Motorola has Graphene OS soon.
Come join us at /e/OS, we don’t have this https://e.foundation/
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Stop fucking calling it sideloading. It is called installing an app
So it’s on the same scale as buying a gun in the states.
I didn’t realise it was so dangerous.
Not quite. The majority of states have no waiting period to buy a gun and there’s no federal law, either.
Oh. It’s more dangerous than a gun then!
Political power grows from the barrel of f-droid
It’s so weird that they don’t take comments on the android developer blog post… Almost like they think it’ll be hugely unpopular.
How does this affect my Galaxy S10 from 2019 which hasn’t seen an update in years? I suspect it doesn’t. Not trying to be a smartass — I know I should change it out for something like an A25 that is still supported and probably a little faster, but I have this and it still works.
Well do you
Nothing wrong with sticking with something that works fine
A one day wait period to install an app on your mobile pocket computer. Fucken bullshit.
Edit: to all the “its one time” defenders, its one time for now. Stop falling for it. It always starts with an inch.
It used to be no time at all. You could just do it. From that perspective they’ve already taken a mile.
From zero to any nonzero value is infinite miles
I mean, it always starts with an inch but what people dont get is that compared to the 2000’s we are a mile deep and compared to rhe 80’s we are already in a dystopia.
sushhh… the shareholders’ imaginary line has to go up.
Well if you’re in the US you can head down to your LGS, buy a Glock 19 and do some plinking while you wait for the software to install on your phone :/
A one day wait period to install an app on your mobile pocket computer.
And that somehow supposed to stop users from inflicting their phones with virus software? Like, it does not make sense. Okay, force all devs to upload their IDs, no biggie (I guess). But do not lock users into the “tough luck, you cant sideload” system. 1 day wait will not prevent anything. They just added a mild annoyance for 24h, nothing more.
Forcing all devs to upload their IDs is not a no biggie
One day wait period to enable installing third party apps. Afterwards no extra wait time or verification.
For now. Don’t fight to give them an inch
It appears that the “security wait” will be a one time thing when you first allow installing from unverified sources. After enabling it it will remain on indefiniately.
Not quite as bad as I was fearing, but will kinda annoying.
“Not quire as bad”? My dude, you have to ask for permission from a corporation to install an app on your phone that you supposedly own and paid for. On what planet is this not awful?
This is happening to PCs now too, eg. with the OS ‘age-gating’ laws that IMO only exist to quell competition for MS, Google, and Apple.
to be fair, this is not “asking for permission”. that’s what xiaomi is doing, but not this. on xiaomi phones, to be able to unlock the bootloader or grant higher permissions to adb, you have to insert a live sim card, log in with an “mi account”, and have the server decide whether you are allowed doing that. for unlocking you additionally have to wait for several days, if you can get the approval process started that is, and hopefully you will be allowed.
unless it turns out this requires internet connection, a sim card, or a google account, this is just a safety procedure. and it’s hard to say but this world is so full of incredibly dumb people that all both need and want to use shiny smartphones for all that convenience and social media addiction, that a safeguard like this is needed.
Yep, it’s pretty bad, it sets a bad precedent, and has me looking for alternatives.
When it was originally announced I got the impression that Google would soon be removing the ability to sideload apps altogether and as I almost entirely use apps installed from “untrusted” sources this would have been a nightmare for me.
So while I think this whole situation is shit, and will almost certainly lead to Google removing the ability to sideload apps in the future, for me the immediate anxiety has been lifted.
You do realize that what you’re saying might’ve been the goal all along? It’s literally an “I’m altering the deal, pray I don’t alter it further” vader moment and you’re saying you’re relieved. Make no mistake, you, me and every single Android user was just fucked over and it’ll only get worse.
I don’t think I made myself clear; I am relievd because I thought I was going to lose access to my apps in the next update cycle. The thought of that filled me with anxiety, but now I have more time to prepare.
I’m hoping that something like lineageOS will be unaffected and will be available for my device before Google remove sideloading altogether
It looks like a glorified ‘developer mode’ switch that has the 1 day wait to prevent someone from grabbing your phone, turning on sideloading, installing some hazardous app, and then having their way with your info. This appears to be the best of both worlds.
Like when unlocking your bootloader wiped your info. Just do it first. not a year in to using your device, if thats your plan.
I think it is a reasonable compromise. They could have made it a day wait for any and every time you wanted to side load like this. It prevents accidental or malicious activation, while also giving you the feature you want with the smallest of roadblocks as confirmation you want it. And you only have to do it one time. I don’t think it’s the burden you do.
What is it a compromise between? People who think they own the thing they paid for and people who don’t?
I don’t need google telling me what I can put on this fucking phone I bought and paid for.
And they’re not. Load all the unsigned stuff you want after you wait one day. Again, I don’t see how this is a huge burden to ask.
It sure is a completely unnecessary burden designed as a deterrant.
People this willing to let a self-enriching corporate nanny state erode their ability to use the products they paid for terrify me.
People this willing to fall for the blatant corporate strategy of “We’ll announce something unthinkable but then backpedal to something “only” terrible (and then probably do the unthinkable thing later now that we’ve encroached further and softened the blow)” for the millionth time confound me.
