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
That's rich when the Google Play store is full of malware while F-Droid is full of gems.
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.
Here is a link to detailed descriptions of the recommended apps from fdroid.
Use whichever you like, but this is a good starting area:
https://lemmy.world/post/108566
https://alternativeto.net/list/28655/the-ultimate-f-droid-setup/
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.
Google's ADS as a whole are malicious. Try Google drivers or TeamViewer and the first sponsored links are malicious/adware. It's absolutely shocking.
I added ublock origin into my clients GPO to protect myself from viruses. Msoft just as bad if not worse since we are all using their products to be protected from.
F-Droid changed my life
It's awesome!
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 @pluralistic@mamot.fr had gone with a less scatological term. But maybe that is part of the reason it caught on 🤷🏻♀️
@technology@lemmy.world
In court: “Google isn’t a monopoly because we allow sideloading!”
Outside of court: “Don’t sideload. It’s dangerous and terrible!”
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.
I would say " well now I will", but I already do this
Now I'm going to do it even harder!
Basically everything outside fdroid is riddled with trackers and ads so no, thanks
Recently Android added another scary "malicious" warning to the already numerous scary dialogs if one tries to install F-Droid. The "Install anyways" button also became hidden in the "More details" menu.
It's not just F-Droid, it's any app.
This has been the final straw for me to fully de-google my life.
F you Google, Play, etc.
Currently setting up my next phone with no googlage.
aka "Please only ever buy things off the Google Play store"
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.
stfu pichai
I do what I want. I'm eating Mac and cheese and nobody can stop me!
Ironically, I see articles every month telling android users to uninstall a slew of shit malware apps that were on the play store. Thanks Pichai, but I'll take my chances with more reputable sources.
So they argue that they want to protect users... from epic games? Like they are going to make a virus filled app? I kinda agree people need to be protected from fortnite, but its kind if a silly disingenuous argument.
I don't have the Play Store on my phone. F-Droid (Droidify), Aurora Store, Obtanium, and Accrescent.
You know what I think I'm going to side load even harder
AOSP is open source. Better STFU, Sundar.
I really can't wait until we have a Linux-Mobile OS which supports android apps rather than having an entire fucking operating system running on java.
Running your OS on java is like building your house on quicksand.
Java is only the languages some apps are programmed in. There is no JVM in android. And no, the OS does not run on Java.
Both GNOME & KDE already have builds you can do this with. E.g. Mobian, which uses a lot of the work Purism has done with PureOS, is working to make even default Debian work. You can install Android apps with Waydroid, and install it on Android devices like Pixel, OnePlus, in addition to Linux native devices.
sundar shut the fuck up
Fuck up Pichai
So does the OS. It’s done that from the beginning, but it doesn’t prevent it outright. Who gives a shit?
That article is... very confusingly written. Anybody got another source with a direct, full quote?
I've became used to enabling the play store only when I want to update or install certain specific app. I just leave the play store disable, so I don't get updates for each an every app that I might not even use.
I just wish there was a way to do this without having to browse the apps menu and find the play store each time.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
