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Breaking: Google is easing up on Android's new sideloading restrictions! (www.androidauthority.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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:redstar: 1
 

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.

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[–] 77 points 1 year ago* (10 children)

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.

And we will NEVER trust you again because we know you'll retry this next year or so in a few smaller steps that all have cutesy innocent names that are supposed to lull us in a false sense of security

Fuck Google, stop paying them for anything, stop using their services wherever possible.

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  • [+] -22 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    Wait, so Google listened to our feedback, and we're still mad? What would a positive outcome have looked like?

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  • [+] 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I genuinely believe that it was motivated by the desire to deter scammers. What leads you to believe it's not? There are many gullible people out there who will follow, precisely as you pointed out, phishing links that encourage them to sideload an unverified app.

    No system is perfect, and I also believe that Google Play does a fair job of removing malicious apps.

    I'm sorry to try to bring some nuance into this thread as I know that discourse isn't welcome on Lemmy, but I'm just trying to wrap my head around the outrage. Providing a way to let experienced users continue to sideload apps while safeguarding the more gullible seems like a good idea and I still genuinely don't understand what your preferred solution would be.

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  • [+] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)
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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Ironically, in my attempts to find any kind of information about this, it only resulted in news articles reporting on the number of developer accounts banned and announcements from Google warning users about scams and providing recommendations to safeguard themselves.

    I don't agree that Google has taken a singular approach to this problem; there are numerous ways in which they are combating scams, of which this piece is just one.

    I believe people in this thread are (deliberately or not) looking at this from a very narrow point of view and not seeing how (1) there is a risk that is mitigated by preventing gullible users from installing malware through sideloading, (2) Google has reconsidered this solution after hearing community feedback and (3) Google uses numerous mechanisms to eliminate bad actors from the Play store.

    To touch on the last one, it seems many of those mechanisms are not done transparently as I've seen threads on /r/AndroidDev back before I left Reddit about individuals being lifetime banned even by association to a scammer.

    At the risk of sounding insincere—such is the nature of an online discussion forum—I'd like to tap into the ways you see the safety and security of the Play store to be deficient. How are phishing attempts successful there? In the articles I've read about phishing through fake apps, they all went through the route of sideloading. One example was to get "special features" in WhatsApp by downloading an APK, and another was to enable developer mode to install an antivirus APK because "the device was infected." While I found articles describing imposter apps, searching for those apps on Google Play didn't surface any of them, so it seems from my spot checks that it's working.

    To me, this entire discussion is quite conflicting, because on one hand, we all recognize the risk of malware, but at the same time the community is furious about whatever Google attempts to do about it.

    Call me naive, but my family and I are very content with our Android phones and have no qualms with the way Google Play functions today. I remain confused about why this comment section is so mad.

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

    I think it was fairly obvious that the move was going to piss people off, they just misjudged to what extent. Modern business strategy is to claim to listen to customer feedback and just quietly plan to implement it anyway, just do it more subtly, more quietly, and more slowly.

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

    I would understand the outrage if Google didn't stick to their word, but unless I've missed something, they've not, have they? Are we now protesting that they reversed their decision? Wasn't this what we wanted?

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Are we now protesting that they reversed their decision?

    ...no? I'm not really protesting so much as offering what I think the other person is trying to say. I think they are saying that Google crossed a line, and walking it back doesn't change that fact.

    In my opinion, Google has crossed countless lines over the last 5-10 years. I'm looking for alternatives that meet my own needs. That search has accelerated over the last few years, when the things Google has done have been most egregious. This isn't a protest. This is disillusionment. I'm abandoning ship.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago

    If you think that Google listened and did the right thing out of the goodness of their heart, then I have a bridge to sell you

    Google cancelled because of the backlash but they WILL be back for more, they always do

    Trust has been broken and that won't come back. Software companies, in the end, are all the same, they all enahittify over time and always will talk pretty to lull you into a sense of security. I'm not buying it

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    because they haven't? We don't want any changes to our ability to install software. This would still kill f-droid, and the "flow" they talked about isn't a system wide setting. You have to do it per app. And you, the owner of the divice who just wants to install something on your device, would have to register. So if too many people install the app, the dev would be forced to register as well.

    How is any of that "listening to user feedback"?

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