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Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices
- croemer 7mo agoGoogle clarifies that this status can carry over to new devices, so you only ever have to go through it once.
- b112 7mo agoWhich makes no sense, if the property is in Android itself. For example, lots of people use phones without any google play framework installed. Without that framework, how does it "carry over"? This just raises more questions about how this whole process works. Is it only the play api doing so? If so, then if you de-google, this entire problem goes away? If not, then how can you 'carry over' to a phone unless you also install the play framework? Seems like that's unhelpful.
- fluidcruft 7mo agoIf you don't have the framework, you don't have to worry about any of this (you also don't get the benefits, bank apps that require validated OS, tap to pay etc, without the framework).
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- izacus 7mo agoThis change was never relevant for devices without Play Services.
- diego_sandoval 7mo agoAFAIK, all current versions of Android have Google Play Services. It's an essential part of the "official" Android. If you run GrapheneOS, LineageOS or whatever, then it's not real Android, and the entire problem of your OS restricting you from installing apps does not exist.
- lern_too_spel 7mo agoThis notarized apps restriction only exists on Google Android builds, so the workaround also only needs to exist on Google Android builds.
- silisili 7mo agoThanks for stating in one sentence what this slop article danced around for 10 or so paragraphs.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- Pooge 7mo agoThere is no win. They are winning 50-0 and they just scored an own-goal; so what?!
- EvanAnderson 7mo agoCan't agree with you enough. They're still moving the Overton window on making Android a walled garden. They're playing a longer game.
- schubidubiduba 7mo agoThey didn't score an own goal, they just killed a guy and then put sunglasses on him so that the people around do not notice he's dead and complain
- xt00 7mo agoHow long before there is a "we've detected your account has been used multiple times to re-setup a phone.. we've re-enabled the Google Nanny Safety mode.. also we've locked your google account just in case.. " I mean other than hackers, who has needed to factory reset their phone more than once in a year you must be doing something shady... right right?
- Zak 7mo agoIt's a very small concession. The high initial friction still means when someone comes to me with a problem and I tell them the solution is in F-Droid, they have to wait a day. Most give up and pick a different, less trustworthy solution from Google Play.
- sunaookami 7mo agoYou can bypass the wait time with adb install at least.
- NotPractical 7mo agoFrom the article: > While sadly, it doesn’t look like there will be any ADB command you can send to your phone to make it immediately jump to the end of that 24-hour delay There's also no evidence that adb-sideloaded app stores will be able to skip PackageInstaller's developer verification enforcement, so no, you will have to wait 24 hours to install F-Droid and actually use it.
- andrewaylett 7mo agoGiven the Epic settlement means Google is allowing alternate app stores, and also the delay only applies for unregistered developers, I'm not certain it won't actually get easier to get folk set up on F-Droid. It still remains to be seen what the actual requirements are, and even if F-Droid could become "approved" that doesn't mean they want to. Time will tell.
- rockskon 7mo agoWhy the hell should we "mother may I" with Google for running apps on our own phones if it isn't sourced from the Play Store? The "security" rationale is horseshit given just how much malware is readily download able on the Play Store. Google never cleans its own house before going after others.
- hparadiz 7mo agoDon't you know? If one elderly person gets scammed we all deserve to be infantilized.
- yesbut 7mo agocan't wait until this is just completely bypassed and we can ignore Google again.
- idle_zealot 7mo agoThere's not really a way to bypass Google if they don't want there to be, and that's what they're moving towards. The only long-term solution is to cut Google out entirely.
- ddtaylor 7mo agoMotorola with GrapheneOS is an interesting prospect. The space is ready for disruption and the tools to do it are more available than ever. Maybe it will come from the EU. Who knows, but Google overplayed their hand, IMO. Also, let's be clear about the mobile landscape right now. Many apps aren't written in Java or Swift, but instead are being transpiled from other languages like TypeScript and using UI libraries that aren't locked to the mobile platform itself. When a new mobile platform enters the space it will require some react-native and capacitor glue code and we are in business.
- fluidcruft 7mo agoMotorola with GrapheneOS has all the same failings of any other custom ROM.
- ddtaylor 7mo agoWhich failings in particular?
- fluidcruft 7mo agoNot being able to use tap-to-pay, various banking apps, some work apps, for example.
