what is missing.

The whole app ecosystem however can be generated to a large extent, so missing apps should not be a barrier for free/open source mobile OSes assuming an open hardware mobile SoC.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#958

Post by MishaalRahman » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

Zak wrote: post #394

MishaalRahman wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Must enable developer mode -- some apps (e.g., banking apps) will refuse to operate and such when developer mode is on, and so if you depend on such apps, I guess you just can't sideload? Hi, I'm the community engagement manager @ Android. It's my understanding that you don't have to keep developer options enabled after you enable the advanced flow. Once you make the change on your device, it's enabled. If you tur…

I don't think Google should be changing Android this way at all, and fear that it will later be used for evil. That said, I thought of an improvement: Allow a toggle with no waiting period during initial device setup. The user is almost certainly not being guided by a scammer when they're first setting up their device, so this addresses the concern Google claims is driving the verification requirement. I'll be pretty…

That's an interesting idea wrt to enabling the advanced flow during initial device setup! I'll pass it along.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#959

Post by MishaalRahman » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:57 PM UTC

headsman771 wrote: post #237

MishaalRahman wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Must enable developer mode -- some apps (e.g., banking apps) will refuse to operate and such when developer mode is on, and so if you depend on such apps, I guess you just can't sideload? Hi, I'm the community engagement manager @ Android. It's my understanding that you don't have to keep developer options enabled after you enable the advanced flow. Once you make the change on your device, it's enabled. If you tur…

Why do you keep harping on about ADB installs. That's not helpful. It doesn't help me install open source apps from FDroid. It's ridiculous that you think booting up a computer and using ADB is a reasonable workaround. It isn't.

If you enable the advanced flow as described in the Android Developers Blog, then you can install unregistered apps regardless of source. That includes apps from sources like F-Droid.

Re: Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps

#960

Post by MishaalRahman » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:58 PM UTC

OrangeMusic wrote: post #931

MishaalRahman wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Must enable developer mode -- some apps (e.g., banking apps) will refuse to operate and such when developer mode is on, and so if you depend on such apps, I guess you just can't sideload? Hi, I'm the community engagement manager @ Android. It's my understanding that you don't have to keep developer options enabled after you enable the advanced flow. Once you make the change on your device, it's enabled. If you tur…

Can you answer this question: If you install F-Droid via ADB, can F-Droid then install the apps from its catalog?

If you enable the advanced flow as described in the linked Android Developers Blog, then you can install any unregistered app, which includes those distributed by app stores like F-Droid.