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I don’t know how to trust an app. Like, how would I make that decision? When I used Android, I just didn’t install things unless I really, really wanted them,
by earhart 8y ago
I don’t know how to trust an app. Like, how would I make that decision?
When I used Android, I just didn’t install things unless I really, really wanted them, and they were popular enough that I figured security researchers would likely be looking at them closely. (Which, of course, was a great incentive to keep using Google’s ecosystem for everything.)
I tried iOS a few years ago, and one of the big differences is that I’m a lot more confident about trying random apps; I know there’ll still be shady apps, but Apple’s vetting and the iOS security model give me a lot more confidence. I’ve installed (and paid for) a lot more apps as a result; my phone’s much more usable to me.
- theon144 8y agoLike, how do you decide which apps to trust on your PC? While Windows does have a store, I'd wager the majority of installs are still done by downloading .exe files off the software's homepages. Executable binaries that run with full privileges, with minimal permission granularity, no less. Somehow we're not discussing prohibiting filesystem access for personal computers? Why is this an issue for smartphones, a.k.a. a pocket-sized personal computer?
- unilynx 8y agoInertia (the mass of already existing unsandboxed software) probably makes securing the (Windows) PC platform a lost cause. If Windows had proper filesystem sandboxing enforced on applications, ransomware would disappear overnight
- pjmlp 8y agoMicrosoft is slowly migrating Win32 into the store with each W10 release.
- ubercow13 8y agoFor example, I largely trust anything on F-Droid and various other open source apps.