Comment by JohnTHaller

Comment by JohnTHaller 5 hours ago

You can still side-load signed apps. It's a similar limitation to macOS which won't let you run apps that Apple hasn't signed without command line or control panel shenanigans. Compared to iOS, Android still has the advantage of installing your own full browser (like Firefox) with full-fat ad blocking (uBlock Origin, not Lite). iOS is Safari-only right now though, in theory, some alternative engines may be available in Europe later.

TuringTest 5 hours ago

If they need to be signed by Google, that's not side loading by definition; it's using an alternate Google channel.

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koolala 5 hours ago

What your describing isn't "side-loading". Doing that means the apps go through Google's chain of control. Please don't let them redefine the word.

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ptrl600 5 hours ago

With macOS you run "sudo spctl --master disable", and then you can run whatever you want without sending PII to Apple. Is that the case with the new Android stuff?

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flawn 2 hours ago

No, the closest would be rooting your phone but then you can't use banking apps properly (there are loopholes to spoof integrity but they are slowly coming to an end as verification runs on TEE)

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lieks 5 hours ago

You can install full uBlock Origin in the Orion browser, on iOS. It also has decent built-in ad blocking (though uBlock Origin is still better).

I had been thinking for a long time to switch to Android (GrapheneOS, probably) when my current iPhone 13 dies, but this whole thing with "sideloading" on Android is making me reconsider. If I can't have the freedom I want either way, might as well get longer support, polished animation and better default privacy (though I still need to opt-out of a bunch of stuff).

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palata 5 hours ago

Well GrapheneOS is not Google-certified, so it is not impacted by this :-).

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- bitwize 16 minutes ago
  
  AOSP releases are going to stop (or become late and cursory like Darwin releases), and new Pixels will not be able to run non-Google-certified operating systems :)
  
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whycome 5 hours ago

How did Orion sidestep the safari WebKit requirements?

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cortesoft 5 hours ago

> It's a similar limitation to macOS which won't let you run apps that Apple hasn't signed without command line or control panel shenanigans

Can you do something similar to load unsigned apps on Android?

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jsight 5 hours ago

Agreed. While I do not like this move, ti is weird to me how far people are going in their criticism.

The perfect should not be the enemy of the good.

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cnity 4 hours ago

"The perfect should not be the enemy of the good" is the wrong analogy here. It's more like "death by a thousand cuts". Limitations on free computer usage are like a ratcheting mechanism: they mostly go in one direction.

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