AFAIK this only applies within Singapore (not sure if this applies to visiting devices) for apps requesting certain permissions (RECEIVE_SMS, READ_SMS, BIND_NOTIFICATIONS, and accessibility) downloaded outside of app stores (F-Droid is fine) and opened directly on the device (adb install is fine).
You can probably bypass the restriction by just disabling Play Protect if you don't want Google to tell you what you can and cannot install, but I'm not in Singapore so I can't confirm if that will work or not. That said, Google has made it impossible to disable Play Protect while on a call, that's probably a smart move.
Based on this article from the Singapore police, the approach doesn't seem to have helped much: https://www.police.gov.sg/media-room/news/20250417_police_ad...
> In some cases, before downloading the malicious APK file, victims would also be guided to disable Google Play Protect that helps to prevent harmful downloads. Once Google Play Protect is disabled, victims would not receive alerts that there is malware introduced into their mobile phones. Victims may also be asked to download Virtual Private Network (VPN) applications from Google Play Store which would facilitate scammers’ connection to their Android device. Scammers would then be able to bypass the banking anti-malware measures and remotely access the victims’ banking accounts with the phished ibanking login credentials.
> Powered by PureOS, a Debian-based Linux operating system, the Librem 5 and Liberty Phones
Can their devices run APKs? The only Linux distro I know of that does is Sailfish, whose weird licensing model makes it really hard to take advantage of unless you have an obscure, obsolete phone and flash it with the image they sell.
To their credit, Purism has invested more into touch Linux with Phosh than most others in the space have, but Linux on a touchscreen is still a befuddlingly garbage experience.
Unless their experience is impacted by the features they're writing about (which it doesn't sound like it is), this post is just trying to make its mainstream alternative sound bad in the hopes that someone buys their crap instead.
It's definitely worse than an iPhone, but you're greatly exaggerating. Sent from my Librem 5.