Even after Google puts this crap in place, you can still uplodad your own apps to your own Android devices, using ADB. Doing the same for iOS, using Xcode, costs you USD 100 or more (depending on country) per year.

I'm in no way defending Google here, just pointing out you're going from bad to worse and think it's a good thing.

Here is a table I just made (edit: changed to list as HN wraps code blocks now), of iOS vs Android (now) vs Android (after Sep 2026 or 2027 or whenever these announced changes take effect):

•1. Where most users can install software from:

↠↠ iOS: official store (App Store) + (in EU) other stores

↠↠ Android (now): official store (Play Store), other stores (e.g. F-Droid), arbitrary APKs

↠↠ Android (after changes): official store (Play Store), other stores (e.g. F-Droid), arbitrary APKs

•2. Who the developers of software can be:

↠↠ iOS: registered developers ($99/year)

↠↠ Android (now): any developer

↠↠ Android (after changes): registered developers ($25 one-time) + hobbyists (small distribution) + any developers (for advanced users)

•3. Installing your own apps on your own phone, without becoming a registered developer:

↠↠ iOS: using XCode: need to reinstall every 7 days.

↠↠ Android (now): using ADB

↠↠ Android (after changes): using ADB

The second row (•2) is what is changing in Android. I think "the ability to run my own code on my own device", narrowly speaking, is closest to the third row, which is not changing.

> stop being yours

As if most android maker phones don't already fully own your device - preventing you from unlocking of bootloader and installing an OS that actually doesnt enforce the restriction google is introducing in their flavour of android.

To pretend that with this change android becomes exactly like iOS is... ridiculous? I can pick any 10yo old android phone from my drawer and develop for it, no problem and without asking for permissions. And if I'm already this motivated I'm certainly motivated enough to wait 24hs on future (more locked down) devices.

Do you think people who download NewPipe and alike - to circumvent ads and enable premium features - would think twice because they need to wait 24hs? Will NewPipe devs stop developing (anonymously) because of a small fraction of users who refuse to (or won't) go through unlocking steps?

Show me all these "rebel" apps on iOS ecosystem that can be easily distributed on any channel: fdroid, github, telegram groups, etc.

But sure, if you thinking moving to iOS is the same, sounds like you never really made use of any of the freedoms android used to and will continue to provide

No, Android still offers way more features than iOS.

Replace the lock screen with a custom app

Replace the home screen with a custom app

Set default apps for SMS, phone service, assistant, camera, photo gallery. all things you can not change on iOS

Always on widgets and dynamic wallpapers

It has a much more customizable inter app communication system so that you can get more apps to be the default viewers

At allows true background tasks like say a BitTorrent client

It supports shared storage like SMB and a user accessible file system

Custom NFC apps

USB host mode

Multiple users/profiles

And about 70 other things

I still remember how Google execs were using the word "open" almost as a comma. Android was Open, Google was Open, this was so different from the Closed Apple World. Everything would be Open!

I hope we will remember this lesson and learn from it. Calling something "open" doesn't make it so, and anything owned by a large corporation will eventually succumb to the direction taken by the corporation. And large corporations have goals where you, the user, are not a consideration, you are just a part of their money-making machinery.

I have recently made the same move... mostly because it allowed me to stop using my google and microsoft accounts. Moved all personal (and family domain) and business from google workspace / O365 all into fastmail. Bought an iPhone (already worked with macs and an iPad for more than a decade. Not about particular preferences but this setup allows me to only be dependent on one bigcorp. Android still requires a google account, the rest was not necessary but I have above all else made a mental switch to simplify.

I do not feel iOS is particularly better... some things are, some things are not. Yes android was more customizable, and yes the universal back and home buttons are still better than the multi tap and hidden gestures on iOS. But overall some pleasantries such as shared clipboard, seamless headphone switch over, and overall simplification so far, is working very well for me.

