No definitely don’t sideload a YouTube client that doesn’t play ads!
What color do you like? I like Gray.
I like the red one with a pipe
Honestly been steadily becoming less happy with the way Google/Android has been going even since Pichai took over.
Enshittification.
What makes you say that, specifically?
It’s a term coined by Cory Doctorow, Sci-Fi writer and ex-EFF, who has been writing about (tech) monopolies, and in particular monopsonies, and how those types of two sided markets originally grow by given users something they need, often for an artificial low price or even free, until they dominate that side of the market, after which they focus mostly on the other side of the market, in this case advertisers, and step by step, slowly dismantling the reason users originally liked their product… Enshittification.
Doctorow has lots to say, so here’s a link.
Now that the concept has caught on so widely, I’ve often wished @[email protected] had gone with a less scatological term. But maybe that is part of the reason it caught on 🤷🏻♀️
“Ensuckification?”
That’s rich when the Google Play store is full of malware while F-Droid is full of gems.
This is the real truth. Man, the gall of that guy.
Hi, we are a spyware company. Be aware. Don’t load apps that don’t meet our surveillance metrics. Only download our spyware. Thank you.
Screw that guy. How about only sideload. There’s another world out there, and it doesn’t equate to surveillance capitalism.
Is there a good guide on f-droid and sideloading you recommend?
If it is something that Google doesn’t recommend then I should probably be doing it.
All you have to do is download the APK from the F-Droid website and enable installing from third-party/unknown sources in the Settings app (some versions of Android ask automatically when you try to open the APK). I also recommend disabling unknown sources for your browser once you’re done as a security measure.
For F-Droid in specific, you’ll need an F-Droid client. I use Droid-ify (GitHub) (F-Droid) (IzzyOnDroid), but you can use whichever you prefer. F-Droid is a good source for open source apps.
If you’re sideloading from different sources, Obtanium (GitHub) (IzzyOnDroid) is useful to download apps, and keep them updated. You can even kinda use it as an F-Droid client.
Google is pretty lax on what it allows on Google play, so unless you’re trying to avoid using Google services or you want to install apps that aren’t on the play store, you don’t need to do it.
If you want adbocking and extra features in some apps (especially YouTube), check out ReVanced.
Google isn’t lying - there are risks to sideloading if you don’t know what you’re doing. Make sure what you’re downloading is coming from legitimate sources you trust. For example, if you look up ReVanced, some unofficial websites show up which may have malware. Triple check everything is coming from an official source.
I’ve tried downloading some of the games that are on the Play Store for my kids, and by God those apps are cancerous. An ad every 30 seconds and the games are made purely with getting the players to become addicted in mind. Get off your fucking high horse Pichai.
Basically everything outside fdroid is riddled with trackers and ads so no, thanks
If neither Google nor Apple took such a massive rake on the payments, fewer people would take issue with the main app distribution implementations. They have valid reasons for trying to keep you in their ecosystem, but those are severely undercut by taking such a huge percentage.
deleted by creator
yup,just even the word “sideloading” seems like its been custom created to sound shifty and sidewise when all it means is installing something. People would look at you weirdly if told them “sideloading” Photoshop on to your PC was dangerous, but somehow its accepted for phones.
deleted by creator
stfu pichai
Yes, don’t sideload apps. It takes opportunity from us to spy on your usage patterns and enforce ads.
Edit: Oooh, also ignore this other report that we take 70% of your money
That doesn’t say they take 70% of our money. It means that Google spends only 30% of what they take in on the store on operating it, which is very different.
That guy’s got Liz-Truss-level understanding of economics
You know what I think I’m going to side load even harder
sundar shut the fuck up
AOSP is open source. Better STFU, Sundar.
Fuck up Pichai
I would say " well now I will", but I already do this
Now I’m going to do it even harder!
That article is… very confusingly written. Anybody got another source with a direct, full quote?
