Sideloading restrictions or removal in future, how it effects fdroid?

1

recently there is rumour or fact about sideloading
apps in android 14. google is making mandatory
of minimum api or os version for all apps on
google play store [ gps ] and perhaps it will give
toast message [ warning ] initially and in
future it might altogether deny installation. perhaps, android is taking
route of apple (my assumption: we cannot install
from third party sources).

i am not expert or have sufficient knowledge on
this issue. i am more worried about google
restrictions. my favourite 2 apps are struck:
webapps [ devs simply stated its not worth to
switch language ] and termux [ restrictions on
executables ].

if i am correct, android now permits other than
gps for installation of apps.

now my concerns:

  • how does this effect apps installed by fdroid?
  • does google will deny installation if minimum
    api or os version is not met?
  • it will enforce restrictions similar to gps?

jindam, vani

2

ref: https://www.xda-developers.com/android-14-block-outdated-apps/

3

Are there any plans to add an anti-feature for apps with a low target sdk version?

Malware often targets older API levels in order to bypass security and privacy protections that have been introduced in newer Android versions. For example, some malware apps use a targetSdkVersion of 22 to avoid being subjected to the runtime permission model introduced in 2015 by Android 6.0 Marshmallow (API level 23).

From Behavior changes: all apps  |  Android Developers

If an app hasnā€™t been migrated in 8 years, it probably doesnā€™t receive any security updates.

4

If an app hasnā€™t been migrated in 8 years, it probably doesnā€™t receive any security updates.

I donā€™t think thatā€™s true. The F-droid client itself is still regularly updated, but it still targets Android 7.

5

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

7

1.19 will filter out incompatible apps afaik, so those under targetsdk 23 for Android 14 or so.

8

From what Iā€™ve read Android 15 will have more restrictions for sideloaded apps.
Will F-Droid have any issues with Android 15?

9

It will be fine.

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10

As far as I understand, these new restrictions only affect sideloaded apps, not apps installed via the Session Installer (ā€œfrom app storesā€).

So the restrictions would only affect the F-Droid client app, and only if you manually download it from a browser and install it, not if it comes preinstalled with your ROM. Apps installed by F-Droid are not affected.

Also, the permissions that are restricted are quite powerful (accessibility, device admin, etc). Not having them should not affect core app store functionality in a meaningful way. So F-Droid client should be fine. And even then, Google has still left an escape hatch (ā€œAllow restricted settingsā€).

Source: Android 15 cracks down on sideloaded apps even harder to protect users - Android Authority

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11

More interestingly, Android 15 brings some new APIs that F-Droid client could look into (nice-to-have, nothing urgent):

2 Likes
12

hello all, i know no better place to ask, but there is this new api thing made by google for android, but i cannot find much info about it.
this thingā†“

my questions is:
how does this affect f-droid and its apps?
how will i install apps fron f droid and the f droid app itself?
how will i install unsigned apps from github and such, if i couldnā€™t install a signed version by an app signer for example?

maybe a bit offtopic, but theres tool apps for circumventing earlier versions of similar concepts-does it look possible by now?

14

@unacceptium topics merged. Kindly scroll through the topic to get more details mate.

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15

Ok say Google disallows ANY side loading of apps (download from browsers) what ways could FDroid circumvent this?

I donā€™t mean using it as a store, Iā€™m talking about ways it could it be installed in the first place if Google doesnā€™t allow any option or work around in the future?

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16

Itā€™s highly unlikely that Android will remove sideloading entirely. Android has had sideloading forever. I doubt Google will remove it now, expecially given the current regulatory climate in the EU (think Digital Markets Act, see Complying with the Digital Markets Act (caution: link to Google))

17

You donā€™t think itā€™s yet another matter of one small change or simple restriction at a time?

I mean, technically Android has went the continuous direction of more restrictions, than almost any other direction I can think of.

18

It couldnā€™t.

Really the answer is in your question. If it disallows installing, then installing is disallowed. If that becomes the case then people who donā€™t want to use Google Play store will have to look for another platform. Maybe /e/ or DivestOS, or Postmarket OS.

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19

Update to what I said above:

So the restrictions would only affect the F-Droid client app, and only if you manually download it from a browser and install it, not if it comes preinstalled with your ROM. Apps installed by F-Droid are not affected.

Now that Android 15 is out, some Graphene users have indeed reported issues with granting FindMyDevice certain permissions. When FMD is installed from F-Droid (and the app details in the OS settings show F-Droid as the install source), Android blocks the restricted settings and users need to manually allow it.
See Permissions Ā· Wiki Ā· Nulide / FindMyDevice Ā· GitLab.

So either the earlier Android Authority posts were wrong. Or Google has changed it in the meantime to not allow it for apps installed via the session installer anymore. Or something else is happening (maybe F-Droid isnā€™t using the session installer??).

Just dumping this here, if someone else wants to investigate.

20

Weā€™ve had these since Android 13, whatā€™s new? They extended it for more permissions you mean?

And when you install this app from Play you donā€™t need the extra steps?

F-Droid Client already use the Session installer for a while now.