Questions remain as Google prepares to lock down Android app distribution in the name of security.
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With developer verification, Google’s Apple envy threatens to dismantle Android’s open legacy
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Interestingly enough, not having a smartphone today is one of the most rebellious things you can do. And it's also grounds for suspicion,... or even getting you put on some kind of watch list.
But, yes, discussions about changing the requirements that keep us prisoners to our smartphones and the associated digital ecosystems would be of great value: at the minimum, those discussions would help us deepen our understanding of how completely fucked up this world has become.
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I view it less as “duped” and more “found the trade-off worth it”. I exclusively used Android (since 2013) until I picked up a used iPhone in 2022. I still keep my Android devices around, running third-party OSes, but I haven’t switched back to any of them as my daily driver.
In Android’s earliest day, Google was “less evil” and offered software and services that were well-liked, even beloved. Not so much these days; Android has been creeping into enshittification territory, Google has formed a monstrous track record of killing apps and some services, and Google’s remaining services on the whole are arguably already enshittified.
Sadly, Google’s upcoming move will cripple my Android devices anyway, as there will be little incentive for developers to produce or update apps not intended for the Play Store, and F-Droid may potentially dry up.
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I'm not sure I agree here. Android phones have a straightforward method to unlock the bootloader. Doing this and installing a new OS is built into the Android toolkit and remains so because it's basically necessary for being an OEM.
These aren't PhD level computer science people. This is a fundamental capability of an OS when you sell it to OEMs.
Yeah, I hate this. I've seen the "Resist and Unsubscribe" link making the rounds and I try to be a thoughtful consumer - minimize Amazon shopping, spend money at ethical businesses, etc. - so I perused it.
And, you know, Apple, Google and Microsoft are all on there at the "Ground Zero" level. Okay great. So if we assume I need a smartphone and a laptop - because sure not everyone does, but I can't effectively remain employed without them, and it currently appears that a linux laptop is a nonstarter for my situation - where exactly should I be looking?
Just trying to make the least bad choices I can, I guess.
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Not exactly. My bank sends a push notification to my phone via their app that I have to accept in order to log in on their website on my desktop.
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I'm an Android guy for now. For me going forward, I will just bypass both Apple and Google app stores and build web apps (not always an option, I know). That was Steve Jobs vision at the beginning, so maybe we've come full-circle.
I am not a professional app dev, just a hobbyist and tinkerer trying to create apps that solve my own particular needs and teach myself some things along the way. If I want to monetize something I do in the future, I'll just set up a Patreon or one of those "Buy me a coffee" accounts, and Goopple can take 0% commission of that.
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For what its worth. I have rooted & ROM'd every phone since my Samsung Captivate. And my banking apps work just fine.
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I've got an app that covers almost everything: it's called a browser.
Every time a company promotes downloading and using their fucking app, a big warning flag goes up in my brain that warns me to avoid building yet another layer of reinforced concrete in the digital prison cell I currently occupy.
If banking gets to the point of absolute dependence on apps, then Mason jars is a last alternative. But beware that it won't be long before using cash currency for transactions becomes prohibited and possession of cash becomes at least useless or at worst illegal.
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This is super interesting! Thanks. I’ve always been curious about the slow death of small-shop android projects. I’ve read interesting thing on Ars and elsewhere, but I’m not plugged into the developer world.
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Apple and Google are making billions off their partnership, they are not competitors. Android never stood a chance. There was actually an antitrust ruling against iphone search recently, and Apple and Google quickly circumvented it by moving 'search' to 'AI', which is a young competitive market. Both stock prices went up, of course.
And the billions will keep flowing from Apple to what is now an informal affiliate, Google. The choice isn't so much Ford vs GM here, as Chevy vs Cadillac. They're simply not run like rivals, which is why Android is steadily removing all competitive advantages.
And the billions will keep flowing from Apple to what is now an informal affiliate, Google. The choice isn't so much Ford vs GM here, as Chevy vs Cadillac. They're simply not run like rivals, which is why Android is steadily removing all competitive advantages.
