Comment by Zak

Comment by Zak 17 hours ago

10 replies

If an app tries to detect that I have root or a non-stock OS, I will give it a 1-star review on Google Play 100% of the time. Everyone who has a rooted device should do this.

burgerrito 38 minutes ago

Sadly almost every mobile bank app in my country does this.

rollcat 15 hours ago

One good reason why "honest" app vendors do this is because providing tech support for custom OS's (in addition to the wide variety of popular handsets) is more costly. They also might not want the responsibility - in case something like your banking app gets pwned by random malware, they want to blame the OS vendor. CYA is always a good strategy.

But if someone is seriously thinking client-side security works, yeah the app deserves your review - and probably some reversing, just for fun.

  • Zak 15 hours ago

    It's not hard to think of reasons that are rational and not otherwise nefarious that an app developer would want to restrict an app to certain verified operating environments, but I think creating a world in which people have less control over devices they own is bad in and of itself. I don't run a government or a VC firm so I don't have a lot of power to stop it, but I'll make what small contribution I can.

  • yjftsjthsd-h 15 hours ago

    > One good reason why "honest" app vendors do this is because providing tech support for custom OS's (in addition to the wide variety of popular handsets) is more costly.

    I am reasonably confident that some almost-AOSP aftermarket ROM is a less weird operating environment than the weird hacked-up things official vendors are shipping.

    • some_random 13 hours ago

      Yes but you have an appreciable number of customers who are running wacky mid-market android devices.

some_random 15 hours ago

What percentage of rooted/non-stock OS users do you think are people like you, vs bots? I'd love to see the numbers if anyone has them but I suspect it's pretty lopsided these days.

  • Zak 15 hours ago

    This is not a factor I consider when reviewing my experience using an app.

    • some_random 15 hours ago

      That's entirely reasonable, but I think it's unlikely to make a difference in most cases.

      • atrus 13 hours ago

        No, but it's a papercut. You can piss off 1% of your customers and get 1 star reviews, but do that a bunch of times and it adds up.

        • Zak 8 hours ago

          I'd be happy if the number leaving negative reviews was that high.