IMO, this headline is at best overly optimistic.
Based on this feedback and our ongoing conversations with the community, we are building a new advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified. We are designing this flow specifically to resist coercion, ensuring that users aren’t tricked into bypassing these safety checks while under pressure from a scammer. It will also include clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved, but ultimately, it puts the choice in their hands. We are gathering early feedback on the design of this feature now and will share more details in the coming months.
↫ Matthew Forsythe Director at the Android Developers Blog
It sounds exactly like what MacOS does - very annoying but not really preventing anyone willing to install app that’s not notarised.
It’s been a while since I’ve used MacOS, but isn’t the process for allowing apps roughly comparable to enabling apk install rights on Android?
There is an option to do that from command line but for a regular user it’ll be:
- Open the app, get warned that it wasn’t notarised, default option is to move it to Trash
- Go to Settings -> Privacy which will now show an option to whitelist this specific app
- Open the app again, confirm with password
I believe I used the command line when I last used MacOS, that’s the option that came up when I did a search for only getting apps outside of their store.
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I’d still count this as a win because realistically you wouldn’t be able to do anything about Google going with the original plan. For normies there’s no alternative other than Apple which is even more restrictive regarding iPhones.
this is precisely why they gaslight us in the first place 😔
