Mishaal Rahman3d ago

📢 Important update on sideloading on Android

It’s of course here to stay. The team’s been listening carefully to feedback from power users who want a way (apart from ADB) to install apps that don’t go through developer verification.

Today, we have more details on the advanced flow that gives you this option.

Read the post👇 for more info

https://goo.gle/advance-flow

Android developer verification: Balancing openness and choice with safety

News and insights on the Android platform, developer tools, and events.

Android Developers Blog
Show threadTorsten Grote

@MishaalRahman Can you imagine the average @fdroidorg user going through this to still be able to install those apps? Or even to install F-Droid itself in the first place?

Why not just check user isn't on the phone like for enabling accessibility controls and only apply this to apps with dangerous permissions?

Mar 19 at 5:17pmWeb
Show threadBenjamin Monjoie3d ago

@grote @MishaalRahman People could be walking you through the process over a call on your computer or a landline. Also, a malicious app could be a fake banking app with only the internet permission.

I'm not too keen on having more frictions to be able to sideload apps, because I'm a power user and I know what I'm doing. But I also understand this could potentially save my less tech savvy relatives from being robbed.

Show threadTorsten Grote3d ago
@Xzan I happen to live in a country that is used as justification and I get these scam calls as well, but landline is not really a thing here anymore and people falling for scams don't have computers to receive calls on.
Show threadBenjamin Monjoie3d ago
@grote Both my mom, my step dad, my mother in law, and sister in law, are very likely to fall for this kind of scam and they all have a computer they can and do receive calls on.