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Google will block sideloading of unverified Android apps starting next year (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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[–] 18 points 1 year ago (10 children)

LOL. Chinese phones are way worse, they simply block installations of "unsanctioned" apps with no workaround.

My wife is Chinese and I used to live there for 7 years, it's an absolute privacy nightmare.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I have a Xiaomi 14 pro, I just have to tap the correct button to install an outside app. (It's in Chinese, even though the phone is set to English, so i have no idea what it says but it gets me there).

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    If you bought it outside of China that might be a thing, for Chinese phones it shows a cancel button only. There is a confirm button, but it's greyed out and not clickable.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    So I bought it from giztop, they take the Chinese version of the phone, get the Google play store on there and get it set to English, plus a couple other things, so that it's easier for you to get started with. I bought this because I had thought they'd make a global version and I could flash that rom when that happened, and only deal with some Chinese sections of the phone for a short while, but for some reason they didn't with this specific phone, they did for the 14 ultra.

    I busted the phone out again to see the popup I was talking about, but actually one of the (semi) recent updates made it so the buttons are english. I am allowed to just install things with a few pop-up warnings and the phone does some kind of check. I wonder if it's because it's an "unlocked" phone (I don't know if it's the same in China where a carrier locks the phone to their network and has their own shit installed if you buy it from them) or what.

    Either way, interesting.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Way easier to install a custom rom

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Apart from Xiaomi and OnePlus, which are released for international audiences, I'm not aware of a single Chinese phone with active rom development.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Honor, Huawei, Poco, Oppo, ...the list goes on.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Oppo = OnePlus

    Huawei bootlaoders can't be unlocked, so absolutely no custom ROM there.

    Honor bootlaoders can't be unlocked, so absolutely no custom ROM there.

    Poco seems possible for now, never used one of their phones, but well good that there's something possible.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    As someone who uses a Xiaomi phone, that's not true.

    It was a faff getting it to install any random apk I found of off the Internet, but it was possible. Did involve holding down a graphic for 10 seconds as part of the unlock procedure.

    But for now at least, you can still install any unsigned apk without going through a store.

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