this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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Chocolate Factory describes concession as an attempt to balance openess with safety

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[–] Th4tGuyII@fedia.io 3 points 1 hour ago

Wow, a real win here...

Have to enable developer mode, have a miniature interview, restart and reauthenticate on my device, THEN still have to wait an entire day just to install an app that Google hasn't approved.

That's not just friction, that's a brick wall!

Google can get stuffed if they expect me to believe that's for user safety, considering the amount of blatant malware and adware is already on the Playstore, threatening their user's device safety.

[–] Aether_Well@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 hours ago

Google: Pull your pants down. Bend over and grab your ankles. Hold that position because this is going to take a while.

[–] who@feddit.org 14 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

The process is designed to create friction. Users must first enable developer mode in system settings. They then need to confirm that they're not being coerced. After that, they need to restart their phone and reauthenticate. And then they need to wait one day.

I hope this little interview is entirely on-device. It would be terrible if installing apps of our choice on our hardware required any contact with Google (even in the background).

[–] lemmysmash@beehaw.org 1 points 3 hours ago

On device? While google services are present there? In this universe?

[–] buckykat@hexbear.net 22 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

so-far

EDIT:

The process is designed to create friction. Users must first enable developer mode in system settings. They then need to confirm that they're not being coerced. After that, they need to restart their phone and reauthenticate. And then they need to wait one day.

Fuck all the way off, google

[–] IDew@lemmy.zip 7 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

You can probably bypass the 1 day wait time by changing your system time but they really want you not do it

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 hours ago

That's really unlikely

[–] doleo@lemmy.one 13 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

"Scammers rely on manufactured urgency, so this breaks their spell and gives you time to think." - Are these scams actually a real thing? I've never heard of such a thing happening, but I'm not well connected to things like people and their experiences.

it strikes me as another manufactured concern, to justify their malignent ambitions

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Pig Butchering scams typically would rely on an app for the the "investing" portion of the scam. They use apps that are in the google play store, because that comes with a belief of some level of (completely false) security and legitimacy for people that don't know better which makes people more likely to believe it is a real investing app and not a trap.

Edit: I'm not aware of any of them trying to get people to side-load apps. The average scammer is likely not able to go through the hoops required to get a random person to successfully side-load an app on Android... I am fully against this move from google on all levels, the idea that it is for security is a blatant lie. Google is doing this for control over our devices. Android, by default, blocks side-loading already without going deep into settings to enable "install unknown apps".

[–] jello@programming.dev 7 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

It definitely is a thing, especially for the elderly. I'm not sure what percentage of scams are done that way, but it's much easier to scam someone if they don't have a chance to think much about what's happening.

That being said, most of the scams I know of that do this don't ask you to install an app on your phone. They just ask personal questions or for login details or something like that

[–] doleo@lemmy.one 4 points 3 hours ago

most of the scams I know of that do this don’t ask you to install an app on your phone

ok, so what has blocking 'unverified' developers got to do with protecting people from scams, then? To be clear, I'm not asking if scams exist, I'm asking if scams that ask people to install dodgy apps exist. I'm extremely sceptical about this part!

[–] gnuthing@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

On PC they'll have the user install TeamViewer. I'm assuming there's some scammers that might do this for phone

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

Even if they did, TeamViewer isn't a sketchy app only distributed through back-alley websites...

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

The process is designed to create friction. Users must first enable developer mode in system settings. They then need to confirm that they're not being coerced. After that, they need to restart their phone and reauthenticate. And then they need to wait one day.

Waiting one day is totally unreasonable. However, I don't mind turning it on in developer settings.

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 hours ago

The slippery on that slope is there are already banking and government apps that refuse to work if your phone has enabled developer options.

[–] cheat700000007@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago

Balance *user acceptance with *control

[–] ISOmorph@feddit.org 8 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Chocolate Factory describes concession as an attempt to balance openess with safety

I describe the concession as an attempt to balance ending user agency with public backlash

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago

I have a sideloaded program that hooks in as an accessibility app. Several times a week android asks me to review the programs access. Its maddening how far they go to shit on user choice.

[–] org@lemmy.org 2 points 3 hours ago

Android is a joke.

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I think I would call this a win. Can't imagine life without reVanced.

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

Unfortunately, it's not a win, mostly because enough people will think it is and stop thinking about it, let alone talking about it or pushing back.