#Android is fucking dead.
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@fabio One thing that I just don't understand: Apple opens up for sideloading due to the European Digital Markets Act, and same time Google announces to close everything.
How does that work in the same jurisdiction? Doesn't the DMA apply as well? Why is #keepandroidopen neccessary?
@jesterchen@social.tchncs.de that's where I think the skill of Google's professional enshittifiers comes in.
Apple didn't give you much of a choice - either you installed apps from their store, and developers pushed all the payment flows through Apple, or nothing.
Google can still say that they give a choice instead. Sure, it involves knowing that you need to tap an item in the menu 7 times in order to show a hidden menu, it involves an extra setting guarded by 5 layers of warnings, it requires you to reboot your phone and wait 24 hours, it requires you to enable the thing only temporarily...but they can still say to regulators "hey we're not that bad, we still provide users with alternatives". Just like they could tell them that they don't hold a monopoly in Web browsers because they give some peanuts to Mozilla.
And I think that it should be up to regulators at some point to acknowledge that enough friction and dark patterns introduced in the way of a user's intentions also account means that you're not playing in good faith, and that you should be punished just as much as you would be punished if you were to take that option away altogether.
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@jesterchen@social.tchncs.de that's where I think the skill of Google's professional enshittifiers comes in.
Apple didn't give you much of a choice - either you installed apps from their store, and developers pushed all the payment flows through Apple, or nothing.
Google can still say that they give a choice instead. Sure, it involves knowing that you need to tap an item in the menu 7 times in order to show a hidden menu, it involves an extra setting guarded by 5 layers of warnings, it requires you to reboot your phone and wait 24 hours, it requires you to enable the thing only temporarily...but they can still say to regulators "hey we're not that bad, we still provide users with alternatives". Just like they could tell them that they don't hold a monopoly in Web browsers because they give some peanuts to Mozilla.
And I think that it should be up to regulators at some point to acknowledge that enough friction and dark patterns introduced in the way of a user's intentions also account means that you're not playing in good faith, and that you should be punished just as much as you would be punished if you were to take that option away altogether.
@fabio @jesterchen
Professional enshittifiers
Well said.
Not the first time g**gle presents amazingly evil almost troll solutions.
For example, made the youtube to load slower based on user agent.
(so firefox looks rendering worse and you cannot easily explain it)
I wonder how do they find the employees to invent such things. -
@fabio @jesterchen
Professional enshittifiers Well said.
Not the first time g**gle presents amazingly evil almost troll solutions.
For example, made the youtube to load slower based on user agent.
(so firefox looks rendering worse and you cannot easily explain it)
I wonder how do they find the employees to invent such things. -
#Android is fucking dead.
If you have an Android device, please wipe it and install #PostmarketOS today while you can still unlock the bootloader.
We all know that #Google wants to kill the "unverified/sideloaded" apps (names carefully selected by Google's professional gaslighters to give a negative connotation to "apps that are not distributed by Google's own store").
We all know that the new "verification process" amounts basically to a ransom where you need to give Google your keys and your money if you want to build apps for Android.
It involves developers handing their signing keys to Google (so they will sign your package for you and will also able to decrypt your secrets) and paying them a $25 fee for each app.
Even if you don't even use the Play Store to distribute your apps.
This is not a price to pay to get the app distributed through them, nor for using any of their services. It's a price to pay just because they want to control the whole ecosystem end-to-end, and they know that they can get away with that because you'll keep using their shitty OS even if you're outraged at them.
We all know that they got a lot of backlash. And after the backlash they reiterated that they "listened to the community" and would have made a process to still allow people to "sideload apps".
Well, today that process has been finally unveiled. And it sounds even shittier than I thought.
That's because Google is currently filled with the best professional enshittificators in the world: the job role of these people is not to build new things, nor to listen to customers and build what they want. No, their job is specifically to find the sweet spot where they can make things as shitty as possible, add as much friction and user frustration as possible to prevent them from doing a certain thing, while still being able to tell regulators "well, it's not that shitty, you see? We still give users an option - buried under 10 layers of dark patterns".
In order to install apps external to the Play Store you will have to:
-
Activate the developer settings (the usual "tap the build number 7 times to show the hidden menu" thing)
-
In the developer settings, enable "Allow Unverified Padckages"
-
Confirm that you are not being coerced (seriously, how much malware did they actually see installed by people being coerced or tricked to download and install random APK files?)
-
Restart your device
-
Wait 24 hours
-
Return to the unverified packages settings
-
Scroll past 3-4 additional warnings whose sole purpose is to scare you off
-
Select either "Allow temporarily" (7 days) or "Allow indefinitely" (and I've got a hunch that the Allow indefinitely option will probably be gradually phased out)
Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps
The "advanced flow" will be available before verification enforcement begins later this year.
Ars Technica (arstechnica.com)
@fabio or you use an "unverified" android.
as they already have anounced they will not enforce that crap.
support for alt android is more present than postmarket os.
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@fabio or you use an "unverified" android.
as they already have anounced they will not enforce that crap.
support for alt android is more present than postmarket os.
