Mildly Infuriating @lemmy.world yolo @r.nf 11mo ago

Google Play Store listing apps installed from F-Droid that it cannot update

Essentially the apps have same package name but different signatures and the app store that installed it should be the only one to recognize and update it.

But Google is likely trying this dark pattern to sway people away from F-Droid or alt stores by making users uninstall these apps and install it from the Google Play Store.

It's been going on for a while and is annoying af.

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/253727/why-is-googles-play-store-suddenly-trying-to-update-apps-installed-via-f-droid

64 comments

It's just cause it has the same package name and only checks the signature on attempt to install not cause Google has some alterior motive
- Ulterior
  
  Interior
  
  Thx lol my grammar is ass even though it's the only language I speak haha
- And, F-Droid shows apps that were installed from the Play Store.
  
  Because they both use the same package names...
- It's relatively new behaviour so they introduced it recently. And they need to fix it, but ignore it entirely...
  
  Mismatched signatures have been discouraged since day one of Android. A mismatched signature is a sign that some one other than the original publisher built this package, and the user needs to be aware that it might be malicious.
  
  That F-Droid went with this setup with mismatched signatures was always going to make their apks look suspicious.
  
  Even if it's new behavior, there is really no reason to assume that this was done to evoke some dark pattern or other. It just shows that Google will not think about 3rd party stores when they do anything with their services and that is hardly news, is it? Besides: I kinda get it honestly. If they'd take all the stuff out there for android into account before they did anything, nothing would be done at all.
  
  So the question becomes less why that's there, but more what stores like Samsung do to prevent this issue and if F-Droid can adapt the same behavior.
  
  The ps has done this for many years, unfortunately
  
  The, being F-Droid, need to fix this, yes. They really should.
Since I found out about F-Droid and Aurora Store, I'm actively dodging the Play Store. No one will ever make me use it. Ads, promos, junk everywhere! And their shitty way of updating.
- How do I get F Droid?
  
  either download the official APK from f-droid.org or use the NeoStore app which is a better client imho. from there its some simple setup and basically works like the play store.
  
  https://f-droid.org/
  
  https://f-droid.org/en/docs/
- Has Aurora been improved since last year?
  
  I tried to love it, but it was such a pita to actually update things. Like, it hardly actually updated without errors or issues. When it did "update" an app, I wouldn't be able to actually open it. After it broke some important apps I was using, I uninstalled it.
  
  It's because they are using like 10 disposable Google accounts shared between all the users in the world, so access is throttled
But Google is likely trying this dark pattern to sway people away from F-Droid or alt stores by making users uninstall these apps and install it from the Google Play Store.

No, it's the security measure. Anyone can use existing package ID. If the user installs a different app with the same package ID as the other, that new app just overwrites the old app and will have access to the sensitive data of it.

F-Droid apps are built and signed by the people at F-Droid. Apps from Google Play and GitHub are built and signed by the developers themselves. You can update Google Play apps from GitHub and vice versa. That's why I use Obtainium over F-Droid.
- It shouldnt try to update a different signature app at the first place
This is an f-droid problem. If they use the same package name, they need to use the same signature. That has been the case since long before f-droid existed.

They could just build apks with alternate package names and this wouldn't be an issue.
- It's no problem, since you don't want 2 stores to update the same app.
  
  It's a problem of trust. Differing signature is an indication of third party tampering. People shouldn't start to see difference in signatures as an ordinary occurrence. It should be an high alert event.
  
  The they should rename the package? Either way, F-Droid is the problem here.
Yeah the worst part of it is that the version on Google Play is actually the older version.

They are shown on the update page for Google's benefits only. This is anti customer.
- It's not though it's because the developers use the same package name for the f-droid and play store versions but when the play store checks the signature before installing it sees it doesn't match and it fails if the developers used different package names for play store and f-droid this would not be an issue
- yea, and people here suggesting f-droid to change package names are crazy. F-Droid's goal is not to mess with developers code at all and provide builds as is from the source code.
Why would anyone who actively chose to install F-droid, reinstall their apps as Play Store apps?
- Fedilab and Thumb-key are not free on Google Play, I would reinstall them there if it was possible
Actually, I had it just the other way around. I had an app that had an old, orphaned version on F-Droid and a newer one on Play Store, so I installed the one from the Play store, but F-Droid desperately tried to update it constantly, always failing, always spamming me with messages about it
- Remove it from F-Droid (ideally first) to avoid this
- Yep, this has been happening for a long long time already. It's due to F-Droid using the same package name but a different signature.
  
  So from the perspective of any other store, it looks like someone tampered with this app.
Jokes on them, I don't want them updating anything without my direct approval, and I don't insist on the most recent version of anything non critical. Idgaf about their bullshit
I don't care that it can't update these apps, since I use Obtainium. But, FFS, at least let users have an option to ignore or hide those apps.
- I use F-Droid and i don't care that it can't update theese apps over google play. I can still use fdroid to update
- Yes exactly.
Yes because they are signed with different keys
The same happens in reverse. It's the natural result of not naming the packages differently as a dev.
I have this happening on Sync for Lemmy. Every time I open it if there's an update available, with no way to tell Play to fuck off.
Samsung store does that too. It's quite annoying
You could get rid of Google play

64 comments