I simply need a phone on a major platform, as my job (and life) requires to have certain apps which only run on (non-rooted) Android or iOS phones. And I am tired of fighting and adapting.. so I now just use most of the default apps everywhere, and whatever does or does not work, I take it mostly as-is. For now it seems to allow me to just worry less about it and focus on the things I actually want or need to do .. send email, read message, visit a website, listen to a podcast and not fret about the tiniest of UX details.

I would love to live in a world where I could run around with a customized linux laptop and some sort of privacy respecting phone (e.g. Graphene) but the hurdles are not really worth it to me anymore. Sad in a way, as without counter pressure.. things will not necessarily get better, I know. The 22C3 talk by Rop and Frank I think was depressing, and true.

We lost the war.

https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/events/920.en.h...

I will do the same if they lock down Android. If I must be in a walled garden, then I'm going to choose the better kept garden, and it sure as hell isn't Google's. There is absolutely zero reason to tolerate the shittiness of Android if they take away the relative freedom it gives us. GrapheneOS is the last hope of the Android ecosystem, and if Google keeps locking things down that's not going to last either.

I used to own a house, I could decorate it the way I wanted. It was hard work, but it was mine!

Then they locked it, so I went to live in a luxury hotel, it's more expensive, I can't decide how I want it and I don't own anything, but it's such a superior experience!

GrapheneOS is the answer. Apple's software is really buggy compared to Android and Linux.

Now you just have to deal with Apple's hostile repairability situation. Cryptographically-mated parts are just the beginning.

So you moved into a walled garden in an attempt to escape what's essentially a 3 foot picket fenced garden.

> the vastly superior apple experience

After switching away from GrapheneOS to iOS after RCS stopped working for me, I can safely say my experience has been the opposite. The camera is the only thing better for me on iOS - everything else is buggier and worse. A few of my favorites:

1. Safari is buggy as hell, and requires installing apps to run things like ad blockers.

2. The settings are ALL over the place and very hard to navigate

3. The gestures are clunky - often have to try a couple times to get one of the settings quick menus to drop down

4. Why is the date not displayed at the top of the screen with the time outside of the lock screen?

5. The pin unlock is horribly broken - I have to slow way down to use it compared to Android.

6. Apple maps is hot garbage. I had to install Google Maps anyway to get decent performance.

7. The handling of audio devices seems intentionally malicious - like if I call someone from my car through car play, it shouldn't send the audio out through the phone earpiece. If a call begins with phone earpiece audio and is underway, it shouldn't switch several seconds in to bluetooth headset half a house.

I'm going back for my next phone.

I'm on this path too. Waiting a few more months to see what happens. If they indeed block my 4 apps on my phone (which aren't published anywhere), I will simply move to Apple.

So basically—both Apple and Alphabet love the way you think.

Apple still doesn't allow you to control individual app volume to silence/dim certain applications in multi-play mode though, right?

As someone who hates disturbances this is the killer feature that has kept me with samsung - well that and fdroid which is currently endangered.

iOS still more locked down than Google. When I started reading this I thought you were going true open source

You just proved that the ability of installing whatever apps you want isn't that vital, don't you?

They are absolutely not taking away your ability to run your own code

You have bought a walled garden lock, it can be picked with a walled garden lock.

Dumb question, can you explain the benefits of IOS? I've only tried using an iPhone ~10 years ago before I got into tech

You're in an even worse ecosystem now, an apple phone never even has been yours.

I did this too, but it happened almost 10 years ago when Google started locking down Android in the name of battery life. I saw the writing on the walls and said if Android is going to be just like iOS because we collectively can’t have nice things, then at least I’ll live out that sad reality on better hardware.

Leaving one abusive partner for another is hardly a win. It's pathetic.

I'm so tired of this false dichotomy. Sent from my daily driver Librem 5 running GNU/Linux.

Ah yes macOS, the notoriously open platform.

This is literally the dumbest take I have seen!

iOS charges you and limits your custom app until a few days and you have to "renew" Even before this change, I have my custom apps running forever.

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