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It depends on the bank. When I was an HSBC customer, their app didn't work at all. My current bank's mobile application works, but certain rather useful features don't work, with misleading error messages.
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graphene os has a list of banks that work on it and it's pretty long. and now motorola (lenovo) is going to make a phone with graphene os. so there's that.
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Gnafu the Great
Ars Centurion
I have been running Google-free Android (LineageOS without GApps) for over three years now. I get all my apps from F-Droid. I refuse to use services that require proprietary apps. I do all my banking in mobile and desktop browsers. If any of my banks started requiring a proprietary app, I would change banks. I am actively working on migrating my usage away from Android-centric options.
We need to fight this by saying, "NO!" Not just this one push from Google, but all the insidious little ways that all these trillion-dollar corporations are trying to control what we do and how we think. Resist!
We need to fight this by saying, "NO!" Not just this one push from Google, but all the insidious little ways that all these trillion-dollar corporations are trying to control what we do and how we think. Resist!
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A lot of ROMs--notablely Graphene--are based on it.
I don't think it's particularly relevant to users directly, but one step removed is highly relevant.
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For me about half of the apps that are on my phone come from fdroid. The only apps that are from google or samsung are the camera app and maps. This will have a major impact on device. I really would like to move to a linux phone but they are still too rough even for me. For now I will have to give GrapheneOS a shot and hope that google doesn't find a way to enshitify that like blocking security updates for their devices....
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PWAs are useful and I have many installed on my devices. However, I have found most feel like websites - it's difficult to make a 'website' feel and operate like a native app.
On FirefoxOS, I really wish I could say I agree. But what Mozilla has turned into the past several years is not the Mozilla of yesteryear. I wouldn't trust them to continue the project after I purchase hardware to run it and/or not turn it into an ad and AI hellscape. However, it may have inspired more work to develop a Linux ecosystem for phones. A collaborator of mine uses one of the more popular Linux phones (I do not remember which). While he likes how open it truly is, the camera produces pictures that look like mud, there are few to no phone optimized apps, and he finds the overall experience to be one reserved for enthusiasts.
My solution is a Pixel 10 Pro Fold running GrapheneOS as my primary device. It has a dual eSIM between Mint Mobile and a free Verizon line - neither of which I use for the phone number. I also have an iPhone 17 Pro Max which I got for free from Verizon executive support* running my primary number but it's not used for much outside of Signal, Apple Pay, and business related phone calls. However, depending on how the next few years go I may need to reconsider what devices I use.
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* Long story and unimportant story: I was promised a fake set of 'loyalty' deals over the phone to keep me from transferring my 14 line account (partner's immediate family and several friends are all on my plan) to T-Mobile just long enough to miss out on their holiday new customer deals. T-Mobile would have saved me over $100/mo on my bill and all 14 people would qualify for trade in deals for new phones. Subsequent calls, totaling over 2 hours, were met with hostility. Normally, I give CSRs a lot of leeway because they have a shit job and little autonomy to do what I ask for. However, after 2 hours of being treated as if any sort of compensation for bold face lying was asking for the moon I lost my patience and emailed their executive team. 5 days later (after numerous and profuse apologies from a nice lady on the phone) I received a new iPhone Pro Max and a year long monthly credit.
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Assuming no changes, you can push the app to her phone over ADB. Google also says there will be a hobbyist version of verification that lets you install on a small number of devices for free as well. You do have to register for that, though.
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I've looked into Linux phones a bit... and it's really not in what I'd call a state most of us would actually enjoy using. It feels very much like the old "Windows Phone" as it is right now. Even once there's a really good Linux fork for phones, with California leading the charge in legally ordering ALL OS makers to gather identification data, Linux itself is having what we like chipped away. It'll come to individual people with coding knowledge doing custom rebuilds to strip out the identification features for their personal use, and THAT being considered a crime.
There's going to come a time, and soon, when police reports are going to include scary descriptions of old OSes, even an old build of DOS as "dark web tools that only criminals use". Corporations want our data to sell us stuff, and governments want our data to keep us from speaking out against them.
