Motorola has Graphene OS soon.
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Is no one realizing that apps still have to register and ID themselves? It says that apps limited to 20 people or less won't need to. At least the phrasing lends itself to that suspicion.
Stop fucking calling it sideloading. It is called installing an app
So it's on the same scale as buying a gun in the states.
I didn't realise it was so dangerous.
Not quite. The majority of states have no waiting period to buy a gun and there's no federal law, either.
Oh. It's more dangerous than a gun then!
Political power grows from the barrel of f-droid
It's so weird that they don't take comments on the android developer blog post... Almost like they think it'll be hugely unpopular.
Google is the epitome of living long enough to become the villain.
They changed their "don't be evil" motto years ago. I guess they must have kept two thirds of it.

How does this affect my Galaxy S10 from 2019 which hasn't seen an update in years? I suspect it doesn't. Not trying to be a smartass — I know I should change it out for something like an A25 that is still supported and probably a little faster, but I have this and it still works.
Well do you
Nothing wrong with sticking with something that works fine
To those who think it is a fair compromise: It is not.
Android already had one layer of this shit before. When installid freshly dowloaded apk, android would prompt you to confirm that the source of the apk is trusted. This was not like this before. Before you'd just install apk.
And I agree to a certain amount. But thing is, it was added for no specific reason. People who install apks form outside source, will keep doing it and they 99% of the time know what they are doing or being told to do so by someone who knows what they are doing.
Adding another layer to this wont solve the problem, except make users annoyed for 24h wait time. And this is only adding 1 layer now. Who the fuck knows what is going to be 1 year later. 5 years later?
The thing is, people who do it and trust others to say, “just do it” - are the crazy ones.
It’s like the bs Tech Talk in TikTok. Always telling you to run RegEdit and such… oof.
A one day wait period to install an app on your mobile pocket computer. Fucken bullshit.
Edit: to all the "its one time" defenders, its one time for now. Stop falling for it. It always starts with an inch.
It used to be no time at all. You could just do it. From that perspective they’ve already taken a mile.
I mean, it always starts with an inch but what people dont get is that compared to the 2000's we are a mile deep and compared to rhe 80's we are already in a dystopia.
google doing their best to make me move to a different platform for my next phone.
anybody know of other options?
Linux phones are about to get interesting.
I've heard that 15 years ago
Same with what we were hearing about the Linux desktop!
...yet here we are in 2026 and literally all my desktops have since become Linux, lol.
15 years ago the world wasn’t looking for a maliciously compliant escape route.
Unfortunately, I don't think most people are too interested even now. The masses that buy phones and make it profitable aren't aware of things like this or even give a shit. Any time I bring something up with friends and family it gets shrugged off. Realistically Linux phones are going to be fringe unless they can offer something up to the masses that is attractive to them.
Hope I'm wrong.
It feels that it is either Linux phones, or Fairphone, or GrapheneOS. We are somewhat fucked.
I don't think anything other than degoogled Android is mature enough to recommend. And it looks like degoogled androids might extinct soon.
What makes you say Degoogled Android might go extinct? Projects like LineageOS and GrapheneOS are still going strong. /e/OS, murenaOS, VollaOS and other similar phones have been coming out of the woodwork recently. I think DeGoogled Android is just getting started.
That is, unless, you mean Google is working hard to close down AOSP so the downstream DeGoogled projects don't function anymore? Then yeah, I sadly have to agree.
Google seems to start cracking down on free android, I don't really believe they want to just stop the ability to install apps on your regular android and be done with it. Once they get the taste for blood, they can't stop
In these scenarios, scammers exploit fear – using threats of financial ruin, legal trouble, or harm to a loved one – to create a sense of extreme urgency. They stay on the phone with victims, coaching them to bypass security warnings and disable security settings before the victim has a chance to think or seek help.
Does this actually happen? Or they just trying to manufacture consent to all this bullshit?
Do calls like that happen? Unfortunately, yes.
Is it a reason to lock down and enshittify every computing platform, every OS, every Internet-connected device until we own nothing, control nothing and can't install what we please?
It's an age old tactic of manipulation to start with something true, exaggerate the threat, and apply it everywhere possible.
How about a 24 hour waiting period for me to harden my OS before Google slurps up all my data.
I teach digital literacy and 99% of unsavory software I encounter on people's phones come from the play store or app store
I will believe that they're serious about protecting users when I see them do something about the crap ton of borderline scam solitaire and weather apps infesting their stores
This would make sense if google play store wasnt full of malware. Scammers dont need you to sideload malicious apps they just get you to download it from the play store.
While I understand that Google probably hasn't provided the answers yet, I have two questions about this. First, will I need to setup a pin for my devices? I don't normally use any form of a lock screen on my devices and I'd prefer to continue not having them but I know from personal experience that some android devices don't allow you to remove the lock screens after you set them up.
Second, during the 24 hour waiting period, is the device still usable? I know this might sound like a stupid question but Google's vague wording has me wondering.
Remember when you used to own shit? Wow. This is beyond fucked. Right now, it’s “one day”. But this is only because they got a shit load of backlash for disallowing ALL installing software without their permission. They WILL enact it. They’ll just wait until people are used to this. Then they will disallow it all.
Sideloading < Aka avoiding the monopoly app store with your own device
it's very clear we have to escape Android and Google entirely, there is no other option.
Please donate to PostmarketOS if you have the means, it gives us a true alternative that is completely community owned, it just needs our support to become polished and to add support for more phones.
We have to support software that's still made for us. While we still can.