Google: “Based on this feedback and our ongoing conversations with the community, we are building a new advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified. We are designing this flow specifically to resist coercion, ensuring that users aren’t tricked into bypassing these safety checks while under pressure from a scammer. It will also include clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved, but ultimately, it puts the choice in their hands.”
Thank god. I would’ve ditched Android for good if this went through, and while it sounds like it would be annoying for casual users to enable unverified apps, at least we can still install them.
We are designing this flow specifically to resist coercion, ensuring that users aren’t tricked into bypassing these safety checks while under pressure from a scammer. It will also include clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved, but ultimately, it puts the choice in their hands.
The current system requires user to enable developer options, which is already hidden behind a dark pattern (tapping the Build number multiple times) then enabling the installation of apps of unknown sources for specific apps, which also comes with a warning.
It’s basically what we have already, so cut the bullshit and leave it be.
Users only need to eat half of a shit sandwich!
This is less terrible news, not good news.
… continues to make Play Integrity an integral part of Android and making all the stupid banking and govt apps requiring having it on your phone thus making it harder to de-google.
still no… fuck you.
They’ve already lost my trust. GrapheneOS or LineageOS are the only safe bets now.
I have been looking at getting a flip phone and ditching this “Smart phone” bullshit altogether, I still might. I’m sick of this rug pull bullshit and no one can convince me they aren’t just going to try again.
Yea no, just don’t change things. Things are good as they are without them trying to encroach further on our ownership of our devices.
Easing up? Don’t fucking touch it. Google is already annoying me with their play protect warnings.
For now
Literally idk why people are saying “If this happens I’ll switch to an iPhone”
Like bruh Apple is even a more closed off walled garden? What sort of sense does that make to switch to something twice as expensive and gives you absolutely no control?
Even if Google decided to implement this in the future, I will never switch to an iPhone and neither should you
I’m still slowly moving towards a Linux phone. That I can install whatever on, of course.
Maybe even eInk screen. Just that currently there’s nothing with eSIM as well.
It’s always the same, big shocking announcement, public outcry, pushing forward with a less shocking version, public acceptance, and then rolling out the rest of the initial plan. Why do we keep falling for it?
Its like getting robbed at gunpoint. Not much you can do about it.
Give a fascist an inch…
They are going to make this into a “1 step back 2 steps forward” type of situation. This is that 1 step back and in a few months there will be 2 steps forward where they will completely ban all non play store apps.
OP is either deluded or in bad faith.
This WILL go through, just slightly later to try to make less noise.
Linux phones are the only choice left.
Deluded or in bad faith for sharing official news?
mostly for endorsing it with your commentary; your position seems to be “we won, everybody drop your weapons and party, google is good again”
and you follow by bashing linux phones in your subsequent comments…
“deluded or bad faith” does seem to fit here bud
I don’t know what weird-ass stawman you built, but it’s obviously not from anything I said
your position seems to be “we won, everybody drop your weapons and party, google is good again”
No?
and you follow by bashing linux phones in your subsequent comments…
“Bashing” Linux phones by saying they’re buggy and won’t be ready soon, which is literally true. Even PostMarketOS says the same thing on their website. I guess you’d prefer I gaslight people by saying Linux phones are awesome, let’s all switch to phones that barely work, lack any phone apps, have a terrible battery life, etc.
I would’ve ditched Android for good if this went through
This WILL go through, so here you are either deluded or in bad faith.
while it sounds like it would be annoying for casual users to enable unverified apps, at least we can still install them.
More delusion or bad faith, because you don’t even know HOW you’ll be able to do it, assuming you actually will.
Would you thank god if Google gave you the chance to install any app you want by submitting your ID?
There aren’t any Linux phones ready for day-to-day use yet. A delay gives them more time.
Good, but I still don’t trust Google and I really want Linux (you know what I mean) on my next phone.
That’d be nice, but Linux on phones is still a pipe dream.
AFAIK Faiphone 4/5 and OnePlus 6 are in a very good state on PostmarketOS and continually improving. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to say we’ll have fully working devices in half a year - year with the amount of progress that’s happened since the PinePhone and was boosted again by the original Google announcement.
