4 ms·
> we are building a new advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn't verified. We are designing this flow s
by xyzzy_plugh 11mo ago
> we are building a new advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn't verified. We are designing this flow specifically to resist coercion, ensuring that users aren't tricked into bypassing these safety checks while under pressure from a scammer. It will also include clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved, but ultimately, it puts the choice in their hands.
As long as this is a one-time flow: Good, great, yes, I'll gladly scroll through as many prompts as you want to enable sideloading. I understand the risks!
But I fear this will be no better than Apple's flow for installing unsigned binaries in macOS.
Please do better.
- lokar 11mo agoWhat if it imposed a longish (one time) cooldown period? A day?
- rbits 11mo ago1 day is not longish. That would greatly harm apps like F-Droid. You'd have to go through it every time you want to update your apps.
- huem0n 11mo agoExactly, this would greatly reduce the ability for scammers in "urgent" situations, but for power users who flip the switch on day one it would rarely be a problem. What would be terrible though ... is if Google made it require a network connection or Google approval.
- advisedwang 11mo agoDoes this allow unsigned binaries like today? Or is this now requiring you have a binary signed by a android developer account but just one without full identity verification.
- izacus 11mo agoAll Android devices require signed binaries and have done so since 1.0.
- noname120 11mo agoRed herring. Self-signed certificates have always been accepted, and generating a certificate is a one-liner: keytool -genkeypair -keystore mykey.jks -alias myalias -keyalg RSA The public testkey certificate is also accepted so you don’t even need to generate one.
- NoGravitas 11mo agoYes, but then when you update the app, it has to be signed with the same certificate. Android effectively uses TOFU for apk signatures.
- reddalo 11mo agoI also think we should stop calling it "sideloading". We need a better word. Sideloading has a negative vibe, as if it's a dangerous thing to install apps from sources other than the Play Store.
- exe34 11mo agoI call it installing. If it's from play store I'd say "Install from Play Store".
- shaky-carrousel 11mo agoSideloading should be called installing, and installing from the play store should be called jailloading.
- Dilettante_ 11mo ago>Sideloading has a negative vibe Maybe you've just been drinking the propaganda? "Sideloading" to me rolls off the tongue no worse than "hotswapping" or "overclocking".
- stavros 11mo agoWe've always called it "install".
- Dilettante_ 11mo agoThere is a distinction between installing something via the primary or a secondary mechanism. If someone said I just had to "install" a windows program and it turned out I had to compile it from scratch and set all the registry entries myself, I would be "astonished"(as in: The Principle Of Least Astonishment). I fully understand that language matters and if this was an attempt by Google to de-legitimize this way of installing, that's no good. But for Christ's sake, having different names for different things is not inherently malicious.
- stavros 11mo ago
- KurSix 11mo agoThe key will be whether they treat experienced users like adults after the initial opt-in