@lexinova@cyberplace.social it depends on how this is implemented I guess...
I hope that it'll be isolated to the Google Play Services without percolating into the AOSP, and that alternative Android implementations won't need to fork and maintain forever the "unenshittified" version.
But there's also the question of how this will act when paired together with the age verification plans.
My fear is that developer verification + user verification will be bundled together in some kind of "Android genuinity" layer, and that apps that use the Google Play Services may stop functioning properly unless both the checks are green - even if the underlying Android implementation may be fine with it.
And, even if I may be relatively safe with my GrapheneOS installation on a Pixel phone, there's still a big elephant in the room. There's lot of folks out there who are tech savvy enough to install Nextcloud or Jellyfin from F-Droid, but not tech savvy enough to install a custom ROM. Those folks may be left with little alternatives.
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#Android is fucking dead.
If you have an Android device, please wipe it and install #PostmarketOS today while you can still unlock the bootloader.
We all know that #Google wants to kill the "unverified/sideloaded" apps (names carefully selected by Google's professional gaslighters to give a negative connotation to "apps that are not distributed by Google's own store").
We all know that the new "verification process" amounts basically to a ransom where you need to give Google your keys and your money if you want to build apps for Android.
It involves developers handing their signing keys to Google (so they will sign your package for you and will also able to decrypt your secrets) and paying them a $25 fee for each app.
Even if you don't even use the Play Store to distribute your apps.
This is not a price to pay to get the app distributed through them, nor for using any of their services. It's a price to pay just because they want to control the whole ecosystem end-to-end, and they know that they can get away with that because you'll keep using their shitty OS even if you're outraged at them.
We all know that they got a lot of backlash. And after the backlash they reiterated that they "listened to the community" and would have made a process to still allow people to "sideload apps".
Well, today that process has been finally unveiled. And it sounds even shittier than I thought.
That's because Google is currently filled with the best professional enshittificators in the world: the job role of these people is not to build new things, nor to listen to customers and build what they want. No, their job is specifically to find the sweet spot where they can make things as shitty as possible, add as much friction and user frustration as possible to prevent them from doing a certain thing, while still being able to tell regulators "well, it's not that shitty, you see? We still give users an option - buried under 10 layers of dark patterns".
In order to install apps external to the Play Store you will have to:
-
Activate the developer settings (the usual "tap the build number 7 times to show the hidden menu" thing)
-
In the developer settings, enable "Allow Unverified Padckages"
-
Confirm that you are not being coerced (seriously, how much malware did they actually see installed by people being coerced or tricked to download and install random APK files?)
-
Restart your device
-
Wait 24 hours
-
Return to the unverified packages settings
-
Scroll past 3-4 additional warnings whose sole purpose is to scare you off
-
Select either "Allow temporarily" (7 days) or "Allow indefinitely" (and I've got a hunch that the Allow indefinitely option will probably be gradually phased out)
Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps
The "advanced flow" will be available before verification enforcement begins later this year.
Ars Technica (arstechnica.com)
@fabio with the premise that I agree with the post in principle and certainly in spirit, there is still one big problem. Some companies (and some universities) require the use of authenticating apps that only run on "official" Android/iOS. Some banking applications have a similar requirement. What is a viable way to work around this, if there is one?
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@fabio with the premise that I agree with the post in principle and certainly in spirit, there is still one big problem. Some companies (and some universities) require the use of authenticating apps that only run on "official" Android/iOS. Some banking applications have a similar requirement. What is a viable way to work around this, if there is one?
@paraw@mathstodon.xyz for now GrapheneOS seems to play well with most of them - at least in the case of my banking + ID apps. Mileage may vary however - the Google Wallet can't work (I use a separate smartwatch for that), and I've heard of some banks (namely HSBC) whose apps also break on GrapheneOS. But in general, if you're looking for a fully ungoogled Android with 90% of the ID/banking/government apps working, that could be a good pick.
On the long run, once I fully migrate to a Linux phone my plan is still to walk around with another device (switched off by default) that I only use if I need to use an app that wouldn't otherwise work on my primary driver.
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#Android is fucking dead.
If you have an Android device, please wipe it and install #PostmarketOS today while you can still unlock the bootloader.
We all know that #Google wants to kill the "unverified/sideloaded" apps (names carefully selected by Google's professional gaslighters to give a negative connotation to "apps that are not distributed by Google's own store").
We all know that the new "verification process" amounts basically to a ransom where you need to give Google your keys and your money if you want to build apps for Android.
It involves developers handing their signing keys to Google (so they will sign your package for you and will also able to decrypt your secrets) and paying them a $25 fee for each app.
Even if you don't even use the Play Store to distribute your apps.
This is not a price to pay to get the app distributed through them, nor for using any of their services. It's a price to pay just because they want to control the whole ecosystem end-to-end, and they know that they can get away with that because you'll keep using their shitty OS even if you're outraged at them.
We all know that they got a lot of backlash. And after the backlash they reiterated that they "listened to the community" and would have made a process to still allow people to "sideload apps".