Fairphones are probably not daily-able for now, sadly. E.g. on FP4 GPS doesn’t work at all and there are issues with charging/battery reporting AFAIR. OnePlus 6 is definitely more promising ATM, but there are camera issues and you need to do a weird reflashing dance to get GPS to work. Otherwise it’s… passable as a daily phone.
Battery fuel guage is almost ready for FP4 at least:
https://fosstodon.org/@z3ntu/115435804332775702
And there has been recent successes by the same guy (employed at Fairphone) on getting cameras working (main post of the thread linked above).
These are recent improvements, and I really hope they can solve the audio stability and GPS stuff so I can move. Thinking of trying out Ubuntu Touch before a mainline distro is ready.
Ooh, cool! Might be my new phone when the current one cacks or Android becomes completely unusable.
Isn’t oneplus 6 a phone from
2018???
it is, but SD845 is still pretty fast
Nothing wrong with it, if you just use it for music listening/youtube/light browsing/satnav/messaging, snapdragon845 is more than enough. Consumables like batteries and back glass can be bought new from AliExpress for like $10. The screen is OLED and so prone to burn-in, but will probably last at least a few more years before cacking it completely.
Probably not too good for modern gaming and stuff, but probably passable for most tasks.
Look at furios’s phones. They seem yo work.
Linux on phones or desktops suffer from one major problem as I see it, too much choice.
You make a Windows app it has to work with the latest couple versions, same with Mac.
Make one for Linux and you have to test it against dozens of popular distros, package it in multiple ways, and hope the dependencies are gonna match.
It’s an awesome system for IT people and server admins, but for the end user, ehhh… That seems to be the problem things like snap and flat packs are aimed at fixing, which could transition to phones but first you gotta herd the cats into an agreed state.
Why would multiple distros be a factor? A Linux phone would be its own unique distro.
The issue is device firmware. The OS has to fit the phone, not vice versa.
I saw there is pine phone that is supposed to have Linux or it doesn’t? Didn’t look much into it but was thinking about trying it out.
I have a pine phone - they’re super neat because linux on a phone! but… not really usable yet. Not getting texts, random bugs (they fixed the one where you could only receive calls, not make them, but that took a year or more), incredibly laggy UI even just trying to navigate,the battery life is abysmal, the battery management hardware is lacking and the software is even worse, the UIs that exist are poorly supported, basic apps are decently represented but anything not built for mobile is going to be godawful to get working (esp. through something like waydroid), the UI stabbed my puppy, the devices are so underpowered you’re gonna be unable to do things like have two apps open at once or have a video playing in one tab while trying to navigate in another…
The pro phone has supposedly improved the hardware issues, but it’s new and niche enough that I haven’t seen much of a consens emerge (or hardly any in depth testing at all, really). Fairphone is much more usuable, still not without it’s glitches but much better than the pinephones.
It’s great that smart people are working on this, but I don’t think we can expect hobbyists to make a useful OSS implementation of smartphones. Especially since there is so much dependence on the hardware. We either need a company that can throw some weight behind it, or just straight up governments that value it (e.g. from a sovereignty point of view).
The Linux phones that exist today (including Pine Phone) are more like early dev kits. They have really weak specs, are incredibly buggy, lack all sorts of features you’d expect, and I’m not totally sure if you can even make calls through them because phone carriers require a verified device and proprietary tech to work.
There are efforts to get things in order but these will take maybe 10 years at this rate.
I can absolutely make phone calls with both my One Plus 6T and my PinePhone.
It’s not that straightforward - pinephones have varying results depening on carriers, Verizon is notorious for blacklisting them while most of the other major carriers are hit or miss on if you’ll get penalized.
Yes, Open Google free Android or a Linux without Google.
Well we are already getting a popup warning when installing apps outside of the play store. You also have to enable the actual source where you get the file from/try to install it from for allowing installation of these apps.
How massively complicated are they thinking to make this that people are not “coerced” into installing? Also there is really no need to pressure anyone to download a scammy app. There’s plenty on the play store.
My bet is that they will just remove the GUI settings for alternative APK installation sources, and require you to explicitly allow them via terminal (
adb shellor similar). This will probably scare off 99% of regular users, while keeping devs relatively happy. The end result (making it harder to install FOSS and pirated software) will still be achieved.Or enable it via the dev menu, which is normally hidden
That feels too easy for the requirements they’re announcing, no? It just adds like 12 taps to scammer’s instructions, 10 of which is the taps to show developer menu.
