Re: Paid apps

Andy Burns wrote on Wed, 2 Oct 2024 20:32:37 +0100 :

Let's hope Google hasn't messed with this, as I don't even have the Google
Play Store package installed

 Seems sensible that they have side-loading turned off by default, but beyond that I don't want google deciding what I can or can't install.

I agree, as I don't think Google will turn off what you call side loading
(and which I refer to as "normal loading"), especially as the phone works
just fine without the Google Play Store app installed (as I install from
the Google Play Store repository every day without the Google Play Store
app involved).
So I'm not worried that Google will make normal loading impossible; they'll
just make it extra button presses so that it can't be done accidentally.
What I am worried about is Google wants developers to provide only the code
for a specific device and not for all devices, which bothers me because I
save all the APKs I download and re-use them on plenty of phones over time.
But if the package downloaded from the Google Play Store repository is only
for, oh, say, a Samsung with the MediaTek CPU, it might not work on, oh
say, a Samsung with the Qualcomm CPU.
Since all my Android APK downloads and installs are done from Windows, I
have started to prefix each APK with the origin, e.g.,  google_app.name.apk
 fdroid_app.name.apk
 githug_app.name.apk
Where the Google ones will be suspect if they're only for my specific type
of phone. They may or may not work on, oh, say, a Pixel, whereas the other
two will work (as I always download the larger universal apk from Github).