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A comment on Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store. Parent comment

Re:Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play ... by exikyut on Saturday January 30, 2021 @07:26AM (#25968511)
The non-root way to silently update is to install a DPC (device policy controller). Has existed for the past 10 years to support enterprise MDM. Only catch is that to install the DPC you have to factory reset your phone to place it into the special state where no accounts have "ever" been signed in to, which is what allows a DPC to be installed. (Removing all accounts from the device may also work)

The nice thing is that once the DPC is installed you can `adb install -r` (reinstall, ie update) it without needing to factory reset. Just don't uninstall it accidentally :D

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Re:Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play ... by morsch on Saturday January 30, 2021 @08:44AM (#25968992)
Is that something I can do to my phone to make updates via F-Droid more seamless?
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Re:Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play ... by exikyut on Saturday January 30, 2021 @11:13PM (#25975850)
Sadly no. I actually went full-on "wait a minute...!" a few weeks ago when I discovered this, but practically speaking, nobody's going to do it ("what, factory reset my phone?! hahaha NO"), and so implementing the necessary support would ultimately be a giant burden.

Technically 100% possible, but practically never going to happen.

If someone were willing to write and maintain the necessary plumbing and then poked F-Droid, it would be interesting to see if they cooperated, but they may well be reluctant to.

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