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Items tagged with: Android


BTW
there is no reason you shouldn’t have full access to your #computers. there is also no reason whatsoever you shouldn’t install software you’ve developed or is developed by sources you vetted and trust.

this is a post about the (micro)computers in your pockets and purses that are marketed under the moniker of “smart phone”.

don’t matter if it’s an #iOS #iPhone or an #Android #Pixel: they’re #microcomputers.

we should have full access to and use of their hardware & operating systems.


Today's #AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid brings you 19 updated and 2 added apps:

* Network Switch: enables you to toggle between 4G and 5G network modes 🛡️
* Screenlite Web Kiosk: a simple Android kiosk browser app that displays web content in full-screen mode 🛡️

RB status: 705 apps (53.9%)

5 #Magisk modules have been updated at apt.izzysoft.de/magisk

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


I'm writing this post here today in hopes to bring some attention to something that is near and dear to my heart, and that's an update to the current situation with Nova Launcher, that I worked for and with for nine years up until August of 2024.

For those that haven't seen the news, Kevin Barry, the founder and developer of Nova has left Branch which in turn means he's now no longer involved with Nova Launcher in any way going forward.

teslacoilapps.com/nova/solong.…

For the past year or so Kevin has stated that he was working on the open source version of Nova Launcher so that if/when this time came, it would be out in the open and the community could take it over and contribute to it and have it continue being developed.

However, it seems that Harish Thimmappa and others at Branch had told him to stop working on that effort as they didn't want him to continue doing that for unknown reasons. This is sad news because this was something that former CEO, Alex Austin, had promised both via a contract and publicly that if Kevin were to ever leave Branch, Nova Launcher would become open source. You can find that quote here:

reddit.com/r/Android/comments/…

and another very similar quote with similar conversation here:

reddit.com/r/Android/comments/…

The reason for this post is to try and draw some attention to the folks at Branch, specifically folks like Harish Thimmappa to do the right thing and honor these promises and any writings in the contracts from 2022 and to fully focus on releasing Nova Launcher as an open source app.

The community deserves this more than anything, since that was something that Kevin was very adamant about when he allowed Branch to acquire Nova Launcher back in 2022. Plus, this is just something that Branch should do since it is something that has been promised.

There is currently a petition on Change.org to try and get Branch to do this as well. After only 3 days of it being posted to Change.org, it sits at almost 1,500 signatures, and that's with very little to no press coverage at this time, which is something that would be super useful to bring full attention to this situation. You can find the petition here:

change.org/p/make-nova-launche…

I ask that everyone who sees this post can share it with their followers as I would love to see Branch do the right thing and follow through with their promises that were made back in 2022 when they acquired Nova Launcher and release it fully as an open source app now that Kevin is no longer working for Branch and not involved in Nova Launcher.

I'm going to tag some folks below that I worked with at Branch in hopes of getting this post seen by as many folks there as possible.

#NovaLauncher #Nova #Branch #BranchMetrics #OpenSource #OpenSourceNova #Petition #Android #Apps #Google


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 16 updated and 3 added apps:

* WiFi Audio Streaming: stream audio over your local network, Android 2 Android and even desktop 🛡️
* Open Notes: a simple and intuitive note-taking app 🛡️
* BikeBridge: a companion for your e-bike and components 🛡️

And of course Neo Store now with integrated download stats 😃

RB status: 703 apps (53.8%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 16 updated and 1 added apps:

* CoMaps - Hike, Bike, Drive Offline with Privacy (added on request of its developers; not yet RB)

Enjoy yourr #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 14 updated and 1 added apps:

* Umihi Music: a lightweight Material YouTube Music player 🛡️

RB Status: 700 apps (53.7%)

1 #Magisk module has been updated at apt.izzysoft.de/magisk

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


Is it possible to allow sideloading *and* keep users safe?


shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/is-it…

In which I attempt to be pragmatic.

Are you allowed to run whatever computer program you want on the hardware you own? This is a question where freedom, practicality, and reality all collide into a mess.

Google has recently announced that Android users will only be able to install apps which have been digitally signed by developers who have registered their name and other legal details with Google. To many people, this signals the death of "sideloading" - the ability to install apps which don't originate on the official store0.

I'm a fully paid-up member of the Cory Doctorow fanclub. Back in 2011, he gave a speech called "The Coming War on General Computation". In it, he rails against the idea that our computers could become traitorous; serving the needs of someone other than their owner. Do we want to live in a future where our computers refuse to obey our commands? No! Neither law nor technology should conspire to reduce our freedom to compute.

There are, I think, two small cracks in that argument.

