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397 points opengears | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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jasonjayr ◴[] No.41896030[source]
From the (current) final comment at https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing-android/issues/2064

> Nothing came of the discussions with google. Demands by Google for changes to get the permission granted were vague, which makes it both arduous to figure out how to address them and very unclear if whatever I do will actually lead to success. Then more unrelated work to stay on play came up (dev. verification, target API level), which among other influences finally made me realize I don't have the motivation or time anymore to play this game.

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izacus ◴[] No.41896431[source]
I don't think Google was ever buy a "I don't want to use file APIs because writing the code would be hard." excuse for a security issue. I don't know what kind of exact "discussions" were possible here for "give me access to all user data, photos and everything because I don't think I want to use SAF APIs". It's like that dude in your company that will have a meltdown in PRs over his better way instead of fixing the comments and having code submitted.

Apple won't let you write into random directories past their APIs either, just because it would be too hard to use ObjC/Swift.

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swatcoder ◴[] No.41897242[source]
There's going to be loud, destructive friction when a 10-15 year old platform reduces the functionality available to its apps. Security models do need to evolve, but Android was introduced as a platform suitable for deep personal customization with few mandatory boundaries.

This was a competitive distinction against Apple's closed "safety first" platform design in iOS and led to an ecosystem of applications that took advantage of all these extra possibilities. As Google tightens its grip over the platform and pursues more aggressive limitations for security reasons (and whatever other ones), it's inevitable that many publishers and users are going to be deeply frustrated when the features that made their device theirs are no longer available.

(And incidentally, the restrictions on the Apple side have nothing to do with the application development language. I don't know where you would get that idea from or how to even make sense of it. It's just the nature of Apple's original design philosophy for iOS, where apps were deeply isolated and had no more capabilities than were necessary. Largely, Apple has been gradually adding capabilities to heavily-restricted apps over the lifetime of iOS, while Google has been moving in the opposite direction because they each started from opposite ends of the design space.)

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fny ◴[] No.41898143[source]
Android is fine. There are many, many complaint syncing applications in the wild that use the sanctioned APIs.

The truth is Syncthing doesn’t have the resources to keep up with Android platform changes and Google’s review process.

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1. xeromal ◴[] No.41899655{3}[source]
Google's app process requires active developers and just makes it plain impossible to make an app and have it work with minimal updates. You're not allowed to "feature complete" an app and just exist. Every few months they threaten me to upgrade this, upgrade that, fill out this form, submit this info and I eventually gave up this year and they've already deleted my developer account and removed the app from search.

I feel like theyr'e doing this just to minimize storage costs or something lol. Android dev sucks for a hobbyist

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2. swatcoder ◴[] No.41899718[source]
It sucks for small software entrepreneurs too, as the cost of keeping a trustworthy developer on retainer for that kind of maintenance work can easily eat the modest revenue for a good niche app. And iOS is fundamentally no better.

It's why both App Stores are now dominated by corporatized growth chasers compromising their UX with endless feature treadmills and pushing for subscription IAP to fund it all.

Building a personal/family lifestyle business from the long tail on a few good niche apps, sold at a modest and respectful upfront cost, is pretty much a thing of the past now; and all the software we loved has been delisted or sold to those corporatized growth chasers.

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3. xeromal ◴[] No.41899752[source]
Yeah, I'm sure it can. The app I was talking about was an app that handled appointments for my mom's business. 80% of her customers used the mobile website but a few liked the app for notifications and just liked apps but I eventually gave up as I'm not a fulltime android dev, just a backend engineer that can hunt and peck my way through an android app. It was fine for many years but the past 2 have been horrible and I eventually told my mom I give up