Comment by BatteryMountain
1 month ago
If the make sideloading high-friction, either via account-bound or apk upload or permissions from MNO/ISP, I will leave android. I have a bunch of my own apps that only I use, not released to the public, if I cannot use them, I have zero reason to stay on android.
I think one of the reasons they want to lockdown the system is to prevent guys like me from locking THEM out of my home/ecosystems, as and example, I build my own launchers, specifically for TCL TV's, which runs Android TV and has Developer Mode + adb. Which means I remove all the bloat & ad garbage, which they want to prevent.
We will get to the point where google will remove your ability to set custom dns servers and only use theirs.. just wait & see friends.
Anywhoo, when this side loading fence materializes, I will jump ship to apple.
Why jump to another abuser when you could seriously start looking into alternatives? Ubuntu Touch has a really active community and it's very stable, you can even emulate android apps which you might absolutely need.
I don't see Apple as the obvious next step; the obvious step, when one is pissed off with abuse of power is open source, not Apple.
Can I install my banking apps? Is there a Google pay equivalent?
As much as I want open source, I really don't think it's there yet for most people.
> Can I install my banking apps?
Choose a bank with viable web banking.
> Is there a Google pay equivalent?
It's called a debit/credit card.
11 replies →
Yeah, as an iOS dev, the grass is not greener on this side of the fence…
The point isn't that things are better on this axis on iOS, but that things are better on numerous other axes, to the point where many people are only using Android at all because it feels slightly more open and free than iOS... if Google wants to play Apple's game, then the only reasons to bother with the mess that is Android are gone, and so you'll see people switch to iOS.
Eventually the only reason people will use Android is the same reason people are using Windows now -- mandated by their employer or by being forced into the bottom cost-tier of products.
And the experience will be just as user-hostile with no end in sight.
From that I can see from the early leaks, it may actually be if you live inside of the EU where alternative app stores are now a requirement.
iOS doesn't have the F-Droid ecosystem equivalent, but she F-Droid dies because of Google, there's a chance AltStore will be able to take its place.
It's not, but at least it will be equally ungreen.
Sideloading is already worse on iOS
Why to apple?
Seems like you'll still be able to use your own apps just fine under this scheme.
It also seems pretty obvious that the ignorant phone-users of the world who get scammed are the reason for this change. The revenue lost from people like you is really not worth any amount of engineering effort.