Submitted 15 hours ago by GertrudGoethe@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/13/nextcloud_play_store_complaint/
They bullied Syncthing the same way. Fortunately, Syncthing-fork is still developed and available on F-droid.
I understand a well-curated app store (which Play Store is not) placing some limits on apps getting all files access. In a modern security model, that’s not a permission most apps should have, however synchronization and file management apps obviously should have it.
And if you grant access to your own apps, but deny them to your competitors, that is totally a monopoly abuse
And it should be met with steadily increasing fines until they stop it or go bankrupt. Both is fine with me.
Was going to comment the same, this issue has existed for some time. LibreTorrent ran into the same issue and now the F-droid version is their full-featured app while the Google Play version is restricted due to Google.
Interesting that Nextcloud managed to last this long on Google Play without running into the same limitations (until now that is).
Wait, why would libretorrent require all files access?
Just switch to the F-Droid version.
Better: make sure all the apps you use come from F-Droid
This works very well for tech enthusiasts and people who self-host nextcloud at home.
The issue is when you are a government or university, it becomes harder to get all your users (which are probably not all tech savvy) to install a third party app store deal with the Android warnings about installing from third-parties, etc etc.
And this is probably the user base Google are targeting with this move (assuming it’s malicious) . When the higher ups complain that their files are not syncing and need to install things with a special procedure they sometimes wonder why they are not using M365 or Google which seems hassle free.
Not to mention the “see this big alert saying this isn’t safe? Well for this one time it /is/ safe so do so” While curbing the mentality of “oh it was safe last time so it must be safe this time”
Obtaniun > F-droid > Aurora
What is the point of obtainium ? Over fdroid?
It’s not as simple as telling people to use F-Droid. People with non-rooted phones won’t get automatic updates via F-Droid which is a big hurdle. Unless I’m misremembering? I wouldn’t know because I run CalyxOS.
My phone is not getting CalyxOS updates anymore. Gotta wipe it all and move to lineageos now. Man I hate mobile operating systems. I need good linux phones right now. Android can go to hell.
They added that a while ago for all users on Android 12 and up
I have automatic upgrades on my non-rooted phone. I use droidify but i’m pretty sure the official F-droid client works the same way.
People with non-rooted phones won’t get automatic updates via F-Droid which is a big hurdle.
Not true if the app to update uses a high enough API version and if you use F-Droid Basic.
NOTE: The Basic version of F-Droid Client has a reduced feature set (e.g. no nearby share and no panic feature). It targets Android 13 and can do unattended updates without privileged extension or root.
I get update notifications from f-droid but have to update inside the f-droid app.
I run CalyxOS and have automatic updates from F-Droid.
Obtainium is better, get the apps directly from the source
I actually like that the F-Droid maintainers check over the apps and warn about anti-features/stop offering new versions if they enshittify.
Expand on this please. I am unfamiliar.
That and the process of being audited for your app to gain access to Google Drive is apparently a nightmare on top of being super expensive.
No wonder so many apps don’t even bother adding the ability to sync files with like Joplin.
I hope the EU eventually crack down on that bullshit.
When I saw the process to add Google drive support to an app I thought: “wouldn’t be easier to just discontinue the public APIs?”
If I was a dev I would immediately remove the integration instead of paying the required thousands (yearly!) to keep it. Then in the app explain the situation to the customer, add a referral link to Dropbox, onedrive or other competitors
Get linage OS on your phone and stop fucking around.
Yeah I just moved to GrapheneOS. Stood up my own NextCloud server too. Fuck Google.
Not possible in Samsung. And there are no better camera hardware else where. Gotta take picture of my cats …
Sony and their Xperia phones would like a word.
This and the fact gallery cloud provider API stuff is locked down to whoever Google gives permission to should get a lawsuit.
And not even eff interested? Or probably drowning with other issues
I use FolderSync. Works well and I prefer one app synchronizing files than 6. I still use the Nextcloud app for files I don’t sync that I need access to, but overall it’s really bad. The camera upload erased a ton of my pictures on a vacation. I deleted the synced pictures on my phone storage and the Nextcloud app overwrote the images as the new photos had the same file name.
Google be Like : just use Google Drive
What if , no….
God I hate google
“We don’t care,” - Google, probably.
FriendBesto@lemmy.ml 19 minutes ago
They never explained why. We all know why. So thankful that I am not a gamer and as such I do not even sign up to Google on my phone via Playstore or even Google Play Services. I can get away with either Aurora or just FOSS apps.