alt Hacker NewsWhat % of Android users actually want this? Do they know or care?
I've been using Android since 2010 because it was open in ways that the Apple ecosystem wasn't. I do not want this and imagine hardly any other power users (for lack of a better term) do. I'm already using a mostly deGoogled device but this really seals the deal. I have been longing for a true Linux phone for years and now seems like a good time to get serious about the search and migration plan.
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Rounded to the nearest percent, I'd guess power users make up 0% of android user base.
Google/Android don't want AI bots spamming marketplaces with dodgy apps.
Tie in the app to a verified identity/individual and it makes the audit process easier as well as engagement with authorities from the user's country if required (e.g. app facilitating child abuse).
But but but it is for your security! You need to be protected!
Android isn't open source for a while. They started by pushing device certification which crippled any abilities of OEMs to make a better framework. Then they took many of the opensource packages out of android and redistributed as applications that they controlled via play services.
Then they made it harder to publish packages and created tons of rules that they can arbitrarily decide to cut ties with you or remove your remuneration.
What they are effectively doing now is to remove any ability of individual developers to push applications. Some will say the costs ain't that high, but (1) maybe not in USD dollars for Americans and (2) both Google and Apple will push those numbers way up high soon.
Even if that is not the case, if you don't agree with anything and you decide to have your own version of your family wiki, messenger or anything, they will be able to tell the authorities about it.
This is insane....
> What % of Android users actually want this? Do they know or care?
If Apple announced that they were going to allow installing apps like how you can install APKs you will have a whole group of people on here arguing against it because they want Apple to have control over everything. You could have seen those people in action on the Epic v. Apple and Digital Markets Act discussions.
It would be good if there was less malware and outright scams in the play store but that's really orthogonal to the developer verification issue.
> What % of Android users actually want this? Do they know or care?
2%, according to the keepandroidopen.org poll[^1]
[^1] https://techhub.social/@keepandroidopen/116251892296272830
Android is becoming more Apple-ized everyday; it's horrible and more and more APIs get neutered or disappear, further limiting functionality available to developers.
You were wrong at percentage. The question is what count would want this.
> What % of Android users actually want this? Do they know or care?
Bold of you assuming they're doing for users. It's fear-mongering at its finest - using the threat of security to install more control that has little to no protection against the said threats.
Now you might say it's going to raise the bar for the scammers, but nobody is going to be spending time on writing scam or malware for a few bucks. When the reward is high, they can just pay out already verified developers to distribute their builds under their accounts, or just find a workaround (fake ids?) which could be still way cheaper than the potential revenue potential of a successful attack. It's just an inconvenience that didn't existed before.
This is just a policy directly targeting the legit developers distributing apps to work around some of the platform's limitations (ie. uncrappifying youtube). They were previously free to share the workarounds they've developed for themselves since it was just as easy as sharing your APK. Now with added threat of losing your developer account and probably being perma-banned from google, those devs are less likely to continue distributing their workarounds.
It's not about users, it's about a single judges idiotic ruling that Google play store is a monopoly, and the Apple app store is not.
Different judge you say? You're right. But when Google in their appeal asked the judge why the app store isn't a monopoly, the judge told Google with a straight face
"You can't be anti-competitive if you have no competitors."
Google took note.
People don't want it until they've been scammed. Then they'll complain why you didn't save them.
Pretty much everyone would hate it if a relative lost their life savings to a scammer, though they may not know it yet.
The idea isn't to protect the power users or average users. It's to protect the most vulnerable. Android is for everyone. Us power users will have a minor speed bump, but we can deal.
Being able to side load apps was why I switched to android 10 years ago