Google wants to make sideloading Android apps safer by verifying developers’ identities
Google wants to make sideloading safer on Android by verifiying the identities of developers who distribute apps outside the Play Store.
An accurate title would read something like: Google wants to make side loading apps more difficult by adding extra steps under the guise of security in order to maintain market dominance and continue spying on the user.
Yay, Google adding another hurdle for alternative app stores and their developers...
F-Droid store/repo is safer than Google Play Store. Google's own store has many shady apps, including spyware and occasionnal malware.
I don't get the argument that Play Store is safer than others.
Google play services is spyware
I know my sideloaded apps are safe. I have far less confidence with the apps Google allows in their App Store.
Ridiculous, mother of bullshit! Switching to Linux appears to be the only option left for a personal computing device.
I really hope phones get better Linux support soon... it really isn't daily driver material for most phones at the moment.
In this time and age, do you still doubt that Linux might be outlawed for consumers? To prevent criminal activity, of course /s.
They already consider you a criminal if you use grapheneOS on a pixel. It's not a joke.
Just turn off Google Play Protect and it'll let you sideload whatever you want.
You can't seriously actually trust that turning it off in the Google owned app they control or update will be meaningful. I'm really sick of people claiming it is, and I hope this will get them to realize that.
If you want to crush it fully, disable google play store as a whole, and make sure to tell your friends too because if that solution doesn't get more popular there might not be third party apps to install since the devs will just quit.
Where did you hear this? I've seen a couple of articles on this now but none of them have mentioned its specifically play protect or that it can be turned off
Honestly we need a community OS like Android/Chome OS
I like Linux but it would be really cool to have a OS that was less modular and more purpose built. I feel like there is enough people interested that we could raise some money to hire some developers. On think Chome OS and Android get right is the hassle free unified experience.
There's GrapheneOS that I think would try to address this problem — secure, proper architecture, compatible with some major app stack (e.g. Android apps). It's AOSP-based, but they're already thinking ahead up to a point where they would be forced to fork it and even work with OEMs to create their own phone hardware for it. There are a couple of threads on their Mastodon.
I don't know how much they would be able to achieve, but I would pay for such system.
Wait until you find out what Android is under the UI.
While its true Android runs on the Linux kernel, its not Linux. There are many differences and restrictions.
rips off mask
It is a vendor kernel!
"Switching to GNU" would have removed the ambiguity
Sure, to make it safer in the same way Microsoft made you safer by making it harder to install Linux with UEFI.
Isn't it actually easier with UEFI since you can have multiple bootloaders and updating windows doesn't overwrite any other bootloaders? I think the issue arises from secureboot
The person you replied to is probably talking about this: https://wiki.debian.org/UEFI#Force_grub-efi_installation_to_the_removable_media_path
At some point that stops being sideloading.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I've never wanted to get all my devices totally detached from google until recently.
They are going full mask off right now.
They're prepping to be the surveillance service for the global fascist oligarchy.
In the meantime, we're already verifying signatures for sideloaded apps. Can't say the same about play store apps.
Hopefully there are Linux phones available in near future.
If not, I'll probably buy an iPhone. When both phone OS are locked down, might as well get the one that's supported for years.
Year of the Linux phone in 2026?
Great, Apple style app notarization is just about the last thing I want on my damn phone.
Every year that goes by mobile computing gets less and less interesting.
Might as well just buy the cheapest one that will do the job and call it done. So sense in spending top dollar very often when it is just a severely limited black box, like a video game console.
Glad i run only LineageOS with no gapps.
I wonder if this will do the same thing that happened to Windows when Windows 11 wouldn't support older devices and people switched on mass to Linux.
Either way, you're gonna have a bifurcated Android. One Android for the plebs where Google controls everything, and one Android for those who know where Google controls nothing.
Sounds like this is going to stop things like me telling my friend to install new pipe from afteroid because they can skip YouTube ads.
Lmao "safer" FOH monopolistic pieces of shit.
Oh I see someone already made a post. I can't see how this is enforceable except for highly modifying the OS. It would have to be enforced at the device level correct,?
It'll be part of Google Play "Protect", part of "gapps" not AOSP. Manufacturers have to ship all of gapps or none. Its not clear if this will block installs/updates, add a nag screen occasionally or fully block running these apps/disable them.
This is the equivalent of Apples Notarization which they just used to block apps after the EU told them to allow users to install apps.
So disable play protect and this goes away
Edit: I do want to add that I HOPE this is what is needed to bypass this... If they block my modded and github APKs I'm going to go fucking nuclear
EDIT: further research shows this will not be based on play protect but will be implemented in the APK itself. I hope this shit can be patched out because you know Google is doing to do this with YouTube to kill revanced
Can this be bypassed by using adb to sideload, I wonder?
Probably not, but I imagine that disabling or uninstalling the play store will bypass it since it'll likely use the Play Protect Dialogue injection in Package Installer to bounce inauthentic installations.
can they not just develop a method like they do for verifying websites with an .android folder or something? requiring everyone into a centralised place is garbage.
They can, but it's not their goal. Their goal is to have control over 99% of Android phones produced and not let their users install adblock or NewPipe, or torrent app or whatever.