- ddtaylor 7mo ago
- catlikesshrimp 7mo agoWTF win? Sounds like I will need a tracking google account because it can "carry over" when I "upgrade my phone" "Google giving a concession" is no win. WTF Concession? Why are we asking google for permission to use the devices we bought as they see fit? Ok, google is doing what is best for them, abusing users. But the manufacturers are really to blame here because the devices are by default locked to what google and them decide. There is no Market Choice here.
- ddtaylor 7mo agoHopefully other vendors will adopt GrapheneOS like Motorola is prepared to.
- dzikimarian 7mo agoYeah, but then banks need to be pushed to support it. And while we're at it it would be good if people responsible for European eID also stopped recommending Google device attestation.
- direwolf20 7mo agoGraphene's policy is to work on one phone at a time. If other vendors want to support it they'll have to pay for the work to be done to Graphene standards, themselves.
- hagbard_c 7mo agoYou still seem to need a Google account to be able to use the hardware you just paid for. I don't have one, don't want one either. I've been using Android without Google for about 15 years now but will hold off on getting a new device until I'm sure I can continue using it without getting a Google account.
- fluidcruft 7mo agoDo you run a custom ROM? I can't imagine bothering with the hassle of running a vendor OS without signing into Play.
- aucisson_masque 7mo agoAurora store make it pretty seamless. Used to run my Samsung without any account, no Google nor Samsung and things worked perfectly.
- throwaway81523 7mo agoI'm using stock Android with a bunch of F-droid apps and no Google account. I've never installed anything from Play and don't feel like I'm missing anything.
- EvanAnderson 7mo agoI don't use F-Droid, but I've been an Android user for several years on two different devices and I've never associated a Google account with a device. I've installed all my software from APK downloads from the open source project site releases they came from. It was really nice last year when I moved to a new device. I restored my last SMS, call log, and contact backup with the open source app I use for that, then loaded the rest of the apps I use from their APKs. It was a lot like getting a new PC. Very enjoyable.
- hagbard_c 7mo agoOn some devices I run custom distributions (mostly LineageOS), others I just root and de-fang by removing all objectionable content including the Google bits. In all cases I put on F-Droid with a few configured repos to get the applications I want. On a few devices I also add some proprietary apps which are more or less mandatory - electronic ID (BankID) being the main one - either by manually installing it or through Aurora Store, an alternative play store front-end which does not require a Google account. No Google, no problem and no real hassle. My current main phone - a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro - is 8 years old, I already have a replacement in a drawer but have not configured it yet because I first want to make a cover for it. Even though it is 8 years old it works fine, the battery holds for 2 days and all applications I need still run on it. The oldest device in use is 15 years old and also works fine but it can no longer be used as a phone since 3G was switched off where I live.
- sgbeal 7mo agoWhen typos are inadvertently funny: > Google’s been working hard to relive everyone’s fears...
- nocman 7mo agoI came here to say something similar. I somehow doubt there's a team at Google dedicated to roleplaying the nightmares of all living people :-D When I saw your user name, I was like "I wonder if that's the C++ s11n guy", and sure enough, confirmed it by viewing your profile. Glad to see you're still alive and kickin' -- hope you are doing well, despite life's challenges.
- sgbeal 7mo ago>"I wonder if that's the C++ s11n guy" That's a name i've not heard in ages. That project was abandoned back in 2012 or so for lack of interest on all sides. The domain and site were sold back in 2014-ish to someone who blatantly misrepresented themselves as wanting to keep that piece of internet history online, but turned out to be a SEO operation which only wanted it because the domain had a decent reputation with Google. Lesson learned. > Glad to see you're still alive and kickin' -- hope you are doing well, despite life's challenges. Thank you and right back at you!
- AlBugdy 7mo agoWhat's the phone OS landscape now? What can someone who values their agency and wants FOSS choose? * iOS - walled garden, so no * Android: * * with a Google account and Play Services - a bit less of a walled garden, but still no * * Android without Google: * * * GrapheneOS - root or adb not supported, so no * * * LineageOS - (edit: root or adb not supported, so no - just learned) seems like a viable option although it seems like it depends on Google's development of Android and keeping it FOSS. How's the situation with security updates? Which phones would you recommend? I don't count Samsung or whatever crap as they're generally quite user-hostile. * Linux - IIRC only PMOS supported FDE. Is that still the case? Are there are good Linux phones? I tried PinePhone a few years ago, but it was crappy. The OS also lacked basic features like new windows showing up inside the screen. * anything else?
