Android @lemdro.id Nemeski @lemm.ee 10mo ago

Apps can now block sideloading more easily and force downloads through Google Play

www.androidauthority.com Apps can now block sideloading more easily and force downloads through Google Play

The Play Integrity API has made it easier for apps to check whether you installed or bought them from Google Play.

93 comments

Well that's an easy fix. I just won't use those apps.
- So no banking apps for you? I agree that this is shit, but pretending we are not hit by this is not helping.
  
  Also, I don't really use banking apps anyway because they already pull similar shit and I can get around it. For now.
  
  Fortunately so far I haven't come across a bank here in the Netherlands that wouldn't work because my phone was rooted or because I'm running grapheneos. Hope it stays that way too.
  
  Correct. I've never used banking apps in the first place anyway. If my bank doesnt have a functional website then I would change banks.
  
  And i say this not to be difficult or contrarian. I just really hate using apps for every business in existence and simply refuse to do so. Yes I have absolutely sacrificed convenience on many occasions due to this principal.
  
  Is there any reason anyone would want to use an out of date banking app?
  
  Banking on the phone is absurd concept that I will never use
Not a single app on my phone was installed through Google Play, it's all Aurora. Guess if apps really do this i'll just have to stop using them, cause I'm not installing the play store.
- I wish i can degoogle my phone but its a few months old so no rom support and its a samsung :<
  
  this is the reason phone selection for me is based on what it supports.
  
  but samsungs are ruled out anyway. their service centers desttoys your phone if you have asserted your ownership of it, their software is way too unnecessarily complicated (not the part you see, but the low level part that complicates the flashing process), and they are generally a garbage company.
  
  Samsung isn't one of the best for roms. Anyway you could stop using it while you port Lineage OS
  
  How is it being a samsung making things worse? I've never flashed a samsung phone before so I may be very wrong, but isn't unlocking the bootloader easy?
  
  And now that I think about, does samsung have their own system file format or something? Is that the issue?
What if I sideload purely to downgrade a bugged app? Just seems like yet another kick in the teeth by Google.
- Google's only providing the option, it's up to individual devs to enable it on their app. If the app developer has chosen to block sideloading, then they probably have a reason for going out of their way to do so. Whatever you find that reason to be should inform your decision whether or not to continue using their app.
  
  Their reasons mean nothing. It's my device. I shouldn't have to worry about an application installed on my device being policed because the developer got a hair up their ass about people downgrading.
  
  The phrase "more secure" is becoming meaningless as it keeps being used as a blanket excuse for literally every user hostile change.
  
  Explain to me what would be the good reasons McDonald's has to block their app from running on a rooted device because it doesn't pass SafetyNet or whatever Google is calling it now
- I thought you could not downgrade non-debuggable apps?
  
  But you can uninstall them and install a lower version
  
  You can always uninstall and install an older apk.
  
  without uninstalling. that had a reason, safety, as apps are often not prepared to handle their "future" (relatively) config files and data formats
BOOOOO!

YOUR DECISIONS ARE BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.

google, not op
- they'll just wipe their tears each with anotherbank note.
  
  you know what we need to do? to cook them alive on the public square!
  no, not directly because of this. it's been long overdue.
time to demand apps in other repositories. Bonus if it's f-droid compatible
Aw shit, it says this is supposed to detect when an app's binary has been tampered with... That means it's probably gonna be used to block stuff like ReVanced. I hope they can find a way around this that doesn't require root.
- Nah, revanced will just patch that out too!
- I guess Revanced would eventually have a patch to skip this check. It can already spoof the client and such, why not this as well. I hope so
The whole tech world saw Microsoft Palladium as a nightmare scenario, but was quiet ten years later when Apple and Google did the same thing to our phones. That was a mistake.
- Maybe everyone was just OK with mobile devices being locked down heavily from the start, and now it's more or less the same level for most
  
  We had several years of Android that mostly wasn't. Now it's hard work to get Android that isn't.
Can we also sue Google for the same shit as apple? Sideloading isn't enough.
Google Play IS my "sideloading" app repository.
Some paid apps actually prevents the user from using it if it's not paid from Google play
- Are you suggesting such an app can be purchased outside Google play but not used?
  
  Having an app check a license server isn't exactly new. Google play is simply a third party license server.
  
  No, but you can download the APKs anyways. Which is most likely exactly why this is being implemented. I doubt many developers of free apps are going to turn this feature on.
- Kinda makes sense. A paid app on Google Play is a license to download the .apk file(s). Then a user could make copies, and without DRM, it'd be the same situation as with copyrighted movies and whatnot.
  
  I'm not saying I support them, it's just that they are like this for a reason
That's fine I rarely download apps that want to be on the Play store anyway

93 comments