alt Hacker NewsKey point from the article:
> ADB would be unaffected, and any power users who needed to install an app straight away could always connect their Android device to a computer and use ADB commands to manually install - no delay at all.
So in practice this won't be an issue for anyone tech-savvy who uses their Android device with apps outside of the Play Store, as they can simply install through the ADB mechanism via a separate device. It can even be done using WebUSB.
However, the many, many people worldwide who lack such technical knowledge, and are more susceptible to being scammed via malicious app installs because of it, are still protected by this new process Google are introducing.
I would agree, but
- accepting that they take the finger now makes me worried about the rest of the hand
- it seems like a complete strawman argument: I have never heard of anyone getting scammed by being guided through system menus to enable app installations and then downloading and installing an apk from the scammer, as opposed to just going to the play store and installing e.g. teamviewer
- apps are already a pain about users with access to their own devices. If they can somehow detect that you're in "advanced flow" mode... that's going to be a real joy and further discourage/scare away people from using this
- my current understanding of the finger they've given us is that it does not include publishing apps via the play store and outside of the play store unless you change the app ID. One signing key is bound to one app ID when the developer does the verification to be in the Play Store and their code is not installable after compiling by an independent party. F-droid still can't exist in its current form