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Android's new developer verification rollout begins, sideloading changes are next (www.androidauthority.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 56 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (33 children)

This is in no way a justification for what Google is doing, but they came to a "compromise" where you can still opt-in to being allowed to "sideload unverified apps" (read: install apps that didn't have to get approval from Google).

You have to enable it in the settings, and then you need to wait 24 hours before the setting is enabled. After that you can continue to run "unverified" apps

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  • [–] 52 points 5 months ago (25 children)

    What I haven't seen is what happens to all of the apps I currently have installed when this hits.

    Am I going to have to wait 24 hours to open apps I already have installed?

    Will they all get auto-removed and need reinstalling?

    Everything is written as if you're starting from new not an existing state.

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  • [–] 20 points 5 months ago (17 children)

    What happens if I just stop updating android for as long as I can? Quite a few apps on my phone have retained functionality past when their developers attempted to brick them because I froze updates

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  • [–] 16 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    My Samsung S22 let me pause updates anymore. And it nags me to death.

    My workaround is to start downloading the update and then pausing it.

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  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    This is all managed via Play services not the android OS so you'd need to not update the core services.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    Got that one froze too 🤞 pray for me holding out in the woods on this shit like the unabomber

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago* (2 children)

    There is a way to not update play services? They do their shit in automatic on my phone

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  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Hello from Android 12 lol. My 4yo phone runs just fine!

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

    Sick. Any security scares or compatibility problems?

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    None I'm aware of. I've uninstalled pretty much every Google app, signed out of gmail acct and am mostly using F-Droid apps since I don't need any "app store" apps. I kept my banking app, but apparently so far doesn't need Google's services bc it still works just fine. My battery, since making that switch, lasts a bit longer without all that stuff running.

    But FYI, I don't have any social media, and I only use WiFi unless I'm on the road. I don't BT to my car but rarely, and I don't need location services. So 1 day+life is easily achievable!

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago* (3 children)

    I'm still sitting on Android 9 on a seven year old phone. They can take my Note 8 from my dead body. Its battery life is still fine and it's still snappy and fast.

    My banking app stopped working so I just use the browser page. A few smart device apps won't work either, but I have a tablet I keep at home to use for my home control.

    Discord still works fine. I have Reddit side loaded, still using RiF after the API fiasco. Those are really the only two things I need an actual app for an even then I'd probably just use the browser if they failed. Most apps still work as of now. Amazon won't let kindle work on it anymore but fuck Amazon, I just get non-drm stuff on a different reader now.

    Most phone companies refused to enable voice over broadband option after the 3g network went down in 2022 but I stayed stubborn and kept calling until finding T-mobile would do it.

    I guess I'll find out what happens when this update is pushed through? It shouldn't hit me I'd hope.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    I just upgraded to a fairphone 6 with e/os preinstalled after holding on to my LG G6 for at least 7 years. The thing that finally pushed me to upgrade was the camera, which was fine in 2019 but now is such a potato. Also the battery life was ass, the usbc port was super loose, and the micro sd card slot was broken so I was perpetually almost out of storage.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (1 child)

    How are you liking it? I've never heard of e/os before, it looks neat. How does it compare to lineage/ graphene?

    My camera is still great and still better than my partner's newer iphone's. No port wobble yet thankfully and I've never used an sd card anyway. This Note 8 is still great in every way so I have no reason to upgrade yet. I want to make it to 10 years at least.

    With e/os will updates eventually stop due to your phones hardware? Or can you keep updating perpetually? What I hate is being forced to upgrade a perfectly working phone because someone decided not to allow updates on it anymore and the app rot that follows.

    I haven't used a rom this phone yet because I'm very attached to the stylus as I use this as my art tablet.. so that's the main holdout reason I have.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    I like it so far. In the words of Worf, it serves me. I definitely miss some of the settings I had available on my old phone, but this one is much snappier. The os is basically the same as normal android but without the builtin google garbage. I still have the android app store. I guess the main thing is since its a fairphone repair and battery replacement will be much easier so hopefully I can just keep it for a long long time.

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  • [–] 8 points 5 months ago

    Am I going to have to wait 24 hours to open apps I already have installed? Will they all get auto-removed and need reinstalling?

    At the start I would have thought this was possible but pretty ridiculous. Why would Google do any of that?

    But it turns out this was not ridiculous, as Play Protect literally just removed Ankiconnect, an app I already had installed for months, without giving me the choice to keep it or axe it. They certainly could force us to go with their "Uncle Google can I have permission to use my phone?" flow for apps we already use.

    WE MUST CONTINUE TO OPPOSE THESE CHANGES, THESE ATTACKS ON OUR ABILITY TO INSTALL APPS AS WE WISH.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    Haven't seen anything official but I'd assume they will behave as normal and you may not be able to update them without going through the advanced flow. Since ADB installs aren't restricted I don't think there will be any changes to existing installs. Just my thoughts based on what they have confirmed so far. I am just waiting for GOS to support the Pixel 10a so I can get further away from Google and their BS in general.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    It won't do anything to apps already installed. Future apps can be installed either by going through the dev mode unlock process or connecting to a computer and using ADB which doesn't require a wait period.

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  • [–] 32 points 5 months ago

    The "advanced flow" with a one-day wait is just Google realizing they need to boil this frog a little more slowly to prevent a backlash. They still want a fully boiled frog in the end.

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  • [–] 22 points 5 months ago

    Xiaomi bootloaders used to work like that. You'd have to jump through some bullshit hoops to register your phone for bootloader unlocking, and then wait a few days to finally be able to unlock it. Then they made that worse and worse, and afaik it's so insanely difficult and inconvenient right now that it's practically impossible to unlock your Xiaomi phone's bootloader. This applies to all the brands under that umbrella.

    I am about 97.37% sure Google will do the same over time and at some point you just won't be able to install any APKs.

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  • [–] 21 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Even google's "verified apps" are full of spyware, backdoors, and telemetry. They're so fucking hypocritical. Like an abuser who says "You can't make it in this world without me!"

    Also, is this going to effect third-party ROMs like Lineage and its offshoots?

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