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Dear GrapheneOS or Linux, please create a usable phone ASAP. They are all crazy. Sincerely.
Meanwhile, work on a “dedicated account type for students and hobbyists” continues. This will allow for app distribution to a “limited number of devices without going through the full verification requirements.”
Well, that doesn’t sound promising
It sounds like the Apple restriction. Apple lets you “side load” your own program without going through the Apple store but only for your own iphone.
So they’re backing out, but in a way that would still kill f-droid?
Technically not. But only technically. The only reason to allow side loading at all is to allow “experienced users” to put unverified apps on their devices. Otherwise it doesn’t make much sense to even make such a concession.
It looks like they’re going to have two different solutions: one for power users and one for hobbyists and students.
My main problem with this is twofold. They explain exactly nothing about how they achieve “experience user sideloading”, they don’t explain what an “experienced user” is, and they don’t explain in any detail whether or not they’re going to allow sideloaded apps to be unverified.
The other part of the problem is that I don’t trust Google. There’s way too many instances of them backing down publicly from a decision they made and then implementing it in a different way over time.
The truth is this announcement doesn’t give us any details so all we can make are assumptions.
There’s a thread about this on HN that I’m having trouble finding now, but I looked at it a couple days ago. It said you’ll be able to install unverified programs, but other programs will be able to tell that you have done so. E.g. your banking app could consider your phone “contaminated” and refuse to run, if it knows you’re running something unverified, that’s presumptively intercepting your typing or whatever.
Do Insular and silimiar apps block app from scanning?
So are they requiring ADB installations or what?
We don’t know exactly yet, but it sounds like they’re transitioning away from that requirement.
It sounds like they’re just going to put up more scary banners and/or hide the option in the developer menu.
“Are you sure? How sure? Just sure or sure-sure? How would you rate you sureness in a scale from 0 to 10?..”
