Android Sideloading Waiting Period
With its new limits on sideloading, Android phones will only install apps that come from verified developers. To verify, devs releasing apps outside of Google Play will have to provide identification, upload a copy of their signing keys, and pay a $25 fee. It all seems rather onerous for people who just want to make apps without Google’s intervention.
Apps that come from unverified developers won’t be installable on Android phones—unless you use the new advanced flow, which will be buried in the developer settings.
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Google swears it’s not interested in the content of apps, and it won’t be checking proactively when developers register. This is only about identity verification—you should know when you’re installing an app that it’s not an imposter and does not come from known purveyors of malware.
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So a rootkit can be malware, but a rootkit you downloaded intentionally because you want root access on your phone is not malware, from Samat’s perspective. Likewise, an alternative YouTube client that bypasses Google’s ads and feature limits isn’t causing the kind of harm that would lead to issues with verification. But these are just broad strokes; Google has not commented on any specific apps.
Adamya Sharma (via John Gruber):
When Google execs previously said sideloading would become a high-friction process on Android, they really weren’t kidding.
The company is finally sharing what Android’s new sideloading flow will look like in practice, and if you’re someone who installs apps outside the Play Store, you’re going to feel it immediately, and you’re going to feel it deeply.
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It’s a deliberately slow and almost impossible-to-rush-through process that will allow advanced Android users to sideload apps from unverified developers, while giving them plenty of caution to keep them safe from malicious apps and bad actors.
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Yes, really. There’s a mandatory one-time, one-day waiting period before you can proceed and sideload an app from an unverified developer. Google calls it a “protective waiting period.”
Horrific. Can we finally dispense with this notion that Apple’s App Store can be as restrictive as they want because if you don’t like that you can just buy an Android phone?
The part in the flow where you select between allowing app installs for 7 days or forever is a glimpse into the future. That toggle shows the thought process that’s going on at Google.
I can bet that a few versions down the line, the “Not recommended” option of allowing installs indefinitely will become so not recommended that they’ll remove it outright. Then shrink the 7 day window to 3 days or less. Or only give users one allowed attempt at installing an app, after which it’s another 24 hour waiting period for you. Then ask the user to verify themselves as a developer if they want to install whatever they want. Whatever helps them turn people away from alternatives and shrink the odds of someone dislodging their monopoly, they will do. Anything to drive people to Google Play only.
At this point I’m convinced that there’s something deeply wrong with how our society treats technology.
Ruining Android for everyone to try to maybe help some rather technologically-hopeless groups of people is the wrong solution. It’s unsustainable in the long run. Also, the last thing this world needs right now is even more centralization of power.
Previously:
- Apple Wins Musi App Store Removal Lawsuit
- Lower Google Play Store Fees and Registered App Stores
- Proposal to Settle Epic and Google Antitrust Case
- Epic Games Sees Benefits From Streamlined Install Flow
- Google to Require Developer Verification for Android Sideloading
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"At this point I’m convinced that there’s something deeply wrong with how our society treats technology."
At *this* point? And not at any earlier point? The writing's been on the wall for many years.
