Oh, you want to install an apk you want to try? First enable developer mode, go into settings and click some random thing a bunch of time. Which unlocks an intimidating scary section. Then wait 24 hours. Then you can install an apk. https://www.bgr.com/2303296/how-to-install-apps-android-phon...
Are your users going to do that? I can imagine you or I doing that. But is that what you want to tell your users to go do?
Alternate app stores are coming. But my understanding is they still require the same developer verification. As a developer, it's only $25/life for now to get registered, if you're an individual. And jumping through some legal hoops, which hopefully you have your paperwork setup for. If your an org, the costs may be higher.
There was some hope open source types might set up their own app stores, to help with the sometimes extremely slow or frustrating or limiting Google Play Store reviews. But we just found out it'll be $10,000/year. And no one in the US is going to get access to that. Also, this channel while convenient still assumes your users have to switch to that app store to get your app. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-google-android-reg...
Oh and by the way, you can't sign your apps anymore. You don't actually have control over your apps. Google is replacing apk with App Bundles. In this model, you have to sign your app to upload it, with an upload key you control. But then what actually goes out and gets checked is Google shipping their signature on an App Bundle, with their keys. There's nothing to stop Google from pushing out a release to your app with whatever changes they want. This caused great consternation with VLC for example who was (quite justly) not very happy about this new arrangement. That got resolved, but now Google's the one signing VLC. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/07/google-play-dumps-ap...https://dev.to/npomepuy/vlc-for-android-updates-on-the-play-...
So yes, it's technically still possible! For users and for devs/corps, for people, there's still technically options for people to install apps. As an individual you and I can manage getting stuff installed! With more and more hoops. With ever more onerous terms.
These systems aren't totally imbalanced right now. Native apps on native platforms have intense access to systems. They don't have the secure sandbox of the web to protect them. It's not reasonable to let users just stumble upon apps and run them, in the way that it's perfectly fine for users to browse the web and run webapps willy nilly. But it's also a war against user freedom, part of a broader War on General Purpose Computing, that has been steadily going one direction (down) for a while now. The number of asterisks will continue to increase, on still allows people to install apps***.
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Oh, you want to install an apk you want to try? First enable developer mode, go into settings and click some random thing a bunch of time. Which unlocks an intimidating scary section. Then wait 24 hours. Then you can install an apk. https://www.bgr.com/2303296/how-to-install-apps-android-phon...
Are your users going to do that? I can imagine you or I doing that. But is that what you want to tell your users to go do?
Alternate app stores are coming. But my understanding is they still require the same developer verification. As a developer, it's only $25/life for now to get registered, if you're an individual. And jumping through some legal hoops, which hopefully you have your paperwork setup for. If your an org, the costs may be higher.
There was some hope open source types might set up their own app stores, to help with the sometimes extremely slow or frustrating or limiting Google Play Store reviews. But we just found out it'll be $10,000/year. And no one in the US is going to get access to that. Also, this channel while convenient still assumes your users have to switch to that app store to get your app. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-google-android-reg...
Oh and by the way, you can't sign your apps anymore. You don't actually have control over your apps. Google is replacing apk with App Bundles. In this model, you have to sign your app to upload it, with an upload key you control. But then what actually goes out and gets checked is Google shipping their signature on an App Bundle, with their keys. There's nothing to stop Google from pushing out a release to your app with whatever changes they want. This caused great consternation with VLC for example who was (quite justly) not very happy about this new arrangement. That got resolved, but now Google's the one signing VLC. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/07/google-play-dumps-ap... https://dev.to/npomepuy/vlc-for-android-updates-on-the-play-...
So yes, it's technically still possible! For users and for devs/corps, for people, there's still technically options for people to install apps. As an individual you and I can manage getting stuff installed! With more and more hoops. With ever more onerous terms.
On Windows, Windows Baseline Security Mode got introduced this year, which also is ratcheting up demands, demanding signing systems for apps on Windows. https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2026/02/09/stren...
These systems aren't totally imbalanced right now. Native apps on native platforms have intense access to systems. They don't have the secure sandbox of the web to protect them. It's not reasonable to let users just stumble upon apps and run them, in the way that it's perfectly fine for users to browse the web and run webapps willy nilly. But it's also a war against user freedom, part of a broader War on General Purpose Computing, that has been steadily going one direction (down) for a while now. The number of asterisks will continue to increase, on still allows people to install apps***.