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As long as Google isn't the gatekeeper on what I'm able to use my phone for, I'm okay with this. Most of the apps I care about are not installed from Google Pla

As long as Google isn't the gatekeeper on what I'm able to use my phone for, I'm okay with this. Most of the apps I care about are not installed from Google Play anyways.

stavros 2y ago
Yep, at least we Android users have this option. This makes it much easier to say "eh, it's their store", when I can install anything I want on my phone. As someone who just wrote an app so my users can use my service (https://www.deadmansswitch.net https://www.deadmansswitch.net) more easily, though, I'm a bit miffed at the fact that it might be removed.
- sebastiennight 2y ago
  As an aside, I absolutely love your app concept. I wish there was a cryptographic solution that ensured that messages would be stored in an encrypted vault, re-encrypted every time I check in, and in a way that would take 60 days to decode to cleartext if I don't check in.
  - stavros 2y ago
    Thank you! The easier way to do that is to PGP encrypt to the recipients' keys, or just give them a symmetric encryption key and use some online AES service to decrypt it.
netsharc 2y ago
> Most of the apps I care about are not installed from Google Play anyways. Ha, yeah, I'd rather look in F-Droid first, because I know I'd have to sift through a fuckton of garbage of maybe-malware or for-sure-adware (full 10 second video ads whenever you click on anything) if I look in the Play Store. Sure maybe I'm exaggerating, and the truth is the Play Store experience is not that bad, but it's my perception.
josephcsible 2y ago
This is indeed not as big of a deal as if it were Apple doing it, but it's important to remember that people like us who install apps from places other than the Play Store are a minority. As far as a lot of people are concerned, these apps just won't exist at all anymore.
- miohtama 2y ago
  Not 100% true. Some notable app developers can do this. Epic Games has power to distribute outside Play store. Also DJI, the drone manufacturer is exclusively distributing outside. People are ready to go hoops to get access to these apps.
p3rls 2y ago
The idea that Google is a capable arbiter of quality is laughable to anyone who knows what SEO stands for
hedora 2y ago
Try running without Google play services sometime. Google might not be gatekeepers, but there’s no practical way to opt out of having them poking around in your phone.
- thrtythreeforty 2y ago
  I'm typing this on a freshly installed copy of GrapheneOS, which has special support for sandboxing Google Play Services as a normal app. It works flawlessly. It gets only the permissions you grant - suddenly Maps isn't stopping me from switching apps while navigating and I don't even have to have the Assistant installed. You do have to buy a Pixel, ironically the only phones with good enough manufacturer support for Graphene to support them. And be willing to spend 10 minutes clicking through the installer. But it's quite an upgrade from a stock Google image.
  - PenguinCoder 2y ago
    Graphene OS web based installer, works well. Of course they only need to support one type of phone with various hardware, not hundreds different ones. The only thing I'm upset with while using Graphene is lack of NFC payments because Google Pay claims this phone isn't "secure enough"

As long as Google isn't the gatekeeper on what I'm able to use my phone for, I'm okay with this. Most of the apps I care about are not installed from Google Play anyways.

stavros 2y ago

Yep, at least we Android users have this option. This makes it much easier to say "eh, it's their store", when I can install anything I want on my phone. As someone who just wrote an app so my users can use my service (https://www.deadmansswitch.net https://www.deadmansswitch.net) more easily, though, I'm a bit miffed at the fact that it might be removed.

sebastiennight 2y ago
As an aside, I absolutely love your app concept. I wish there was a cryptographic solution that ensured that messages would be stored in an encrypted vault, re-encrypted every time I check in, and in a way that would take 60 days to decode to cleartext if I don't check in.
- stavros 2y ago
  Thank you! The easier way to do that is to PGP encrypt to the recipients' keys, or just give them a symmetric encryption key and use some online AES service to decrypt it.

netsharc 2y ago

> Most of the apps I care about are not installed from Google Play anyways. Ha, yeah, I'd rather look in F-Droid first, because I know I'd have to sift through a fuckton of garbage of maybe-malware or for-sure-adware (full 10 second video ads whenever you click on anything) if I look in the Play Store. Sure maybe I'm exaggerating, and the truth is the Play Store experience is not that bad, but it's my perception.

josephcsible 2y ago

This is indeed not as big of a deal as if it were Apple doing it, but it's important to remember that people like us who install apps from places other than the Play Store are a minority. As far as a lot of people are concerned, these apps just won't exist at all anymore.

miohtama 2y ago
Not 100% true. Some notable app developers can do this. Epic Games has power to distribute outside Play store. Also DJI, the drone manufacturer is exclusively distributing outside. People are ready to go hoops to get access to these apps.

p3rls 2y ago

The idea that Google is a capable arbiter of quality is laughable to anyone who knows what SEO stands for

hedora 2y ago

Try running without Google play services sometime. Google might not be gatekeepers, but there’s no practical way to opt out of having them poking around in your phone.

thrtythreeforty 2y ago
I'm typing this on a freshly installed copy of GrapheneOS, which has special support for sandboxing Google Play Services as a normal app. It works flawlessly. It gets only the permissions you grant - suddenly Maps isn't stopping me from switching apps while navigating and I don't even have to have the Assistant installed. You do have to buy a Pixel, ironically the only phones with good enough manufacturer support for Graphene to support them. And be willing to spend 10 minutes clicking through the installer. But it's quite an upgrade from a stock Google image.
- PenguinCoder 2y ago
  Graphene OS web based installer, works well. Of course they only need to support one type of phone with various hardware, not hundreds different ones. The only thing I'm upset with while using Graphene is lack of NFC payments because Google Pay claims this phone isn't "secure enough"