There's going to come a time, and soon, when police reports are going to include scary descriptions of old OSes, even an old build of DOS as "dark web tools that only criminals use". Corporations want our data to sell us stuff, and governments want our data to keep us from speaking out against them.
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the GrapheneOS community has a list you can check out to see if your bank works or not. You also can just change your workflow to use the website instead. https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
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There's other things that fed into it. Cue the historionics of XDA-Developers:
Back in 2008ish (we were all so much younger and more innocent back then)...XDA took off as basically THE place to go for Android modding. Which--XDA being a forum built on a forum engine (I know obvious)--it was uniquely badly suited to customer support use (because threads and posts just get buried and get pigeon-holed by device/ROM so people don't talk). This also happened because Android was--well--bad, and really everyone needed/wanted ROMs because of how bad stock Android was on devices back then. I do mean "bad" in the same spirit that WinME was bad--you used it because you didn't have much other options. It was common to tell people to go to XDA to get a ROM to fix your awful Android stock phone.
These were times when people who would become legends in the scene, like Alex Cruz (Of later Dirty Unicorns fame), came to be learning the hard way. These years also took people like, Alex Cruz, and made them biting cynics--because hopeless and helpless newbies who knew nothing of what they were doing would come and make wish-lists or bug-reports with no data with busy forum threads....and annoyed the crap out of the people like the aforementioned Alex Cruz. Also because others would shamelessly steal others work without permission or attribution (the term "Kanging" came to be slang for that--because of a user named Kang caught guilty doing it...one device team I was on had a full custom 12MB script stolen without attribution and they claimed credit for it).
All of the aforesaid lead to various efforts for the brains of the operation to privatize their threads and move off XDA to not have to deal with newbs and theft...which lead to the slow strangulation of development. Especially given Google's (and Samsung and other OEMs) ever increasing hostility towards device unlocking and rooting.
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The graphene community maintains a list of banking apps that are compatible. It doesn't have everything but I think you would be surprised with how many banking apps actually do work on grapheneOS. https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
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Linux? What year is it the year of the desktop the year of the tablet or the year of the smartphone? What year am I waiting for no one in Linux world seems to want to do the heavy lifting they want someone else to supply them with free hardware, I’m open towards using it if someone would take actual in house hardware and software ala Apple and make it actually work right out of the box and sell it to the public. The opportunity has been there for 35 years….
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Seriously? You're blaming Apple? google have what sort of worldwide marketshare of the smartphone market, ~90%? So they're going to be envious of Apple's tiny slice?Christoph Hebeisen said:
They covet it so much that they're willing to bin their "legacy" of "openness?"
Boulder Dash.
Little by little over the years, google have tightened the screws. There have been grumbles for years. Have you never heard the phrase "the first hit's free?" Software and SaaS regularly follow the trajectory of 1) new, feature-light -> 2) added features -> 3) features paywalled/removed.
https://meincmagazine.com/gadgets/202...-threatens-to-dismantle-androids-open-legacy/Ryan Whitwam said:
Blaming Apple makes it sound that gosh, if only Apple didn't exist then android would be open forever and ever and you could download all the cracked APKs you wanted with lemonade and rainbows for all.
google have been about monopoly control for ages. Remember when Apple wanted google maps with turn-by-turn directions and google made unreasonable demands? Apple were forced to find a different mapping solution.
Remember all the drama about official youtube apps? (windows phone users certainly do!)
What about when iOS added the ability for any music app to continue playing in the background and google refused to allow youtube to do so without paying?
Heaven forbid gmail decide your small independent mail host is not "trustworthy" enough because then gmail will kill or bounce everything, with the intention of pushing people towards gmail, of course.
I suppose chrome Manifest V3 is also somehow Apple's fault?
What of google killing JPEG XL support?
I have some bad news for you. It's not a quest to make everything better. It's google's regular ongoing quest for more control.Nathan Freitas said:
This is an age-old tale. Company X wish to do Y which will mostly benefit the company in some fashion so they advertise it as doing Z for customers.
