Basically every flashlight app on Google Play contains adware or malware and wants non-negotiable (thanks, Google) access to my contact list and files and network. Same with many task managers and qr code scanners and other random little apps and utilities.
Fuck that. I'll install Uber and an IM client or two, but that's it. No more "that looks like it might be cool" apps for me. I've said this before - the app ecosystem on Android is like software on Windows circa 2000.
I don't know what the story is in Apple-land, but Google did this to themselves, and they deserve the oncoming fallout. Google Play has been a neglected disaster for years.
After I discovered F-Droid [1], I've found myself installing practically nothing from the Play Store, especially such neat little utility tools. F-Droid has a lot of half-done or unpolished stuff, but it also has tons of simple, elegant tools that do their job, as well as minor works of passion that have their own niche. I use the main repo, the Guardian one and one from IzzyOnDroid [2].
"the app ecosystem on Android is like software on Windows circa 2000" amen. Maybe even worse, as it's harder to get people to pay for mobile apps than line of business / productivity software.
Please mark sarcasm at least with a ";)" otherwise many people might think you mean what you say becaise they don't know that it's a ridiculous idea that a big corp will come and protect each users privacy.
Google's business model, in broad strokes, is selling user data to advertisers.
Apple's business model, in broad strokes, is charging consumers premium prices for hardware.
As long as Apple thinks the market values user privacy, they are economically incentivized to provide privacy- and security-focused software features that get people to buy their hardware over Android equivalents.
Is that an irontight guarantee? Of course not. Is it a (current) alignment of incentives that means Apple is categorically more likely to protect privacy than e.g. Google? Absolutely. That's also played out so far in practice, between things like app security sandboxing and Apple's historical unwillingness to help law enforcement decrypt encrypted backups — see e.g. the San Bernardino shooter case.
I actually pay more for an iPhone to be in their walled garden (with all the restrictions therein) for the better security and privacy. I consider my smartphone to be an appliance and am ok to trade-off uber-customization-capabilities for better than Android level of security. I also carry an Android phablet for on-the-go mobile hacking/coding/exploring shenanigans, but don't keep any data on it for obvious reasons
Apple-Land is fine, because it didn't adopt the broken security model of Android. That has nothing to do with "walled garden" (disallowing third-party applications). Google could've put the same limitations on Apps. In fact, they've slowly adopted the "Always Ask" permission model of iOS, but it still isn't fine-grained enough, especially when it comes to the file system.
Having said that, a "file system" for iOS that Apps could share with each other is something that just didn't exist for the longest time. Sending files from App to App has always been weird.
Fuck that. I'll install Uber and an IM client or two, but that's it. No more "that looks like it might be cool" apps for me. I've said this before - the app ecosystem on Android is like software on Windows circa 2000.
I don't know what the story is in Apple-land, but Google did this to themselves, and they deserve the oncoming fallout. Google Play has been a neglected disaster for years.