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And therefore paving the way to even more malware in their very own ecosystem: "Users who visit this site are asked to take a series of steps similar to what’s

And therefore paving the way to even more malware in their very own ecosystem: "Users who visit this site are asked to take a series of steps similar to what’s required with downloading the Amazon Appstore standalone app. That is, they have to request a link to the app download, then change their device’s security settings to allow for its installation." Brilliant!

akount 12y ago
But not allowing that would be blocking all third party installs - one of the good features on Android.
- dollaaron 12y ago
  It's a great feature for people who know what they're doing, but you probably don't want all Android users to allow third party installs- it just opens people up to too much risk.
  - benologist 12y ago
    There's no risk. You still have to find APKs to install, if you download from official sources there's no higher risk than downloading from app stores. Amazon's been recommending + allowing it for years, along with every operating system for decades.
    - Aldo_MX 12y ago
      At least in my country (Mexico), the advertisements in several ad networks like AdSense often contain malicious code which redirects you to a website telling: "your version of WhatsApp is outdated, please update to the current version", and after a countdown (or the click of a link), it downloads a malicious apk to your phone. I'm completely disappointed, since too many websites use AdSense, and sometimes I can't even check a website, because the redirection is too aggressive. I understand that the people behind these shady advertisements use aggressive cloaking (ex. only injecting the malicious redirection when you are under a mobile network) to avoid being discovered.
    - _lce0 12y ago
      if you download from official sources there's no higher risk than downloading from app stores. There are tons of malware that ask for shady permissions on Google's app store.. ala battery optimizer -- why Google expose people to such crap?
1ris 12y ago
This is a feature, not a bug.
magicalist 12y ago
That's what you had to do to use Amazon's app store within an app as well: > Instead, the first time a user tried to download an app, they were prompted to “enable downloads” if they haven’t already adjusted their Android phone’s security settings to enable downloads from outside of Google Play. Amazon’s app also walked users through these steps making the entire process very simple. So if you want to use Amazon's app store, either before or now you'd have to turn on "Unknown sources" for app installs. This doesn't change that.

akount 12y ago

But not allowing that would be blocking all third party installs - one of the good features on Android.

dollaaron 12y ago
It's a great feature for people who know what they're doing, but you probably don't want all Android users to allow third party installs- it just opens people up to too much risk.
- benologist 12y ago
  There's no risk. You still have to find APKs to install, if you download from official sources there's no higher risk than downloading from app stores. Amazon's been recommending + allowing it for years, along with every operating system for decades.
  - Aldo_MX 12y ago
    At least in my country (Mexico), the advertisements in several ad networks like AdSense often contain malicious code which redirects you to a website telling: "your version of WhatsApp is outdated, please update to the current version", and after a countdown (or the click of a link), it downloads a malicious apk to your phone. I'm completely disappointed, since too many websites use AdSense, and sometimes I can't even check a website, because the redirection is too aggressive. I understand that the people behind these shady advertisements use aggressive cloaking (ex. only injecting the malicious redirection when you are under a mobile network) to avoid being discovered.
  - _lce0 12y ago
    if you download from official sources there's no higher risk than downloading from app stores. There are tons of malware that ask for shady permissions on Google's app store.. ala battery optimizer -- why Google expose people to such crap?

1ris 12y ago

This is a feature, not a bug.

magicalist 12y ago

That's what you had to do to use Amazon's app store within an app as well: > Instead, the first time a user tried to download an app, they were prompted to “enable downloads” if they haven’t already adjusted their Android phone’s security settings to enable downloads from outside of Google Play. Amazon’s app also walked users through these steps making the entire process very simple. So if you want to use Amazon's app store, either before or now you'd have to turn on "Unknown sources" for app installs. This doesn't change that.