The first is that a user has no right to run anyone else's code, if the code owner doesn't want to make it available to them. Consider a bank which has an app. When customers are scammed, the bank is often liable. The bank wants to reduce its liability so it says "you can't run our app on a rooted phone".

Is that fair? Probably not. Rooting allows a user to fully control and customise their device. But rooting also allows malware to intercept communications, send commands, and perform unwanted actions. I think the bank has the right to say "your machine is too risky - we don't want our code to run on it."

The same is true of video games with strong "anti-cheat" protection. It is disruptive to other players - and to the business model - if untrustworthy clients can disrupt the game. Again, it probably isn't fair to ban users who run on permissive software, but it is a rational choice by the manufacturer. And, yet again, I think software authors probably should be able to restrict things which cause them harm.

So, from their point of view it is pragmatic to insist that their software can only be loaded from a trustworthy location.

But that's not the only thing Google is proposing. Let's look at their announcement:

We’ve seen how malicious actors hide behind anonymity to harm users by impersonating developers and using their brand image to create convincing fake apps. The scale of this threat is significant: our recent analysis found over 50 times more malware from internet-sideloaded sources than on apps available through Google Play.


Back in the early days of Android, you could just install any app and it would run, no questions asked. That was a touchingly naïve approach to security - extremely easy to use but left users vulnerable.

A few years later, Android changed to show user the permissions an app was requesting. Here's a genuine screenshot from an app which I tried to sideload in 2013:

A terrifying list of permissions.

No rational user would install a purported battery app with that scary list of permissions, right? Wrong!

We know that users don't read and they especially don't read security warnings.

There is no UI tweak you can do to prevent users bypassing these scary warnings. There is no amount of education you can provide to reliably make people stop and think.

Here's the story of a bank literally telling a man he was being scammed and he still proceeded to transfer funds to a fraudster.

It emerged that, in this case, Lloyds had done a really good job of not only spotting the potential fraud but alerting James to it. The bank blocked a number of transactions, it spoke to James on the phone to warn him and even called him into a branch to speak to him face-to-face.


Here's another one where a victim deliberately lied to their bank even after acknowledging that they had been told it was a scam.

Android now requires you to deliberately turn on the ability to side-load. It will give you prompts and warnings, force you to take specific actions, give you pop-ups and all sorts of confirmation steps.

And people still click on.

Let's go back to Google announcement. This change isn't being rolled out worldwide immediately. They say:

This change will start in a few select countries specifically impacted by these forms of fraudulent app scams, often from repeat perpetrators.

September 2026: These requirements go into effect in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. At this point, any app installed on a certified Android device in these regions must be registered by a verified developer.


The police in Singapore have a page warning about the prevalence of these scams. They describe how victims are tricked or coerced into turning off all their phone's security features.

Similarly, there are estimates that Brazil lost US$54 billion to scams in 2024 (albeit not all through apps).

There are anecdotal reports from Indonesia which show how easily people fall for these fake apps.

Thailand is also under an ongoing onslaught of malicious apps with some apps raking in huge amounts of money.

It is absolutely rational that government, police, and civic society groups want to find ways to stop these scams.

Google is afraid that if Android's reputation is tarnished as the "Scam OS" then users will move to more secure devices.

Financial institutions might stop providing functionality to Android devices as a way to protect their customers. Which would lead to those users seeking alternate phones.

Society as a whole wants to protect vulnerable people. We all bear the cost of dealing with criminal activity like this.

Given that sideloaded Android apps are clearly a massive vector for fraud, it obviously behoves Google to find a way to secure their platform as much as possible.

And Yet…


This is quite obviously a bullshit powerplay by Google to ensnare the commons. Not content with closing down parts of the Android Open Source Project, stuffing more and more vital software behind its proprietary services, and freezing out small manufacturers - now it wants the name and shoe-size of every developer!

Fuck that!

I want to use my phone to run the code that I write. I want to run my friends' code. I want to play with cool open source projects by people in far-away lands.

I remember The Day Google Deleted Me - we cannot have these lumbering monsters gatekeeping what we do on our machines.

Back in the days when I was a BlackBerry developer, we had to wait ages for RIM's code-signing server to become available. I'm pretty sure the same problem affected Symbian - if Nokia was down that day, you couldn't release any code.

Going back to their statement:

To be clear, developers will have the same freedom to distribute their apps directly to users through sideloading or to use any app store they prefer.


This is a lie. I can only distribute a sideloaded app if Google doesn't nuke my account. If I piss off someone there, or they click the wrong button, or they change the requirements so I'm no longer eligible - my content disappears.

They promise that Android will still be open to student and hobbyist developers - but would you believe anything those monkey-punchers say? Oh, and what a fricking insult to call a legion of Open Source developers "hobbyists"!

