zlacker

Or Amazon video on Android device I have -- in order to have play prime videos it told me to disable app source checking and side-load some .apk file, which will then help me get the Amazon video apk file... or something.

Yeah forget that. At first I thought it was a joke of some sort. But I guess that's how you are supposed to do it.

I'll just stick to Netflix and watch videos there. Somehow that manages to work without side-loading a bunch of crap.

>>rdtsc+(OP)
"some .apk file" being the Amazon store. It's annoying but it's not nonsense. The store will then notify you about updates and perform them.

It's half google's fault for not allowing the amazon store app to be listen in Play.

>>Dylan1+v2
Why is that Google's fault? Amazon could use the Play Store to update the app, the same way that Netflix, Hulu, etc. does. Amazon doesn't want to because they want people to use their own Android platform. Except their Android platform is awful. They have no idea how to run a store (which is a hell of a liability for an ecommerce company, but their infrastructure and fulfillment processes are so top notch and their margins so small that everyone just routes around it when it comes to buying books or whatever else). They make regular Android OEMs look prompt in how long it takes them to incorporate updates.

>>cwyers+V2
It's more that google's main benefit with their store is not having arbitrary restrictions, so the ones they do have stick out.

Oh you want to make a youtube player that acts like every browser in the world, with the ability to minimize? Banned.

>>rdtsc+(OP)
What's the threat model there? It's not like Amazon are going to start stealing customer credit card numbers - if anything they're one of the few companies I'd trust to get security right. Tick the checkbox in settings, install the APK, untick the checkbox again. It's really not a lot of effort or risk.

(The most sensible-sounding negative claim I've heard is that Amazon do that so that they can do more invasive location tracking than Google permits (though the same kind that Google does themselves))

>>Dylan1+q3
Are you really surprised that Google has policies like this?

>>jamesp+H9
Disappointment is not surprise.

>>lmm+A9
I'm pretty sure you have to keep the checkbox unticked so that the Amazon app can install apks and even update itself. In fact Amazon's official documentation[1] for installing their app doesn't tell users to uncheck the checkbox. The way I see it, keeping the untrusted apks checkbox ticked is a massive security risk.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/underground

>>lmm+A9
> What's the threat model there?

* It annoys me as a consumer.

* It reeks of incomptency ( yeah, go and disable that security check that looks like it is there to prevent malicious software to be installed on your device, yeah, yeah, that one ).

* It is a convoluted process.

* It leaves my device vulnerable. Let's not speculate (like you did apparently) but copy and paste from their own source:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1003016...

---

Update Phone Settings

    Go to your phone Settings page
    Tap Security or Applications (varies with device)
    Check the Unknown Sources box
    Confirm with OK

Step 2 Go to Downloads

    Open Downloads on your device by going to My Files or Files
    Tap on the Amazon App file (Amazon_App.apk)
    Tap Install when prompted

Step 3 Launch Underground App

    Tap Open to launch the Amazon Underground App
    Use the Menu on the left and select Apps & Games

---

Yeah, I don't see anything about the "untick the checkbox again" part.