It is a single setting/message about allowing you to install apps from unknown sources that you can grant for that specific app. You can enable/disable anytime.
> Google regularly monitors apps installed outside of the Play store with their "Play Protect" thing, which is an opt-in virus scanner, except not really. When you install an APK, they ask you for permission to enable Play Protect. If you decline, they'll just keep asking you again and again until you accept either by accident, or do it so they stop annoying you. Through Play Protect, Google is able to arbitrarily block any app they consider to be "potentially harmful". Consider that they regularly ban apps by accident on the Play Store using their broken AI, and that those registered developers struggle to get those erroneous bans reversed. I'd imagine getting a ban from Play Protect reversed is nearly impossible.
I have multiple apps installed from F-Droid and I have never got a single message from Play Protect warning me of anything.
> Google has a full time hit squad of penetration testers called "Project Zero" which goes around checking competitors for vulnerabilities so they can make big scary press releases about how unsafe the competition is (even though Google Play itself is riddled with malware).
I've never seen Project Zero act unethical or unprofessional to gain a market advantage.
> Yes, Android is open source. The operating system on your Android phone is not open source.
Depending on the phone you get. Many people specifically pick manufacturers that are more friendly to open source.
What you’re refering to as Android, is in fact, Google Play Services/Android, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, Google Play Services plus Android. Android is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another component of a fully functioning Google Play Services system.
Many mobile users run a modified version of the Google Play Services system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of Google Play Services which is widely used today is often called Android, and many of its users are not aware.
There really is a Android, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Google Play Services is the core: the program in the system that is required for full functionality of a mobile device. The core is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Android is normally used in combination with Google Play Services: the whole system is basically Google Play Services with Android added, or Google Play Services/Android. All the so-called Android ROMs are really distributions of Google Play Services/Android!
> The core is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself
though I think this is a bit exaggerated, no? AOSP gave me a perfectly fine, modern Android 10 experience
I've tested using microG in order to gain some functionality which is missing on pure AOSP builds (eg push notifications) and even with their FOSS minimal implementation of Google Play Services there's still subpar functionality like being unable to use many apps with integrated maps (Uber, Tinder, Google Maps).
Avoiding Google on your Android device results in an undeniably degraded user experience still. They additionally have abandoned many of the AOSP apps like the Calendar and Keyboard, to instead develop and maintain their own branded versions. F-Droid, LineageOS and microG in particular are picking up the slack, but we're still a good way from having the same level of functionality whilst avoiding Google proprietary software.
Wow. That is incredibly uncharitable, bordering on slander.
* Google shows countless scary warning dialogs to users who even think about installing a third party store. Any competitor trying to run an alternative store needs to somehow educate potential consumers on the process of enabling "unknown sources", and convincing them that doing so won't actually kill you (translates directly into higher business expenses, and is probably an impossible obstacle to overcome to reach the majority of consumers)
* Google regularly monitors apps installed outside of the Play store with their "Play Protect" thing, which is an opt-in virus scanner, except not really. When you install an APK, they ask you for permission to enable Play Protect. If you decline, they'll just keep asking you again and again until you accept either by accident, or do it so they stop annoying you. Through Play Protect, Google is able to arbitrarily block any app they consider to be "potentially harmful". Consider that they regularly ban apps by accident on the Play Store using their broken AI, and that those registered developers struggle to get those erroneous bans reversed. I'd imagine getting a ban from Play Protect reversed is nearly impossible.
* Google has a full time hit squad of penetration testers called "Project Zero" which goes around checking competitors for vulnerabilities so they can make big scary press releases about how unsafe the competition is (even though Google Play itself is riddled with malware).
And also, this isn't related to the anti-competitive stuff, but I feel compelled to point it out:
> Android is open source
Yes, Android is open source. The operating system on your Android phone is not open source. Pretty much the only people who benefit from Android being open source are:
* Device manufacturers, who don't have to develop an OS to sell phones, and can install whatever they want on it, like spyware, ads, keyloggers, etc that can't be uninstalled by the user
* Power users and mod developers who are fighting the good fight against that kind of thing (but are hopelessly outgunned)
Saying that something is "open source" usually comes with the understanding that it's a good thing for users and freedom, except in this case it's not.
Say what you will about Apple, but at least they're honest about what they are. Google is still stuck in that cognitive dissonance phase from when they first became 100% evil.