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Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

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639 points josephcsible | 1 comments | 13 Oct 25 15:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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HiPhish ◴[13 Oct 25 16:27 UTC] No.45570232[source]▶
We need to stop calling it "sideloading", we should call it freely installing software. The term "sideloading" makes it sound shady and hacky when in reality it is what we have been able to do on our computers since forever. These are not phones, they are computers shaped like phones, computer which we fully bought with our money, and I we shall install what we want on our own computers.
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viktorcode ◴[13 Oct 25 16:45 UTC] No.45570481[source]▶
I call "running unsigned binaries"
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RedComet ◴[13 Oct 25 17:15 UTC] No.45570851[source]▶
They are signed, though. Just not by Google.
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natch ◴[13 Oct 25 18:25 UTC] No.45571706[source]▶
“Running binaries signed either by yourself or by whoever wants to spy on you.”

That last part there is the problem.

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RedComet ◴[13 Oct 25 20:52 UTC] No.45573225[source]▶
Let's ignore all of the preinstalled programs, which are signed by Google and do a great deal of spying.

Do you think the 100 most popular F-Droid apps do more spying than the 100 most popular Play store apps?

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natch ◴[13 Oct 25 23:21 UTC] No.45574395[source]▶
No, that’s a straw man. The popular ones are not the concern.
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RedComet ◴[14 Oct 25 00:35 UTC] No.45574918[source]▶
A straw man in your favor, maybe. Shall we compare the 100 least popular of each store?

Those are more likely to be outright malware on Play.

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1. natch ◴[14 Oct 25 01:13 UTC] No.45575164[source]▶
The popularity in app stores has no bearing. Some problem apps can be on no store, just locally installed. This has been well covered in the past and you are playing catch up. It’s about abusive household members who spy on their grown children, siblings, roommates, girlfriends, parents, etc. with apps they install on their devices if given a route to do so.