Well, today that process has been finally unveiled. And it sounds even shittier than I thought.
That's because Google is currently filled with the best professional enshittificators in the world: the job role of these people is not to build new things, nor to listen to customers and build what they want. No, their job is specifically to find the sweet spot where they can make things as shitty as possible, add as much friction and user frustration as possible to prevent them from doing a certain thing, while still being able to tell regulators "well, it's not that shitty, you see? We still give users an option - buried under 10 layers of dark patterns".
In order to install apps external to the Play Store you will have to:
-
Activate the developer settings (the usual "tap the build number 7 times to show the hidden menu" thing)
-
In the developer settings, enable "Allow Unverified Padckages"
-
Confirm that you are not being coerced (seriously, how much malware did they actually see installed by people being coerced or tricked to download and install random APK files?)
-
Restart your device
-
Wait 24 hours
-
Return to the unverified packages settings
-
Scroll past 3-4 additional warnings whose sole purpose is to scare you off
-
Select either "Allow temporarily" (7 days) or "Allow indefinitely" (and I've got a hunch that the Allow indefinitely option will probably be gradually phased out)
Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps
The "advanced flow" will be available before verification enforcement begins later this year.
Ars Technica (arstechnica.com)
@fabio Problem is though is that @postmarketOS, while a great project and one I will always advocate for, is hardly ready for primetime on a vast number of devices.
Seriously, look at all the devices listed under "testing" and "downstream" and see how many of them hardly support all the features or even have working flashing functionality.
Plus, it doesn't have an intuitive way of installation for a good number of end users.
I do hope this changes so it becomes a viable alternative.
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@fabio Problem is though is that @postmarketOS, while a great project and one I will always advocate for, is hardly ready for primetime on a vast number of devices.
Seriously, look at all the devices listed under "testing" and "downstream" and see how many of them hardly support all the features or even have working flashing functionality.
Plus, it doesn't have an intuitive way of installation for a good number of end users.
I do hope this changes so it becomes a viable alternative.
@lambdacalculus@masto.hackers.town @postmarketOS@social.treehouse.systems it must change because by the end of this year the Android ecosystem will get three lethal punches from Google (Play Store developers verification, age verification and more and more hardware manufacturers blocking the bootloader). And that may leave us with very little viable alternatives to enshittification. I really hope that funding gets redirected where it needs, after two decades of complacency we need something that works.
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#Android is fucking dead.
If you have an Android device, please wipe it and install #PostmarketOS today while you can still unlock the bootloader.
We all know that #Google wants to kill the "unverified/sideloaded" apps (names carefully selected by Google's professional gaslighters to give a negative connotation to "apps that are not distributed by Google's own store").
We all know that the new "verification process" amounts basically to a ransom where you need to give Google your keys and your money if you want to build apps for Android.
It involves developers handing their signing keys to Google (so they will sign your package for you and will also able to decrypt your secrets) and paying them a $25 fee for each app.
Even if you don't even use the Play Store to distribute your apps.
This is not a price to pay to get the app distributed through them, nor for using any of their services. It's a price to pay just because they want to control the whole ecosystem end-to-end, and they know that they can get away with that because you'll keep using their shitty OS even if you're outraged at them.
We all know that they got a lot of backlash. And after the backlash they reiterated that they "listened to the community" and would have made a process to still allow people to "sideload apps".
Well, today that process has been finally unveiled. And it sounds even shittier than I thought.
That's because Google is currently filled with the best professional enshittificators in the world: the job role of these people is not to build new things, nor to listen to customers and build what they want. No, their job is specifically to find the sweet spot where they can make things as shitty as possible, add as much friction and user frustration as possible to prevent them from doing a certain thing, while still being able to tell regulators "well, it's not that shitty, you see? We still give users an option - buried under 10 layers of dark patterns".
In order to install apps external to the Play Store you will have to:
-
Activate the developer settings (the usual "tap the build number 7 times to show the hidden menu" thing)
-
In the developer settings, enable "Allow Unverified Padckages"
-
Confirm that you are not being coerced (seriously, how much malware did they actually see installed by people being coerced or tricked to download and install random APK files?)
-
Restart your device
-
Wait 24 hours
-
Return to the unverified packages settings
-
Scroll past 3-4 additional warnings whose sole purpose is to scare you off
-
Select either "Allow temporarily" (7 days) or "Allow indefinitely" (and I've got a hunch that the Allow indefinitely option will probably be gradually phased out)
Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps
The "advanced flow" will be available before verification enforcement begins later this year.
Ars Technica (arstechnica.com)
@fabio are they really locking the bootloader with an update?
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@fabio are they really locking the bootloader with an update?
@tofe@mastodon.uno that's what Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei have already done, in different flavours. Either outright blocking the bootloader unlock feature, or disabling download mode, or purposefully breaking existing compatible flashing tools, either retroactively or on new devices. When it was only Xiaomi doing these things a year ago I could simply avoid their devices, now it's become a worrying industry trend.
