“Keeping users safe on Android is our top priority,” Android president Sameer Samat wrote on X. “Scammers rely on anonymity to scale their attacks. Right now, if we block a bad app, they can often just create a new app and try again. Verification stops this “whack-a-mole” cycle by requiring a real identity – making it much harder and costlier to repeatedly distribute harmful apps.
So, you’re actually going to put an effort in stopping people from publishing malware through the Play Store, right?
Right?
worse… they’ll happily sell ad space to any scammer
Good summary right there. Clean up your own house before you start preaching under the guise of user safety, fools.
So far the only “cleanup” I’ve seen in the Play Store is removing old apps that haven’t been updated in a while but still run just fine, which means things like a physical Bluetooth air quality sensor I have needs the APK sideloaded now. Totally fighting scammers, Google. Totally.
Wouldn’t it be great if these tech companies just dropped the verbal diarrhea filter and just spoke plainly?
“We’re doing this to try and increase revenue by making ourselves a walled garden like Apple, because there isn’t really competition anymore, we’re greedy, and we lost the plot,” is what they should be saying.
Damn some of y’all actually cannot read, huh?
…made by developers with a special student/hobby account, only for a limited number of devices.
Half-assed “solution”.
Yeah, this is garbage. Nobody should accept this. People need to keep fighting this because the “hobbyist account” bullshit still gives Google full control over what apps you can install by creating an arbitrary restriction that they can change on a whim.
Nothing short of leaving the process of installing apps from outside the Play Store exactly the same as it is now should be accepted.
The Verge is laundering Google’s Big Brother bullshit with their headline by making it sound like Google responded in an adequate manner, which is exactly what Google wants.
The headline matches the article. So if the Verge is wrong there, it’s the entire article that’s wrong, not just the headline.
The headline is incomplete to an extent that it’s dishonest because it doesn’t reflect the reality of what Google is saying.
Google will only allow “experienced users” to “continue” sideloading with the new, draconian restrictions that Google will be the arbiter of. “Continue” implies that sideloading will continue as it is in its currently acceptable form. However, that is not the case. If it were, Google would not be changing anything at all because there would be no perceived benefit for them doing so.
So in a way, yes, the entire article is wrong, because it doesn’t adequately push back on the premise that it implies and instead uncritically parrots what Google would prefer people to believe, which is that people that want to sideload their apps and use third-party app stores like F-Droid will not be negatively impacted, which is not true.
Where are you getting this from? The article makes it clear that the solution will be a settings-based solution similar to how it is today.
There’s really no need to spread FUD over this, is there.
It’s not FUD. The “install unknown apps” toggle already does what you’re describing. Whatever the intentionally vague blurbs from Google imply, whatever the new toggle ends up being will be worse.
And that doesn’t account for the need they’re creating for a “student/hobbyist” account that Google is creating. If you use such an account, your app can only be installed on a limited number of devices, which Google will control.
That’s not what the article says at all. It is saying there will be a path to install unsigned apks, which by definition would not be attached to any developer account.
Google has made an important concession. The company says it is now developing an “advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified.” This installation flow will include safeguards to protect people who are being coerced into installing a dangerous app, or tricked by a scammer, along with “clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved.”
It’s just going to be an evolution of the existing toggle, with a bit more scary language around it.
Again: Google would not be doing this if there was no perceived benefit for them. If it was merely a matter of adding a scarier warning, then what purpose does the new “student/hobbyist” account type that restricts the number of devices your app can be installed on serve??
limited number of devices
Probably Pixels so they can keep spying anyway. This is better than nothing but still fucking awful.
The company says it is now developing an “advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified.” This installation flow will include safeguards to protect people who are being coerced into installing a dangerous app, or tricked by a scammer, along with “clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved.”
Seems like there will also just be a toggle somewhere (probably developer settings) that lets someone install from any source
The “install unknown apps” toggle already does that. Whatever that vague blurb implies, whatever the new toggle ends up being will be worse.
And that doesn’t account for the need they’re creating for a “student/hobbyist” account that Google is creating. If you use such an account, your app can only be installed on a limited number of devices, which Google will control.
You’re conflating two changes the article claims they’re making. Do you have another source that you’re basing this on?
This article outlines two changes:
- a workflow for experienced users to install unverified apps, with safeguards in place to prevent scams
- a new account type for students and hobbyists that doesn’t require verification
This article is worded to make these two appear as individual changes, not the same change.
The company says it is now developing an “advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified.” This installation flow will include safeguards to protect people who are being coerced into installing a dangerous app, or tricked by a scammer, along with “clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved.”
Google is also working on a new developer account type for students and hobbyists, which won’t have to go through “full verification requirements,” but will only allow app installs on “a limited number of devices.”
Note the word “also” in the above quote.
This should be higher
I think that’s for Play Store accounts, so you can share an app there with a small audience without the otherwise necessary verification, not for installs from Github / F-Droid etc. which will have some new kind of “are you sure you’re not getting scammed here?” confirmation for installing apps from completely unverified developers.
Remember when Google backed off the changes to Chrome that prevented adblockers from working and a short time later implemented those changes anyway? Why TF would Google start caring about what users want now, especially since this issue is way less visible to most people? Google wants people to think they have a voice about what happens with Android, not to actually give them one.
Blocking side loading will force apps and any generated revenue into Google’s Play store which is exactly the point of this no matter what Google says.
The bloviating Google is doing now is irrelevant. The company will move forward with blocking side loading within the next few months, guaranteed.
Why TF would Google start caring about what users want now, especially since this issue is way less visible to most people?
EU Digital Markets Act. Google is already on the list. The watchdog is watching Google.
Bull shit half solution. Don’t accept it.
How is it only a half solution?
It’s literally the same solution that we’re all happy with today… Oh I have to tick another box in my settings? Damn Google you so fascist.
Except it isn’t. And now if I want to side load an app I build myself, I need to register with Google.
Maybe you need your hand held when working with computers, but it doesn’t mean all of us should be forced to do the same.
Google is also working on a new developer account type for students and hobbyists, which won’t have to go through “full verification requirements,” but will only allow app installs on “a limited number of devices.”
Sure doesn’t sound like what we have now to me
From the same article just before your quote
Google has made an important concession. The company says it is now developing an “advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified.” This installation flow will include safeguards to protect people who are being coerced into installing a dangerous app, or tricked by a scammer, along with “clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved.”
Then the article goes on to say “Google is also working on…”
It’s clear from the article with basic reading comprehension that Google is working on multiple concessions here, one being a power user settings toggle to bypass verified APKs, and another for hobbyist developers to verify their APKs.
This is also ignoring the fact that ADB installs was never going away as part of this change. You could still run an ADB command to install an unverified APK, and that can be done remotely via a computer or via the various terminal apps available. Someone even wrote an app that does it for you.
But sure, carry on with the FUD and accuse me of “needing my hand held” using computers when you can’t even read and comprehend an article properly…
If they remove this then there’s no reason to get an android
Luckily early next year Valve releases a version of SteamOS that runs on a phone processor. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Steam Frame with Qualcomm SoC is just a first step for a phone several years down the road, kinda like a non-crap resurrection of the XPeria Play.
if you’re so generous Google why have you moved to stand between me and my hardware?
