> Google just announced a new proprietary packaging format to replace APKs ... Once the transition is complete and previous APK-based packages are fully depreca

> Google just announced a new proprietary packaging format to replace APKs ... Once the transition is complete and previous APK-based packages are fully deprecated, it’s easy to see a future Android release that no longer supports APK at all. I use CalyxOS. Most of the apps I install are open source apps from F Droid. But probably 20% of the apps I use don't have a suitable alternative, so I get APKs from Google via the Aurora Store. If APK packages are deprecated, I imagine there will be several apps that I can't get at all without installing Google Play and surrendering to be tracked and controlled by Google. I've already got a very small (Unihertz Jelly) phone that I use only for some banking apps that require Google Play Services. I could switch to an Apple device to protect myself from being exploited by surveillance capitalism, but the Apple "nursing home" is far worse than Google at blocking open source software.