Comment on Google mocks Epic’s proposed reforms to end Android app market monopoly

• ozymandias117@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Huh. That’s a weird restriction that definitely gives credence to their case

  Are accessibility services only part of Google Play and not AOSP…?

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  • FalseMyrmidon@kbin.run ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Things like screen reader access have huge potential uses by malware. Generally it should not be trivial for a program to get that level of access to everything you do.

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    • ozymandias117@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      The restriction of being limited to Google Play and not other app stores implies the implementation is part of Google Play Services, and not included in AOSP

      So I was curious if that’s how it’s implemented on Android - I know Google loves moving features out of AOSP

      However, things like Android-Password-Store used Accessibility services through F-Droid for autotyping back when I used it

      So, trying to understand what has been locked down, since I’m planning on going back to GrapheneOS

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      • FalseMyrmidon@kbin.run ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        https://www.androidpolice.com/android-13-blocks-accessibility-services-sideloaded-apps/

        It just takes an additional warning acknowledgement.

        Google isn’t fully stopping sideloaded apps from using accessibility services, though. Once you’ve run into the dialog saying that accessibility services are restricted for the app in question, you can activate access under the app info screen in the top right corner via the “allow restricted settings” menu entry, so if you’re a power user interested in augmenting your phone with a legitimate app, you can still do that. This seems like a loophole that nefarious apps could circumvent by instructing users to enable restricted settings. Thus, it’s possible that Google will still change this behavior before going live with stable Android 13.

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