Those who complain about iOS being a "walled garden" should understand why Apple doesn't allow sideloading.
We already know. It's because Apple wants their 30% cut, you fuckin' dunce.
What makes Apple think they're the only ones who can "keep their users safe" from malware? Google can't do it just as well? Amazon can't? Samsung? Sony? Wal-Mart? F-Droid? Plenty of malware on the Apple app store.
I don't know why this is news. Most consumer Android phones, Google's included, require you to acknowledge a warning before the ability to sideload is enabled. Their stance has always been "at your own risk, we don't recommend it" and we always just laugh and say "okay, whatever dude" before we do it anyways.
we always just laugh and say "okay, whatever dude" before we do it anyways.
The thing is for people who aren't used to modding and you try to side-load a random cool app on their phone (or somehow they end up doing it themselves) they might be frightened and may even cancel the installation.
What he really means is “we want to take your freedom away and lock you into our proprietary ecosystem so we can mine all of your data and extract as much profit from you as possible”
I agree with him. If you don't know what you are doing and just blindly install something off the Internet, it's a security concern. I would not recommend that most users side-load apps, either. You have to remember that this crowd is not representative of the average user.
Just don't take the option away from those of us who do know what they are doing.
“We’re trying to strike a balance. Apple’s iPhone only allows the App Store, but we believe in choice, so on Android we allow you to sideload and install additional applications.”
I'm so conflicted about it. I don't want people to have to suffer for intentionally or unintentionally installing garbage on their phones, but I can't let that take away from how I use my device as well.
Google Chrome isn't on the Microsoft Store on Windows or macOS Store on macOS. Should I stop "sideloading" it according to his advice?
Yes, actually no one on this planet should be using Chrome or any proprietary browser when superior FLOSS alternatives like Firefox and LibreWolf exist.
Fuck you Pichai, fuck you Google, fuck you Big Tech. I'm not doing what you are telling me, I'm not using your crappy proprietary services that are built to spy on everyone, I'm not watching your shitty advertisements, I'm definitely not giving you any of my data. I hope your piece of shit company goes bankrupt and you end up on the street, that's where you belong to. I'm not a slave of your totalitarian system, I'm free to choose where I download my software and what software I want to run on my devices. I do everything to avoid your surveillance capitalism, I use FLOSS software wherever I can. Your business model is a piece of trash, it will inevitably fail at some point. I am sure that you will try to do everything to mislead the public and to get them to believe your lies, but not everyone is as stupid as you would like them to be.
Yeah and it feels like there's a "study" coming out every other month how many hundreds or thousands of apps on the playstore are filled with spy- and malware, I'd think that can also "really compromise your safety, very significantly." So 🤷♀️
If we're not careful there will be a new generation of users who have no concept of "apps" at all, and will conflate sideloading (or anything 'not authorized') with an illegal process.
Id rather become a hermit than pay for and give up all my privacy like these assholes want. Boycott everything, enough is enough. Even grocery companies are gouging us with record profits.
Hope there will be movement from some governments to forbid having no choice about store for apps.
I don't know about iPhone but is there really no other way but apple store to install app? Apart from jailbreaking? If so I am concerned nothing has / is already been done about forcing their stores on users.
There is already one in the EU. Regulation just passed a while ago, will be in effect in March. Windows is getting a less shitty EU version because if it for example.