I hate it.

I also don't see how this is going to help. I guess if scammers all use the same ID, then it'll be easy for Android to super-nuke all the scam apps.

Perhaps when you install a sideloaded app you'll see "This app was made by John Smith - not a company. Here's his photo. Got any complaints? Call his number."

But what's going to happen is that people will get their IDs stolen, or be induced to register as a developer and then sign some malware. They'll also be victims.

So What's The Solution?


I've tried to be pragmatic, but there's something of a dilemma here.

  1. Users should be free to run whatever code they like.
  2. Vulnerable members of society should be protected from scams.

Do we accept that a megacorporation should keep everyone safe at the expense of a few pesky nerds wanting to run some janky code?

Do we say that the right to run free software is more important than granny being protected from scammers?

Do we pour billions into educating users not to click "yes" to every prompt they see?

Do we try and build a super-secure Operating System which, somehow, gives users complete freedom without exposing them to risk?

Do we hope that Google won't suddenly start extorting developers, users, and society as a whole?

Do we chase down and punish everyone who releases a scam app?

Do we stick an AI on every phone to detect scam apps and refuse to run them if they're dodgy?

I don't know the answers to any of these questions and - if I'm honest - I don't like asking them.



  1. Post by @Gargron
    View on Mastodon


    ↩︎


#android #google #rant #scam


"Sideloading" is the rentseeker word for "being able to run software of your choosing on a computing device you purchased". There is no reasonable case for an operating system developer having a say over what programs you run on your hardware.

#Android #Google



I upgraded to a Pixel 10 Pro because the promos made it super cheap for me—and honestly, Pixelsnap (Qi2/MagSafe) without a case. I disable all the AI features I can on my Google Account, so none of that new stuff interests me, but there *are* a handful of new things I’ve seen literally nobody mention in “reviews” or sales pages. I’ll compile them here in this thread for anyone interested.

#MadeByGoogle #TeamPixel #Pixel10 #Pixel10Pro #Android


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 12 updated and 2 added apps:

* FlorisBoard: the stable version of the popular customizable keyboard 🛡️
* VMPK for Android: the Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard is a MIDI events generator simulating a MIDI controller 🛡️

RB status: 699 apps (53.6%) (4 failed builds still pending)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


Blind Android users, are you able to type into the calculator app with Braille? Like, can you type numbers and operators and press enter to have them calculated? #braille #android #blind


I bought an #Android 4.3 tablet (#Alcatel onetouch, 18 £). Sure it is outdated but is sufficient. I found several great apps via #fdroid and transferred them via Bluetooth (saved as txt) from my current phone to the old tablet (tablet certificate expired, need to update this). Is there any resource to find more apps in the meantime? I looked at #izzyondroid a bit.

@IzzyOnDroid do you have be chance a filter for the minimum Android version I missed in the web interface?

#android43 #FediHelp


#linux but also #android question: are there any good apps/utilities for switching between different #wallpapers? I'm currently using a script I wrote for my laptop but if there was an existing, maintained utility (or even better a #GNOME app!) for this that'd be great :3

#advicewanted #helpwanted #boostswelcome


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today with 16 updated and 1 added apps:

* Fluffy: a lightweight file manager for phones, tablets, and Android TV 🛡️

RB status: 697 apps (53.6%)

3 #Magisk modules were updated at apt.izzysoft.de/magisk

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


So what? Whoever wants (near) full control doesn't run stock #Android but a decent #CustomROM such als #LineageOS and its derivatives (/e/OS, iodé and more), and runs FOSS Apps as far as possible.
What #Google does? I couldn't care less.


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 11 updated and 2 added apps:

* Hacker's Diet Offline: track your weight and excercise and get a weighted moving average of your weight's change over time 🛡️
* Media Collection: helps you easily catalog and manage your personal blu-ray and dvd collection, including movies and TV series 🛡️

RB status: 696 apps (53.5%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


Re last: I absolutely agree, but doesn't #Apple do the same all this time? #Google #Android


"Sideloading" is the rentseeker word for "being able to run software of your choosing on a computing device you purchased". There is no reasonable case for an operating system developer having a say over what programs you run on your hardware.

#Android #Google


***** Google's plans to restrict sideloading on Android are an authoritarian wet dream come true *****

Let me be really clear about how horrifically dangerous #Google's plans are to restrict #Android sideloading to "verified developers" (that is, entities for which Google has full verified identity and associated information that they could hand over to authorities on demand).

This means that even though you own your Android device, you cannot install apps obtained from ANY source (except perhaps apps you build yourself that will only be permitted to run on your own device) unless Google knows pretty much everything about who created that app.

