• MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    They want developers to share their IDs to have their apps on the play store. The limited groups is so hobbyist developers can still share apps without having to jump through those hoops and so the users don’t need to go and enable sideloading, with the caveat that there’s a call on how many users you can send it to it looks like.

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      That’s already the case. The new thing is that they want developers to share their ID to have their apps be installable on Android in the first place, even if they don’t use the Play Store.

      • Arcadeep@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I wonder if this is a direct result of apps like ICE watch or ones that track billionaire planes and stuff

        • iSeth@lemmy.ml
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          9 hours ago

          Google did just say they’re “…leaning more into military contracts…” or something…

        • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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          6 hours ago

          From what angle is it easy to do?

          • Enable developer mode (using a hidden process where you have to know where to find it)
          • Go through a scary form
          • Restart the device
          • Wait 24 hours?!
          • Go to the settings again
          • Do some more scary confirmations
          • Check another scary checkbox
          • And then… confirm again every single time you install an app

          And you are telling me it’s easy to do? I can go publish a diet tracking app and Aunt Flo will happily go through this and I won’t lose customers?

          • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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            32 minutes ago

            I feel like if someone knows what an .apk is and where to download them, they’ll also know how to search for how to install them