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Installing software outside of play store is technically possible, but if something contains enough hurdles, most people won't do it, which results in no users
by oji0hub 6y ago
Installing software outside of play store is technically possible, but if something contains enough hurdles, most people won't do it, which results in no users and a meaningless platform.
- imhoguy 6y agoIt is not meaningless, but agreed not something for mass use yet. Similarly like 30-40 years ago with personal computing, now also geeks start the paradigm shift into privacy-aware computing.
- corty 6y agoI guess at some point Google will close the F-Droid loophole in Android and only allow installations through the Playstore anymore. You know, for security reasons... winkwink Maybe the real reason will be pressure from the government to hurt the ones like Huawei a little more, maybe it will be the need to squeeze more money, or maybe the need for censorship because those evil alternative app-platforms allow whatever unwanted stuff.
- brmgb 6y ago> I guess at some point Google will close the F-Droid loophole in Android and only allow installations through the Playstore anymore. Google standing in Europe is already really shaky. They keep taking fines after fines for abuse of their dominant position. That won't last forever. If they close the ability for other stores to exist, the best case scenario is the EU giving them a huge fine and forcing them to go back. Worst case is being force to split Android out of the main company. Google knows that which is why they will not do it.
- suizi 6y agoDoes Europe have the power to split Google? Or does that lie with U.S. regulators?
- imhoguy 6y agoGoogle is already split in EU, there are subsidiaries in various countries. Although parent company is in US. EU has no power to split US company, but can apply fines to localy registers subsidiaries when laws are breached.
- grishka 6y agoThere aren't that many hurdles. 1. You download the apk 2. When you try to install it, it tells you it's from an unknown source and the installation was blocked to protect you 3. You tap "settings" and flip a switch to allow installing apps from your browser 4. You go back and tap "install". That's it. It's done. And you won't need to go to the settings the next time, it'll just work.
- spians 6y agoThese are still four more steps then what it takes to directly install from the Play Store. Most people would view any of these four steps as hurdle. > And you won't need to go to the settings the next time, it'll just work. You will still have to find the apk when there is an update, download it and confirm install. There are still three steps to update the apk compared to Play Store's one tap (or even zero clicks if automatic updates are on). Only "Allow installing from this source" step is removed when updating the app.
- grishka 6y agoIt's possible to build self-update functionality into an app, just like many apps do on desktop. An app can open that installation prompt to update itself.
- anderspitman 6y agoNot on the latest versions of Android, unless you're only updating interpreted code like Python. You can no longer execute files that weren't packaged with the original APK.
- grishka 6y agoYou can download an apk and launch the package installer activity to install it. In latest versions of Android, you'll need to serve the apk through a ContentProvider. I tested this myself, it works, even if the app is updating itself. But I think you can actually still load arbitrary dex files using a ClassLoader? I thought that the update was only affecting JNI libraries. I remember reading how they wanted for any and all executable code to come from a signed package. Even then, if you're determined enough, you can load arbitrary native code by allocating some rwx memory pages and copying it in there ;)
- akvadrako 6y agoOnly if your users are really lazy. It's certainly easier to install Element from an Apk then it is to set element up from then on.
- oji0hub 6y agoThat's almost all people in practice.
- poisonborz 6y agoThe same was said of purchasing stock options.
- herewegoagain2 6y agoThe other aspect is that Google is now jeopardizing many people who now enable "other sources", making them more susceptible to malware. (Not saying you shouldn't enable "other sources", but many people don't understand what they are doing).