The ways that this could be abused are so numerous I won't even start listing them here, other than to note that it is absolutely horrific overreach by Google and at least appears to be Google bending over for abusive government demands, and could put already vulnerable individuals and groups at even more risk.

Absolutely disgusting.

L



#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 11 updated and 2 added apps:

* Flicky: an FDroid client with a TV friendly UI 🛡️
* Reef: your ultimate productivity companion, designed to help you stay focused, manage app usage, and minimize distractions 🛡️

And this cleanup run is over, so no more apps removed.

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:



#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 9 updated apps and 1 new – AntiFeature (oops?)

Well, y'all know the NoSourceSince, when an app's repo has disappeared entirely and you no longer can expect any updates. There's a precursor to that: when an app's repo gets archived, there won't be any updates either – but chances are it gets unarchived again.

So we introduced SourceArchived, to let you easily filter them out.

Enjoy the #IzzyOnDroid repo & its #Android #apps :awesome:


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 17 updated and 1 added apps:

* Cerberus Tiles: adds essential Quick Settings tiles and app shortcuts to Google Pixel phones 🛡️

RB status: 692 apps (53.3%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:

Cleanup continued as well (more on that later). So once more, 5 outdated & unmaintained apps have been removed…

(1/2)


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 20 updated and 1 added apps:

* ImapLocate: Track GPS position in an IMAP account 🛡️

RB status: 690 apps (53%)

7 #Magisk modules have been updated at apt.izzysoft.de/magisk

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 16 updated and 1 added apps:

* ExifEdit: a simple Android EXIF Editor (change the modification date, edit the coordinates, delete all EXIF data) 🛡️

RB status: 688 apps (52.8%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:

Cleanup progressed, tool, 5 apps have been removed today:

* SpaceXFollower: was added before we knew that Elo 🙊 💨 I mean, unmaintained since 2021, author gone 2023, almost no downloads

(1/2)


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today with 12 updated and 1 added apps:

* PlayOnDlna: lets you play YouTube videos ad-free on DLNA players in your local network 🛡️

RB status: 688 apps (52.6%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:

PS: our repo overhaul goes on. Next to sending hundreds of PRs with Fastlane trees upstream (a task long overdue), some other dead bones got buried:

(1/2)



#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 9 updated, 2 added, and 2 removed apps:

+ DrawAnywhere: lets you sketch, annotate, and highlight directly on top of any screen 🛡️
+ Volume Manager: lets you control each app's volume independently 🛡️
+ added on Friday: NeoDB You, a Material 3 client for NeoDB 🛡️
- BlenderRemote: unmaintained since 2021, lots of nonfree stuff
- RiMusic: on request by author

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:



Since we published our blog post on the future of Accrescent, donations have increased dramatically.

According to the rates in that post, we should now be able to fund full-time development through at least May 2026!

Thank you to our community for your monumental support!

Because of you, we can dedicate ourselves fully to our mission of building a modern Android app store focused on security, privacy, and usability.

If you want to read the original blog post: blog.accrescent.app/posts/the-…

Or if you want to see our plans: blog.accrescent.app/posts/prog…

#accrescent #security #privacy #android #appstore


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today with 18 updated and 3 added apps:

* Piggsy: piggy bank designed to help you save money and reach your financial goals 🛡️
* OpenSEPTAmap: all SEPTA rail and trolley lines in an Android app (Philadelphia area) 🛡️
* Driftly: lets you save your daily attendance and analyze them 🛡️

RB Status: 684 apps (51.9%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:

(1/2)


Today is the day! Read all about our development progress, view our roadmap for the future, and check out the new projects we're releasing as open source in our new blog post!

blog.accrescent.app/posts/prog…

Check out our new repositories:

github.com/accrescent/android-…
github.com/accrescent/director…
github.com/accrescent/director…
github.com/accrescent/ina

#android #security #privacy #accrescent #appstore



#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 14 updated and 1 added apps:

* Paperless NGX Uploader: uploads a single document to Paperless‑NGX directly from the system Share menu 🛡️

RB status: 681 apps (51.4%)

2 #Magisk modules have been updated at apt.izzysoft.de/magisk

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:



#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today with 12 updated and 2 added apps:

* QuickSE: helps you manage SELinux mode with ease (root needed) 🛡️
* Sobuu: track books reading and organise your readings (account needed currently; guest access planned) 🛡️

RB status: 680 apps (51.3%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 11 updated and 2 added apps:

* Compete: a place where people can improve themselves in a positive way while having a lot of fun 🛡️
* Stario: a minimalist, decluttered launcher 🛡️

RB status: 678 apps (51.2%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome: