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I'm not sure what how Gmail is particularly locked-down compared to any other app. I'm not an Android developer, but it seems like there's not really a great wa

I'm not sure what how Gmail is particularly locked-down compared to any other app. I'm not an Android developer, but it seems like there's not really a great way to add functionality to an app as a third party. If you want an app that does those things, you can still connect it with a Gmail account. In fact, there are many apps designed to connect with Gmail and add new features.

guelo 9y ago
Android is designed from the ground up to enable this kind of thing. It has a powerful cross-app Intent system that could allow sharing of emails, deeplinking into gmail, broadcasting email changes, allow other apps to change email status, etc.
- gravypod 9y ago
  From the programming and functionality perspective that's fantastic. From the data security perspective that's a nightmare.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - KingMachiavelli 9y ago
    I don't think androids intent system has any large security implications (I think it has had some but in general). But what I find more interesting/suprising how often I read about these types of concerns given that desktop operating systems provide very limited protection in this area e.g firefox can read all my emails since thunderbird and firefox are run as the same user.
    - gjjrfcbugxbhf 9y ago
      I think the concerns come from the side of people (legal and real) that want to store data and perform computation on other people's devices without the owner being able to control things. What do I mean by this? Anyone with a 'private' API, anyone who's business model involves DRM and anyone who thinks that a remote wipe of an unwilling device should be possible.
    - giovannibajo1 9y ago
      Well, on one hand, mobile operating systems like iOS were designed to be a big step up from the security perspective; android was born more like a desktop operating system scaled down to mobile but has progressively increasing security isolating apps more and more within their sandbox with less options to run in background, hook into the general user experience of the system, and manage things that they don’t belong to them. On the other hand, your example is wrong on macOS where apple mail and safari are sandboxed. So desktop operating systems are trying to catch up security wise and go beyond the traditional Unix security model.
  - dahauns 9y ago
    The way Intents are designed it's really not.

guelo 9y ago

Android is designed from the ground up to enable this kind of thing. It has a powerful cross-app Intent system that could allow sharing of emails, deeplinking into gmail, broadcasting email changes, allow other apps to change email status, etc.

gravypod 9y ago
From the programming and functionality perspective that's fantastic. From the data security perspective that's a nightmare.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- KingMachiavelli 9y ago
  I don't think androids intent system has any large security implications (I think it has had some but in general). But what I find more interesting/suprising how often I read about these types of concerns given that desktop operating systems provide very limited protection in this area e.g firefox can read all my emails since thunderbird and firefox are run as the same user.
  - gjjrfcbugxbhf 9y ago
    I think the concerns come from the side of people (legal and real) that want to store data and perform computation on other people's devices without the owner being able to control things. What do I mean by this? Anyone with a 'private' API, anyone who's business model involves DRM and anyone who thinks that a remote wipe of an unwilling device should be possible.
  - giovannibajo1 9y ago
    Well, on one hand, mobile operating systems like iOS were designed to be a big step up from the security perspective; android was born more like a desktop operating system scaled down to mobile but has progressively increasing security isolating apps more and more within their sandbox with less options to run in background, hook into the general user experience of the system, and manage things that they don’t belong to them. On the other hand, your example is wrong on macOS where apple mail and safari are sandboxed. So desktop operating systems are trying to catch up security wise and go beyond the traditional Unix security model.
- dahauns 9y ago
  The way Intents are designed it's really not.