zlacker

>>kotaKa+(OP)
I've grown increasingly hateful towards both my Android and iOS devices over the last decade. The platforms themselves are increasingly user-hostile, and their appstores are crammed full of shitty, privacy-invading, telemetry-hoovering, dopamine-triggering, ad-filled, lipstick-covered apps that are often garbage compared to the pioneering days of mobile. I miss the days of my old Palm Pilot.

Is anyone working on fixing this? We can do so much better.

>>rkager+DA
The crazy thing is this is all under the pretense of preventing malware. And I constantly hear this argument that the app stores protect people, even from developers.

I truly don't get it. Are these people from 2009? Have they seen the apps on the current app stores? If you're lucky your highest rated flashlight app will only have a few Fullscreen ads and a subscription less than $10/mo. The recipe sites from content farms are less bloated and way less scammy.

It's certainly not about preventing scams. It's about preventing competition in the scamming business.

>>klabb3+g91
from the techcrunch article:

> According to its own survey, Google says that more than 50 times more malware came through internet-sideloaded sources compared with Google Play, where it has required developer verification since 2023.

50:1 is not preventing. It is just "well, we are better than nothing"

I'm pretty sure there can be other curated stores that can serve the customer¹

[1] customer: owner of phone, not advertisers, data merchants, etc

>>m463+le1
I regard Google highly in many domains, but this needs independent research. There is just waay too much opportunity to misuse data to paint a picture of themselves as the protectors. Especially curious about their definition of malware, because to me the app stores seem worse than browser toolbars from the 2000s.