- Hasslequest 7mo agofairphone support for pmOS is improving. What DE were you using? It was probably just slow on the pinephone. librem 5 is also an option. It is sorta expensive and weak but is the most capable. https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices right now im on calyxos but development has been paused for like a year
- AlBugdy 7mo agoIt was a long time ago, so I don't remember. Phosh or Plasma. I tried to like Sxmo, but it was really unintuitive, unlike tiling WMs on Linux. Fairphones seems OK, although for €549 I'll probably stick to a dumb phone and invest in a better laptop for now. I'm not saying it's too expensive for what it is, though - it's still a tiny computer with all kinds of periphery. I just wish there was a version with a shitty camera for €50 less or with no Bluetooth for €10 less - you get the idea. Interestingly, when I went to https://www.fairphone.com/shop-home https://www.fairphone.com/shop-home the prices for the headphones were lower for a few seconds and got higher afterwards. €186.75 -> €249 €74.25 -> €99 while the phone price remained the same. Both are increases of 33.(3)%. Probably a script that determined my location and added a VAT.
- KetoManx64 7mo ago
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- scuff3d 7mo ago[flagged]
- direwolf20 7mo ago[flagged]
- tomhow 7mo agoPlease don't fulminate on HN. The guidelines make it clear we're trying for something better here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- scuff3d 7mo agoI try to be fair minded, but some things warrant strong reactions in my opinion. Journalists shilling for corporations exerting more control over a platform they already have too much control over is one of them. The mods or whoever are welcome to remove my comment if they think it's too far out of line.
- throwaway81523 7mo agoI thought that even after the 24h wait, you will have to go through some annoying dialog to install (or maybe even update) anything not from the play store. So installing from F-droid will become an obnoxious process. Even worse if updates also become obnoxious. F-droid often wants to update several apps at once, so I click "update all". If that becomes multiple dialogs, that sucks.
- branon 7mo agoHow will the transfer occur? I'm assuming via Google account? So this is vendor lock-in to an online account being sold as a way to "win" against a problem _created_ by said vendor? I would prefer a per-device wait time and I sincerely hope a Google account will not be a hard requirement. I didn't consider this initially. Google is in the process of stealing the shirts from our backs and selling them back to us. Whoever wrote this article is drinking the kool-aid. This should NOT be presented as a positive thing. Some of us use Android without a Google account and would still like to sideload.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- inxode 7mo agoBring back keypad based phones with J2ME, they were way too fun.
- Havoc 7mo agoWe hereby grant you a conditional right to install software on the device you "own", subject to conditions, and terms, but only under certain circumstances and only so long as it pleases us. Modern handheld computing is such a shitshow...
- p0w3n3d 7mo agoYeah, to me android is another Linux machine. I can change the date and for the device it's tomorrow. At least should be. What then? Will it accept the apk I just installed because it's tomorrow? Or reject because of no lease token from the one-almighty-Google? Or maybe it won't work at all when offline even with offline apk?
- plausibility 7mo agoIf I was a hostile phone OS designer, I would make it use the time reference given by nearby cell networks, GPS, or an RTC in the motherboard rather than the local clock. That’s closer to ‘true’ time if you want to make sure a day has actually passed.
- p0w3n3d 7mo agoYeah but android runs on a number of devices that have no GPS and network. Car radios, tablet etc. Location can be turned off too
- fsflover 7mo agoSo Google proved that Android is not Linux. Time to switch to actual (GNU/)Linux phones? Sent from my Librem 5.
- 28304283409234 7mo ago"hand held computing" indeed.
- IshKebab 7mo agoCome on, this is a totally reasonable approach that should help a bit with high pressure scan tactics but doesn't really hurt side-loading. As long as they keep it like this. The existence of the "only allow side-loading for 7 days" option is definitely worrying.
- NooneAtAll3 7mo agostep 1: make situation very bad step 2: make situation tiiiny amount better step 3: proclaim this as "a win" ...really?
- schubidubiduba 7mo agoBig companies have gotten scaringly good at manipulating the media and general public to avoid many people getting too angry at the same time.
- nabogh 7mo ago> Google's latest concession makes the sideloading controversy a big nothingburger. It's really not. Try to realise that it's not meant to be Google's phone and they shouldn't be "letting" me do things
- Taterr 7mo agoNone of the comments here seem to discuss or even mention how this situation looks from googles perspective? I feel like HN readers are not aware of the scale of the problem they face or their motivation behind these changes. If you look at the rate of growth of the call/text scam industry I think it's entirely possible that android owners are getting scammed out of more money than google themselves makes on the android platform as a whole. It's at least not that far off. Which doesn't even account for the humanitarian issues which they probably feel partially responsible for.
- schubidubiduba 7mo agoWhy does nobody ever think of the poor megacorporation? I mean maybe you're even right and they care a little bit about people being scammed. But if you believe that the scamming thing is any more than a pretense for further establishing Google's absolute control over the Android ecosystem, that is just very naive. Their goal is to make money. Apps installed outside of Google mean less money for them. Ergo, consumer's right to install what they want on their devices must go.
- Taterr 7mo agoI understand usually the megacorporation is simply being anti-consumer with these kinds of changes, and who knows maybe this is the same. But I think this might be an actual exception. They seem to be actually implementing a lot of high effort scam protection features recently in android so unless they did all of that just as an excuse to make side loading harder then they've fooled me. https://security.googleblog.com/2026/02/strengthening-android-lead-in-scam-protection.html https://security.googleblog.com/2026/02/strengthening-androi... https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/safety-security/how-were-using-ai-to-combat-the-latest-scams/ https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/safety-secu... For more context, the the "reason" they're increasing the friction in sideloading is to prevent one extremely specific scam where someone instructs you over the phone to download a malicious android app, which then steals your banks 2 factor verification code from your notifications and sends it to the scammers. The 24 hour limitation does seem specifically designed to prevent that so I'm inclined to believe them.
- Razengan 7mo ago"Government gives citizens a win by allowing them to breathe air."
- bitwize 7mo agoVery, very good news everyone! Google has agreed to only gently fuck us in the ass! They were even kind enough to offer to use lube!
- bedrizzled 7mo agoKey point from the article: > ADB would be unaffected, and any power users who needed to install an app straight away could always connect their Android device to a computer and use ADB commands to manually install - no delay at all. So in practice this won't be an issue for anyone tech-savvy who uses their Android device with apps outside of the Play Store, as they can simply install through the ADB mechanism via a separate device. It can even be done using WebUSB. However, the many, many people worldwide who lack such technical knowledge, and are more susceptible to being scammed via malicious app installs because of it, are still protected by this new process Google are introducing.
- lucb1e 7mo agoI would agree, but - accepting that they take the finger now makes me worried about the rest of the hand - it seems like a complete strawman argument: I have never heard of anyone getting scammed by being guided through system menus to enable app installations and then downloading and installing an apk from the scammer, as opposed to just going to the play store and installing e.g. teamviewer - apps are already a pain about users with access to their own devices. If they can somehow detect that you're in "advanced flow" mode... that's going to be a real joy and further discourage/scare away people from using this - my current understanding of the finger they've given us is that it does not include publishing apps via the play store and outside of the play store unless you change the app ID. One signing key is bound to one app ID when the developer does the verification to be in the Play Store and their code is not installable after compiling by an independent party. F-droid still can't exist in its current form
- goku12 7mo agoTwo steps forwards and one step backwards in the never-ending march to dytopia and you celebrate it as a show of your generosity and benevolence! I don't know who you're trying to fool. But I'm certainly interested in finding out, because that person must be both naïve and incredibly powerful if you think that it's worthwhile to pull off a public charade like this.
- tsoukase 7mo agoThe first thing I do with any new phone is to enable developer mode. If it is weekend, I will use adb to sideload, if not, I will do it in next weekend as I don't have much time at workdays. In any case the sideloading will be done on the same day as now. Problem solved.
- slim 7mo agothey will make you wait 1 week to enable developer mode
- Ms-J 7mo agoWhat is this steaming pile of shit? Android and Google are bending their customers over a table and ramming it into their asses. If a device doesn't allow the user full control, then it isn't your device. You are renting it from a duopoly that will bend over backwards to give all your data to the government! Also selling it to other corporations. It is no excuse that an extremely small amount of ancient people over 85 who have never used technology in their life got scammed by some foreigner who worked them over for a full day or two. That will happen regardless of whatever immoral restrictions are placed on our devices. If you aren't smart enough to use the tech, don't use it.
- wisplike 7mo agoMaybe Im a conspiracist but it seems there is a recent concerted effort to lock OS platforms down. Just last week apple added an age verification system to uk iPhones. No legal req. as far as I can tell
- Ms-J 7mo agoPlay store is the largest distributor of spyware and viruses for Android. Not even a small fraction of a percentage of scams come from installing software normally, but only from Google Play store.
