Comment on Google's plan to restrict sideloading on Android has a potential escape hatch for users

Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s not completely meaningless because if it’s truly the only option I’m going to be using it until I eventually replace my current phone with one with an unlocked bootloader.

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  • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m afraid that won’t help. There will be even fewer people developing apps specifically for the 0.01% of us using custom ROMs.

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    • gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They’re already developing the apps for the 1% of us not just using proprietary apps from the play store. I don’t think this just kills open source app development.

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      • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        That’s not who we’re talking about. We’re talking about the 0.1% who have custom ROMs.

        It won’t kill it completely but it will severely hurt it. Apps like Syncthing have already discontinued development due to Google shenanigans + lack of users. That’ll only get worse as the userbase shrinks.

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    • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      There are plenty of people developing apps that require root, and users who run those are already jumpung through a million hoops of cat and mouse to keep their fucking mcdonalds app detecting it.

      Like seriously, wtf McDonalds, your app is like the ultimate root/safetynet/device id detection tool, I don’t think there exists even a banking app that is as hard to fool.

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  • watson387@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    When my current phone dies I’ll be buying a flip phone.

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    • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Guess what!? Those are all Android too!

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      • yessikg@fedia.io ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Nope, some of them run KaiOS

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      • balder1991@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        But I guess those don’t have Google Play or anything Google, it’s not like a limited Android.

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  • Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Rimjob_steve moment

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• blargh513@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It will be stupid, but I presume there will be a rise in desktop apps or webapps that require you to only plug the phone in and it will handle the rest.

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  • gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah, if something like Obtanium needs to run on my desktop instead of my phone and I have to plug it in every once in a while, that’s not the end of the world.

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    • balder1991@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I think adb can also work over Wi-Fi, just like Android Studio can connect to the phone and build and install without plugging it.

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  • KSPAtlas@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    There are already android apps that allow you to ADB into your own phone without root, so you could VERY EASILY just make an app store that utilises that, you only need to install the app from desktop once

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• dukatos@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  good luck updating all your apps that way…

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  • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Exactly

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• hansolo@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Not at all, just get comfortable with ADB and use Claude to walk you through the steps.

  I see this as an absolute win.

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  • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    No one thinks it’s hard. It is, however, as I said, extremely inconvenient and time-consuming to do this every day, and no one wants to do that.

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    • hansolo@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Every day? Who needs to install an app every day?

      Not saying this isn’t annoying AF, it is, but it’s not the absolute lockdown that we all feared.

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      • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        My guy, have you ever heard of “updates”? How do you suppose they get installed?

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• Arghblarg@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Perhaps someone could write an ‘adb loopback’ app – get that into the official app store, and said app would then squirt other .apk files through adb on the phone to itself, thus sideloading it.

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  • KSPAtlas@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    ADB loopback apps already exist, such as Shizuku

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  • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    As far as I know, ADB needs to be run on another device which is plugged into the phone.

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    • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I think you can run ADB on another Android device, so maybe an Obtainium+ADB device that stays at home.

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• cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  We already have to do that to install older apps. It’s inconvenient, but not as bad as having to boot up an ancient phone every time you need to use the app.

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