Show some dignity; jesus christ. This isn’t a “compromise”. Me breaking into your house, threatening to kill you, but then “only” hitting you with a bat and leaving isn’t a “compromise”.
Hyperbole much?
This is a basic balance between the needs of the few, and the security of the many. The benefits of a one day speed bump are far more beneficial for the billions of Android users in the world, and offer no meaningful negatives to those that wish to enable this feature beyond that delay.
I realize that many people here are in or adjacent to IT work, and so are more passionate about these sorts of topics and are well versed in the risks, but in my opinion, allowing a simple, immediate way to bypass all security checks and install whatever you want immediately is a pretty big security hole, even if it is self-created. It makes sense to put those roadblocks up to protect the 99.9% that will never use this feature, as well as those that may activate it not understanding the risk. You may be comfortable with it, and that’s great, but that doesn’t mean every Android should. This is why prompts asking about coercion and not your IT prowess.
Finally. your example is poor. Google is not breaking into your phone and hurting you in way. If anything, it’s like a real estate agent that’s not giving you the keys until the bank opens so your check can clear. It’s a process issue, nothing more.
Your ability to use your device, as you see fit, installing anything you want, is entirely possible with a single one-day delay. As I said, I don’t think it is an unreasonable ask, nor the enormous inconvenience you make it out to be.
It’s my device. If I want to brick it I should be able to.
Long live lineagos
Things like LineageOS are a workaround, not a solution.
The solution has to be legal, not technical. Companies have to be stopped from trying to fuck with users’ property rights in the first place!
Yup. I’ve heard this first about Home Assistant, but software like this often inadvertently acts like a pacifier for tech enthusiasts. We may have our neat solution for the moment and be content with that, but that doesn’t help anyone else, or us in the long term. Things will get worse with no push-back.
Disclaimer: That’s not to say that we shouldn’t advocate for those tools in the meantime as well. We just shouldn’t lose track of the actual problem.
This would make sense if google play store wasnt full of malware. Scammers dont need you to sideload malicious apps they just get you to download it from the play store.
google doing their best to make me move to a different platform for my next phone.
anybody know of other options?
It feels that it is either Linux phones, or Fairphone, or GrapheneOS. We are somewhat fucked.
Linux phones are about to get interesting.
I’ve heard that 15 years ago
15 years ago the world wasn’t looking for a maliciously compliant escape route.
Unfortunately, I don’t think most people are too interested even now. The masses that buy phones and make it profitable aren’t aware of things like this or even give a shit. Any time I bring something up with friends and family it gets shrugged off. Realistically Linux phones are going to be fringe unless they can offer something up to the masses that is attractive to them.
Hope I’m wrong.
I don’t think anything other than degoogled Android is mature enough to recommend. And it looks like degoogled androids might extinct soon.
What makes you say Degoogled Android might go extinct? Projects like LineageOS and GrapheneOS are still going strong. /e/OS, murenaOS, VollaOS and other similar phones have been coming out of the woodwork recently. I think DeGoogled Android is just getting started.
That is, unless, you mean Google is working hard to close down AOSP so the downstream DeGoogled projects don’t function anymore? Then yeah, I sadly have to agree.
Google seems to start cracking down on free android, I don’t really believe they want to just stop the ability to install apps on your regular android and be done with it. Once they get the taste for blood, they can’t stop
This is not a solution at all. They want to make sick of users who have to wait a whole day ust to install a fucking app. Fuck them.
Google is the epitome of living long enough to become the villain.
They changed their “don’t be evil” motto years ago. I guess they must have kept two thirds of it.
I already migrated to Graphene. Knowing my luck if I wouldn’t then Google would go through with this shit.
I teach digital literacy and 99% of unsavory software I encounter on people’s phones come from the play store or app store
I will believe that they’re serious about protecting users when I see them do something about the crap ton of borderline scam solitaire and weather apps infesting their stores
Your wish is fulfilled. Google now requires the government id, full biometrics and shared gps location to publish apps in the store.
See, that is fine. If Google wants to have a safe and curated, high quality store, (which it doesn’t), it is very logical that it would want to have the origins of software very well identified.
AS LONG AS it provides a mechanism for users to access other sources of software.
They are doing the opposite, allow bullshit apps in the “safe store” while hindering the independents.
We desperately need a decently competent OSS phone OS, if possible with a compatibility layer for Android apps.
To those who think it is a fair compromise: It is not.
Android already had one layer of this shit before. When installid freshly dowloaded apk, android would prompt you to confirm that the source of the apk is trusted. This was not like this before. Before you’d just install apk.
And I agree to a certain amount. But thing is, it was added for no specific reason. People who install apks form outside source, will keep doing it and they 99% of the time know what they are doing or being told to do so by someone who knows what they are doing.
Adding another layer to this wont solve the problem, except make users annoyed for 24h wait time. And this is only adding 1 layer now. Who the fuck knows what is going to be 1 year later. 5 years later?
The thing is, people who do it and trust others to say, “just do it” - are the crazy ones.
It’s like the bs Tech Talk in TikTok. Always telling you to run RegEdit and such… oof.