Oh, they say it's "doing protection for customers" but it's more about stopping those nasty ad-blockers, alternative youtube clients, & etc.Ryan Whitwam said:
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Thanks, Ryan. This is the sort of reporting I've subscribed for.
I've been following this closely, but I hadn't heard about the fact that Google might not have the advanced flow available at launch. If that is the case, I will switch to Lineage or Graphene OS, and I'm not going to look back.
I've been following this closely, but I hadn't heard about the fact that Google might not have the advanced flow available at launch. If that is the case, I will switch to Lineage or Graphene OS, and I'm not going to look back.
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13+ years using Android... thought of getting a new pixel but im gonna stick with my current one and see what happens... if Google removes sideloading and removes AOSP then im def changing back to iOS. no reason to stick to android.
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I don't particularly care if it's difficult to sideload unverified apps, but I really don't like the idea that I can't either write my own app or compile and install an open source app on a device I own without going through a verification process.
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But think of the positive side: Jumping from the frying pan into the fire, then jumping from the fire back to the frying pan, and then jumping again from the frying pan into the fire, and back again into the frying pan is great cardiovascular exercise and will make you a stronger, fitter person!
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This post and most of the people who are quoted in the post are coming from the point of view of they want Android mobile devices to be what they want. And I get it.
But at best these folks are 10% of the market for a mobile device. I'm thinking less than 1%. Much less. The vast marjority of mobile device buyers want a phone or tablet that will let them use it in mundane ways and NOT them have to worry about device security. Or even consider it. The vast majority of mobile users don't even understand the issues, much less have the ability to evaluate the risks of installing any one app.
Apple figured this out a while back. And many devs and tech nerds have railed against them for their closed systems as they keep selling more and more phones and tablets. These tech nerds (and I consider myself almost one) are NOT the market.
And so the question is can the market support a $500 to $1500 mobile that can be basically used as a general purpose computer. Likely not.
Some of us get to see the results of people loosing their life savings when open devices are put into the hands of mortals. And they have no concept of what they did wrong.
PS: Keep down voting becuase you don't like what I say. Not because it isn't correct. 99% of the users don't give a crap about this. They just want a secure phone. Talk to women's shelters about Android vs. Apple.
Anyway, this is NOT new. This is the history of computing since the later 50s. Even way back then people would go in at night and get "free" use of mainframes. And mail programs around to people. Then this got locked down. Then mini-computers. Then personal computers. Now mobile.
But at best these folks are 10% of the market for a mobile device. I'm thinking less than 1%. Much less. The vast marjority of mobile device buyers want a phone or tablet that will let them use it in mundane ways and NOT them have to worry about device security. Or even consider it. The vast majority of mobile users don't even understand the issues, much less have the ability to evaluate the risks of installing any one app.
Apple figured this out a while back. And many devs and tech nerds have railed against them for their closed systems as they keep selling more and more phones and tablets. These tech nerds (and I consider myself almost one) are NOT the market.
And so the question is can the market support a $500 to $1500 mobile that can be basically used as a general purpose computer. Likely not.
Some of us get to see the results of people loosing their life savings when open devices are put into the hands of mortals. And they have no concept of what they did wrong.
PS: Keep down voting becuase you don't like what I say. Not because it isn't correct. 99% of the users don't give a crap about this. They just want a secure phone. Talk to women's shelters about Android vs. Apple.
Anyway, this is NOT new. This is the history of computing since the later 50s. Even way back then people would go in at night and get "free" use of mainframes. And mail programs around to people. Then this got locked down. Then mini-computers. Then personal computers. Now mobile.
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Everything Google says about being open is a lie just for their self serving interests.
It's even more insidious than Apple.
Apple doesn't pretend to be open, just to stab you in the back. Apple is very clear about locking things down.
Google pretends to be open as long as they want to capture the market and kill all the competition. Then they start ~locking~ enshittifying things.
