Google says “power users” can “still install” unverified apps. Here’s what that actually looks like:
Delve into System Settings, find About Phone
Tap the build number seven times to enable Developer Mode
Dismiss scare screens about coercion
Enter your PIN
Restart the device
Wait 24 hours
Come back, dismiss more scare screens
Pick “allow temporarily” (7 days) or “allow indefinitely”
Confirm, again, that you understand “the risks”
Nine steps. A mandatory 24-hour cooling-off period. For installing software on a device you own.
Worse: this flow runs entirely through Google Play Services, not the Android OS. Google can change it, tighten it, or kill it at any time, with no OS update required and no consent needed.
It won’t be a problem on a de-googled phone. Get it running LineageOS or GrapheneOS. Then install F-Droid (and probably Aurora store too). Some Google junk won’t work, but you’ll soon be more limited by having Google services on your phone than not having it.
If one looks at the supported devices pages (which I do regularly hoping that it supports mine) it’s easy to see that 99% of devices on the market simply can’t use them.
https://keepandroidopen.org/
Google says “power users” can “still install” unverified apps. Here’s what that actually looks like:
Delve into System Settings, find About Phone
Tap the build number seven times to enable Developer Mode
Dismiss scare screens about coercion
Enter your PIN
Restart the device
Wait 24 hours
Come back, dismiss more scare screens
Pick “allow temporarily” (7 days) or “allow indefinitely”
Confirm, again, that you understand “the risks”
Nine steps. A mandatory 24-hour cooling-off period. For installing software on a device you own.
Worse: this flow runs entirely through Google Play Services, not the Android OS. Google can change it, tighten it, or kill it at any time, with no OS update required and no consent needed.
It won’t be a problem on a de-googled phone. Get it running LineageOS or GrapheneOS. Then install F-Droid (and probably Aurora store too). Some Google junk won’t work, but you’ll soon be more limited by having Google services on your phone than not having it.
If one looks at the supported devices pages (which I do regularly hoping that it supports mine) it’s easy to see that 99% of devices on the market simply can’t use them.
Yeah, it’s been getting harder as time goes on. It’s basically only pixels that are supported and still on the shelf.
Worse - that 24 hour timer? You only have a short window of time once it finishes to continue, otherwise you have to wait another 24 hours.
Under the assumption this is a non negotiable thing…
They should at least let you alter the timer if you know you might not be able to
Like if in the post 24h window you know you’ll be busy, let you make it 28h instead of 24h
Also, no autoupdates!
I recently learned that this setting actually persist after migrating to another phone.
that would be only if you chose to backup and restore your android settings