- lpcvoid 7mo agoYeah. I had to remove malware from family phones because they installed the wrong "QR Code Scanner" out of the trillions of copies on the play store, which contained malware that somehow replaced the launcher on a Samsung phone and then showed ads all over the place. The Play store is fucking malware, Google services are malware, and the family member now uses a Pixel 9a with GrapheneOS which makes normie phone usage riskless and clean again. Fuck Google for Gaslighting us all with this Sideload change.
- Imustaskforhelp 7mo agoI really like f-droid in this case because I can be so much more sure about using an app there than from play-store > Play store is the largest distributor of spyware and viruses for Android. I think all companies are taking part in somewhat of a double-speak. Meta is lobbying for child safety and so many other things. I feel like they really can't come up loud and say what exact reasons they are doing this (for locking down Android) and thus have to use this as an excuse. It's all smokescreens and mirror to a certain degree.
- miki123211 7mo agoThey are (primarily) doing it because a few governments asked / forced them to. THe scams you see in the iPhone-heavy US are very different than the scams you see in other places.
- LorenDB 7mo agoOh man, my grandpa also had an app replace the launcher on his phone! I forget what exactly it was pushing but needless to say it's been removed.
- 7mo ago
- animuchan 7mo agoI despise how this incredibly user-hostile move is spun in the title: "Google just gave Android power users a huge sideloading win", as if it was a good thing that Google did for some portion of its users. That's such a blatant, incredibly damaging lie, on all levels, that it's probably called journalism at this point.
- em-bee 7mo agothis is awesome! because i get a new phone every week, this will save me so much time. WAT? how is that even better than the ability to skip the wait time? you are right, i am not seriously bothered by the wait time, i'd just activate it on a new phone, wait a day and be done with it. i have had to wait two weeks to unlock a xiaomi phone, so this is not that of a big deal. (besides i am not going to be affected anyways because i use a custom rom, but that's besides the point. let's assume i will be affected) who changes their phone so often that being able to carry over the setting to skip the wait is a win? i am embarrassed that i fell for this article, believing that there would actually be a genuine improvement to sideloading.
- metalman 7mo agoGuggle et all, are starting to panick, as the whole adversurvielance scam is unraveling, there is NO concievable end game. The surviving frogs, having been cooked en mass are getting ready to spontainiously evolve, AI is destroying vulnerable peoples ability to make descisions and the knock on effects as basic infrastucture erodes while costs spiral and actual knowledge is lost, but AI will be cheering them on by telling them walking and chewing gum are seperate activities that should be scheduled sequentialy after rest periods.
- phendrenad2 7mo agoGoogle is going to keep tweaking this because they have two conflicting goals. They want to cut off alternative app stores where they don't get their 30% cut, and they absolutely do not want to push people to other operating systems like graphene etc. They need it to be very high friction to accomplish the former, but if they make it too high-friction they'll trigger the latter. It's a catch-22, and they're going to dither in an infinite loop.
- codethief 7mo agoHow is that setting supposed to carry over if I don't even have a Google account on my phone? And even if I disregard that for a moment, what's up with the author being a mouthpiece for Google? > Google's latest concession makes the sideloading controversy a big nothingburger > Opting out is going to be even less of a problem than we thought > This afternoon, Google’s Matthew Forsythe shares some answers to questions he’s gotten about the minutiae of how this process all works — and he’s got some very, *very* good news for us. (emphasis theirs) > Doing that once with every new phone already sounded perfectly manageable. But now Google clarifies that even that won’t be necessary, with the opt-out able to be transferred as we upgrade phones. That is maybe just the best news we could have gotten here, and hopefully it’s enough to calm everyone down about the sideloading-sky falling.
- underlipton 7mo agoThey're tightening the noose. Fight, or lose computing sovereignty forever.
- 46493168 7mo agoI’m only marginally aware of how these systems work, can someone more knowledgeable tell me the difference between Google’s implementation of this restriction and the restrictions already present on GrapheneOS? Is it correct to say that both are implemented for security reasons?
- andyjohnson0 7mo agoOne thing I've never been able to understand about this new sideload "flow" is whether it will be applied to older devices, or just from some (future or recent) version of Android. Does anyone know?
- deaux 7mo ago> Google's latest concession makes the sideloading controversy a big nothingburger Ah yes, having to now send in a government ID to publish apps on the Play Store is a "big nothingburger". Kindly piss off, megacorp bootlicker Stephen Schenck.
- akimbostrawman 7mo ago"Just log into our online account" is not a concession at all. This sideloading drama is laughable anyways since the bigger issue should be there rootkit access and appstore monopoly.
- ottah 7mo agoThis is still unacceptable.