Android developer verification: Balancing openness and choice with safety

jeduardo

The "protective waiting period" of 24h is what kills it. For people like me, who rely more and more every day on OSS apps not necessarily in the Play Store, installing a new phone will mean waiting a full day for almighty Google to allow me to do so. It reminds me of the same annoyance of carrier phone unlocks. I wonder how this will play out in the phones coming out of the Motorola+GrapheneOS partnership.

goodusername

Although I'm slightly relieved there is a way out of Googles verification system, it's still pretty wild if you compare this to installing software on a Windows pc. I'm sure Microsoft is heading in the same direction with Windows, but today its still "only" a few confirmations to install anything. This will sadly still put a major damper on adoption of open source apps, while giving a false sense of security that apps from the Play store are safe. Years down the road, the low usage of apps installed from outside the Play store will be used as an argument for removing the functionality completely.

garciansmith

It'd be nice if they put a little sticker on the box or a flashing warning when you go to buy the phone noting that you'll be unable to use it as you desire for 24 hours if you are not willing to bend over to your corporate overlord. Alternatives like GrapheneOS and Lineage are the way to go for right now, but I worry as things get more and more locked down that those options won't work with a lot of apps.

hkt

SailfishOS / Jolla are unlikely to do this. Time to switch. Google's monopoly power over android is showing, badly.

Groxx

Significantly more discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47442690

RobotToaster

'Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.' - Benjamin Franklin

GeekyBear

People already have the choice between an ecosystem that offers the safety of a walled garden and one that allows the freedom to do anything you like, including shooting yourself in the foot. Google's decision to walk back the supposed freedom to run anything you like removes user choice from the marketplace and harms consumers.

eviks

But you're not balancing anything, just saying that you are