Skip to main content

mastodon - Link to source

We did it everyone! We forced Google not to be evil. ๐Ÿ’ช ๐ŸŽ‰

Side-loading will be cumbersome, but it will remain possible.

Thanks everyone for speaking up against Google's plans! ๐Ÿ™ โค๏ธ

Google product logos and a text saying "Download us" with a cartoon of a man holding a knife up to another man who is trying to protect himself and saying "But I want to use secure, open source apps instead"
in reply to Tuta

starvaldD
mastodon - Link to source
starvaldD
• •
i haven't seen any news on this yet but i hope its true.
in reply to Tuta

leberschnitzel
mastodon - Link to source
leberschnitzel
• •
that's bullshit. Going two steps back one step forward still makes you go backwards.
This has been a tactic for some time now: make outrageous changes, people complain, changes get rolled back to something that's still outrageous but less, and the complainers see it as a win.
We're incredibly past acceptable because of this.
in reply to Tuta

Viacheslav A
mastodon - Link to source
Viacheslav A
• •
not a win at all. It fails to achieve stated goal - scammer apps in appstore keep popping up, and this measure does not change it. It has very different intent.
Imagine you do add-apt-repository, and your machine screams that you might be in mortal danger and now you're on your own, then asks you to wait for 24h. That is what they did to android.
in reply to Tuta

freePalestineAndUkraine
mastodon - Link to source
freePalestineAndUkraine
• •
ะŸะตั€ะตั…ะพะดัŒั‚ะต ะฝะฐ Huawei. ^_^
in reply to Tuta

โ‚ Fish Id Wardrobe
mastodon - Link to source
โ‚ Fish Id Wardrobe
• •
how long until banking software checks you haven't turned this on?
in reply to Tuta

senda
mastodon - Link to source
senda
• •
I don't feel we won. I will be able to install things on my phone, but it will make harder for me to recommend apps to people who are less tech-savvy. And please, stop using "sideloading", it is and always has been installing. Sideloading aims to suggest you're doing something you shouldn't be doing.
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to Tuta

Gaming Against Violence
mastodon - Link to source
Gaming Against Violence
• •

Our violence-prevention games were removed by Google Play years ago.*

It's great to know folks will still be able to sideload these free award-winning games. ๐ŸงกAdolescents around the world will be helped by this.

*Google claimed these games about #consent and #HealthyRelationships were mis-classified as educational.

#consent #healthyrelationships
in reply to Tuta

Synnef ๐Ÿค๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’›
mastodon - Link to source
Synnef ๐Ÿค๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’›
• •

an alternative way to continue sideloading is not a win, the developer verification infrastructure will make it easier for google to try killing it off again in the future which is obviously their long term plan

we haven't won yet, keep your voices up ๐Ÿ‘€

in reply to Tuta

William B Peckham
mastodon - Link to source
William B Peckham
• •
That is not Google not being evil. That is just Google being evil less obviously. It still seriously stinks and I am not happy. And since I live in the USA, I still can't buy a Norwegian non-Android phone.
in reply to Tuta

Jo4ted
mastodon - Link to source
Jo4ted
• •
its not "sideloading" its "installing." Google doesn't want you to install software onto your phone if it doesn't pay them $100 per app.
in reply to Tuta

โš gamiel
mastodon - Link to source
โš gamiel
• •
that is not an effective solution, and sideloading will still be harder to do than normal.
--> keepandroidopen.org/

Keep Android Open

Your phone is about to stop being yours. In September 2026, Google will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with them.
keepandroidopen.org
in reply to Tuta

flakesoftware
mastodon - Link to source
flakesoftware
• •

Openness matters, but so does accessibility.

Itโ€™s clear that if installation isnโ€™t straightforward, most users wonโ€™t even try - regardless of the freedom.

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to Tuta

Willie Shen
mastodon - Link to source
Willie Shen
• •
I'd says it's only a partial win. I hope the so-called advanced process to enable the so-called sideloading can be at least put in AOSP and also explicitly guaranteed in contract, instead of the closed-source Google services and the vague posts.
โ‡ง