[HN Gopher] Google just gave Android power users a sideloading win
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Google just gave Android power users a sideloading win
Author : croemer
Score : 34 points
Date : 2026-03-28 20:28 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.androidauthority.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.androidauthority.com)
| croemer wrote:
| Google clarifies that this status can carry over to new devices,
| so you only ever have to go through it once.
| b112 wrote:
| Which 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 wrote:
| If 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).
| izacus wrote:
| This change was never relevant for devices without Play
| Services.
| silisili wrote:
| Thanks for stating in one sentence what this slop article
| danced around for 10 or so paragraphs.
| Pooge wrote:
| There is no _win_. They are winning 50-0 and they just scored an
| own-goal; so what?!
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| Can't agree with you enough.
|
| They're still moving the Overton window on making Android a
| walled garden. They're playing a longer game.
| xt00 wrote:
| How 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 wrote:
| It'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.
| andrewaylett wrote:
| Given 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 wrote:
| Why 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 wrote:
| Don't you know? If one elderly person gets scammed we all
| deserve to be infantilized.
| benoau wrote:
| (nevermind that the scams are extraordinarily likely to
| come through Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon)
| fluidcruft wrote:
| The scams are likely to some from outside Play. In the
| US, these scams don't run because iPhone is the dominant
| platform and side loading in iOS is not possible. In the
| rest of world they are widespread.
| benoau wrote:
| Outside Play, on YouTube or via Google Ads for many of
| them. Likewise for Meta ads.
| RedComet wrote:
| Wouldn't it be something if, given all the surveillance
| already in place, law enforcement punished the scammers
| instead of the innocent?
| yesbut wrote:
| can't wait until this is just completely bypassed and we can
| ignore Google again.
| idle_zealot wrote:
| There'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 wrote:
| Motorola 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 wrote:
| Motorola with GrapheneOS has all the same failings of any
| other custom ROM.
| catlikesshrimp wrote:
| WTF 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 wrote:
| Hopefully other vendors will adopt GrapheneOS like Motorola is
| prepared to.
| hagbard_c wrote:
| You 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 wrote:
| Do you run a custom ROM? I can't imagine bothering with the
| hassle of running a vendor OS without signing into Play.
| sgbeal wrote:
| When typos are inadvertently funny:
|
| > Google's been working hard to relive everyone's fears...
| AlBugdy wrote:
| What'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 - 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 wrote:
| fairphone 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
|
| right now im on calyxos but development has been paused for
| like a year
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(page generated 2026-03-28 23:00 UTC)