A little bit overkill to use a dependency to just show a dialog. I agree that Google ia making Android less and less free with every new release, but show a damn dialog, no need to use this.
I don't think this meets the bar for copyrightable code. Copyright protects creative expression. Displaying a single dialogue does not take creative expression, and pretty much any developer given the task would produce code identical to this.
google seem to have the multi-pronged attack on android devs going on atm. They are seemingly trying to take down as many apps and dev accounts as possible.. Anyone know why?
1. doxx yourself of they kill your account
2. re-build every app with pointless newer api version literally every year or it gets taken down.
3. Push an update or a new app or they kill your account.
..
My guess is enshittification, some random exec is trying to save a few pennies in server and storage costs.
..
I'd also say that google makes so much money from ads and data-brokering that everything else they do is not vital for their survival and thus undergoes a sort of "genetic drift" where they just make random decisions.
Here's what I think Google should do: I really like the Work Profile feature. It essentially sandboxes Work from personal and it adds nice little briefcase badges to mark apps that are in the Work Profile.
Another solution might be to to add an optional Uncertified Profile that if turned on allows unregistered apps but sandboxes them and marks them with a "dangerous" badge. That might ensnare these trojans and malicious apps that pose as legit. That might be enough to scare grandma and let people who know what they are doing do what they want.
Although, frankly I'd just prefer google just made a "Secure Profile" to keep bank apps and other high-security apps away from everything else.
Wouldn't it be nice if, in this time of feeding our IDs to the machine, there would be someone who would also offer some nice and easy way to identify ourselves digitally? Maybe someone who sits on all that unverified advertisement tracking data already and somebody who has an AI agent to feed?
Again, technological measures against this kind of attacks on ownership rights fall short and are probably what conglomerates want since it keeps the tech people busy in a self-satisfying "fight" against the big corporation.
I wonder how badly Google's shenanigans will affect sales of new Android devices too. I've been looking to buy a foldable at some point, but I'll have to make entirely sure it won't be of an effectively broken (too new) Android version.
Didn't Google say that they're gonna provide an escape hatch for students and hobbyists? So, best case scenario, we just need to tap some label 5 times to enable side-loading again.
We have different definitions of an "escape hatch". A user is not an IT specialist. Ordinary people need unobstructed access to lifeboats.
Apple allows developers to self-sign a handful of apps (exclusively from source!) with short-lived certs - it's a complete PITA to maintain a simple app for personal use, and you still need an account. Google is heading in the same direction.
If the intention was to make it easier to spread the word, you've already failed.
Anyway, this whole library should have been a copy-pastable snippet for a dialog or toast (what's with the duplicate code?); the only value added is the translation, which most app devs already have a pipeline for.
The code part is so trivial that I suspect it doesn't even meet the legal bar for copyright protection in many jurisdictions.
> Anyway, this whole library should have been a copy-pastable snippet for a dialog or toast
People under-value copy-pasting. I'd rather copy/vendor a thousand lines of code (with license+credit intact) than add it as a dependency.
I'm working on a side project, and needed a CPIO library for Go. CPIO is a fixed thing, a good implementation is "done". U-root[1] has a really decent implementation, so I've vendored 2500+ lines of code, as otherwise I'd have to (indirectly) depend on almost 700.000. Great value.
All this has me wondering: what's the future of chroot-based tools like proot-distro? No app store here, just PPAs. Can largely run whatever the hell I want, provided it's distributed for the OS I'm currently running.
Nice timing. I’d probably just ship a simple in-app dialog instead of a whole dep, but the message matters. For non-root users, will ADB + “Unknown sources” remain the escape hatch once the new checks roll out?
> Google has announced that, starting in 2026/2027, all apps on certified Android devices will require the developer to submit personal identity details directly to Google. Since the developers of this app do not agree to this requirement, this app will no longer work on certified Android devices after that time.
I don’t have any hope that this will sway Google, but at least the users are being warned.
GPLv3 seems like a quite restrictive license for such a project. I would assume they want that note to be spread everywhere and while about user's freedom, the freedom for that code may be less relevant.
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[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 53.6 ms ] threadI don't think this meets the bar for copyrightable code. Copyright protects creative expression. Displaying a single dialogue does not take creative expression, and pretty much any developer given the task would produce code identical to this.
1. doxx yourself of they kill your account
2. re-build every app with pointless newer api version literally every year or it gets taken down.
3. Push an update or a new app or they kill your account.
..
My guess is enshittification, some random exec is trying to save a few pennies in server and storage costs.
..
I'd also say that google makes so much money from ads and data-brokering that everything else they do is not vital for their survival and thus undergoes a sort of "genetic drift" where they just make random decisions.
How much MB (kb?) does this dependency add to apk?
But we don't have anything like FF as an alternative to go from Android. Especially considering banks require "certified OS".
Another solution might be to to add an optional Uncertified Profile that if turned on allows unregistered apps but sandboxes them and marks them with a "dangerous" badge. That might ensnare these trojans and malicious apps that pose as legit. That might be enough to scare grandma and let people who know what they are doing do what they want.
Although, frankly I'd just prefer google just made a "Secure Profile" to keep bank apps and other high-security apps away from everything else.
I'm sure everybody would profit from that...
https://blog.google/products/google-pay/google-wallet-age-id...
You need legislation.
Some things to advocate for to counter the direction we've been going in.
1. Termination of WIPO Copyright Treaty (prerequisite for #2)
2. Repeal of DMCA. (primarily because of Section 1201)
3. Enact and enforce, Right to ownership, Right to repair laws.
4. Enforce antitrust laws. / Break up monopolies
I wonder how badly Google's shenanigans will affect sales of new Android devices too. I've been looking to buy a foldable at some point, but I'll have to make entirely sure it won't be of an effectively broken (too new) Android version.
Apple allows developers to self-sign a handful of apps (exclusively from source!) with short-lived certs - it's a complete PITA to maintain a simple app for personal use, and you still need an account. Google is heading in the same direction.
If the intention was to make it easier to spread the word, you've already failed.
Anyway, this whole library should have been a copy-pastable snippet for a dialog or toast (what's with the duplicate code?); the only value added is the translation, which most app devs already have a pipeline for.
The code part is so trivial that I suspect it doesn't even meet the legal bar for copyright protection in many jurisdictions.
People under-value copy-pasting. I'd rather copy/vendor a thousand lines of code (with license+credit intact) than add it as a dependency.
I'm working on a side project, and needed a CPIO library for Go. CPIO is a fixed thing, a good implementation is "done". U-root[1] has a really decent implementation, so I've vendored 2500+ lines of code, as otherwise I'd have to (indirectly) depend on almost 700.000. Great value.
[1]: https://github.com/u-root/u-root
I don’t have any hope that this will sway Google, but at least the users are being warned.
"Avoid Google. Don't buy Google products, especially their phones."
Money is the corporate language, especially for Big Tech, which is always several steps ahead of legislation.