Case in point: this instance and also they whined constantly about iMessage not being open but keep RCS locked down from third party apps, to their own product Google Voice and to custom ROMs
To disincentivize "coaching" to install malware for regular people, I'm willing to connect my phone to my PC via ADB one time to unlock non-play store apps. That should keep out most of the general public. But that's the only concession I'll give them. But obviously, this simple solution doesn't solve their main insiduous agenda
Fuck Google !!
I'm really looking forward to Linux phones gaining steam ( pun intended) or the Graphene OS phone
It's even more insidious than Apple.
Apple doesn't pretend to be open, just to stab you in the back. Apple is very clear about locking things down.
Google pretends to be open as long as they want to capture the market and kill all the competition. Then they start ~locking~ enshittifying things.
Case in point: this instance and also they whined constantly about iMessage not being open but keep RCS locked down from third party apps, to their own product Google Voice and to custom ROMs
To disincentivize "coaching" to install malware for regular people, I'm willing to connect my phone to my PC via ADB one time to unlock non-play store apps. That should keep out most of the general public. But that's the only concession I'll give them. But obviously, this simple solution doesn't solve their main insiduous agenda
Fuck Google !!
I'm really looking forward to Linux phones gaining steam ( pun intended) or the Graphene OS phone
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At this current rate if they want control then control they shall have. Microcrap is going the same direction. What's the next OS to be used?
Apple is a childs os which a massive amount gui inconsistency. Android is going the lock down route and it's not what I signed up for.
What is the point of open source?
I think at this rate, I went back to older os for all my retro needs and some computing . I use a z fold for real work, but maybe it's time to rethink my spending on these crap as-- phones that we pay for. Spending $2300 on a phone where I am being nanny is done. If any company start these procedures then I can keep my money in my packet and buy cheap as hell.
Pine are you listening, it's you time to shine.
Apple is a childs os which a massive amount gui inconsistency. Android is going the lock down route and it's not what I signed up for.
What is the point of open source?
I think at this rate, I went back to older os for all my retro needs and some computing . I use a z fold for real work, but maybe it's time to rethink my spending on these crap as-- phones that we pay for. Spending $2300 on a phone where I am being nanny is done. If any company start these procedures then I can keep my money in my packet and buy cheap as hell.
Pine are you listening, it's you time to shine.
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Switching to Apple isn't going to improve your control over your device, obviously. I guess there is no real competition anymore when there are only two competitors left: one company can lay down the hammer, then the other will now happily follow the same. It's now a choice of ideologies.
I'm glad Mr. Whitwam pointed out that cellular companies are gatekeepers as well, and they potentially pushed for this sort of overwatch on both companies. Would FirefoxOS get any support by today's Verizon, or would it be outright blocked by the network?
I'm glad Mr. Whitwam pointed out that cellular companies are gatekeepers as well, and they potentially pushed for this sort of overwatch on both companies. Would FirefoxOS get any support by today's Verizon, or would it be outright blocked by the network?
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Gnafu the Great
Ars Centurion
My solution to that concern was to move my number to an Internet-based phone service years ago. Now I just need a data connection, and that could even be provided by a hotspot if my preferred mini tablet couldn't connect to the cell network directly. (I haven't had any issues connecting to every major network with my OnePlus 6.)
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I know this is talking about Google announcing Android OS in 2007, but readers who aren't super old may be interested to know that Android OS was actually already a thing for a but before Google bought the Android company in early 2005. I don't recall if Ars ever did a piece on it at the time... I wasn't a reader back then.
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The bank forces you to install their app to use them?
If it was me I'll be finding a new bank so fast but that's just me
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Well, it’s that simple for iOS. In fact, it’s been that simple there for over a decade, so maybe google will just copy what works, pretend it’s free, and then change it six times before coming up with something new, adding their own style.
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When I look at the box for such things, most are running Android. Just without the nice screen.
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Apple gives away their IDE, with which you can write your own apps and side load them all day long for up to 100 devices.
Being a developer costs $100/year and gets you some tech escalations with dev support. You can cut your own app certificates until the cows come home.
Want to sell your app or share it? Well, zero trust, buddy. Gotta go through the App Store.
Wondering if you’ve actually looked into this.
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