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F-Droid won't help for very long here. The next thing I see Google doing is remotely uninstalling them from everyone's phones by adding them to Play Protect's l

F-Droid won't help for very long here. The next thing I see Google doing is remotely uninstalling them from everyone's phones by adding them to Play Protect's list of "malicious" packages, just like they did with Vanced Manager.

jeroenhd 4y ago
If they do that, they have a major controversy on their hands. They have the ability to do so, but they reserve that power for actual malware only.
- seanw444 4y ago
  Not only controversy, but probably lots of lawsuits in the EU once their market freedom bill (or whatever it is) goes into effect.
- josephcsible 4y ago
  > they reserve that power for actual malware only. Was Vanced Manager actual malware?
  - jeroenhd 4y ago
    Vanced Manager wasn't remotely uninstalled as far a I know?
    - josephcsible 4y ago
      Technically, it didn't remotely uninstall it by itself, but it did pop up a box on everyone's devices that said "Your device is at risk" because it's a "harmful app", with only an Uninstall button and no visible cancel button.
      - jeroenhd 4y ago
        I see, I never got that. Must've turned off Google's antivirus at some point. Not that I trusted the Vanced Manager in the first place; I prefer my weird root customisations to be open source. I suppose it makes sense in a way; Vanced replaced an existing system package with a modified APK through root access. Google's intent was obviously not to protect the user, but the behaviour of the app was sketchy as hell. Especially for a closed source app. ReVanced does this differently, that modifies the Youtube APK and changes the package name so it doesn't conflict. Regardless, the notification could just be dismissed and the AV is entirely optional. The warning ("this app tries to bypass Android's security protections") is entirely justified because that's exactly what the app was doing. Anyone pirating anything knows to disable their AV at their own peril and this is hardly something new, at least this time the app wasn't flagged as a trojan with a fake name like most cracks and key generators are. Lastly, there are tons of people reporting weird behaviour after installing a modified version of Vanced blaming it on the app itself, so the warning wasn't always disingenuous.

jeroenhd 4y ago

If they do that, they have a major controversy on their hands. They have the ability to do so, but they reserve that power for actual malware only.

seanw444 4y ago
Not only controversy, but probably lots of lawsuits in the EU once their market freedom bill (or whatever it is) goes into effect.
josephcsible 4y ago
> they reserve that power for actual malware only. Was Vanced Manager actual malware?
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  Vanced Manager wasn't remotely uninstalled as far a I know?
  - josephcsible 4y ago
    Technically, it didn't remotely uninstall it by itself, but it did pop up a box on everyone's devices that said "Your device is at risk" because it's a "harmful app", with only an Uninstall button and no visible cancel button.
    - jeroenhd 4y ago
      I see, I never got that. Must've turned off Google's antivirus at some point. Not that I trusted the Vanced Manager in the first place; I prefer my weird root customisations to be open source. I suppose it makes sense in a way; Vanced replaced an existing system package with a modified APK through root access. Google's intent was obviously not to protect the user, but the behaviour of the app was sketchy as hell. Especially for a closed source app. ReVanced does this differently, that modifies the Youtube APK and changes the package name so it doesn't conflict. Regardless, the notification could just be dismissed and the AV is entirely optional. The warning ("this app tries to bypass Android's security protections") is entirely justified because that's exactly what the app was doing. Anyone pirating anything knows to disable their AV at their own peril and this is hardly something new, at least this time the app wasn't flagged as a trojan with a fake name like most cracks and key generators are. Lastly, there are tons of people reporting weird behaviour after installing a modified version of Vanced blaming it on the app itself, so the warning wasn't always disingenuous.