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  • U+002Ccb@treehouse.systems
    Jan 17, 2026, 1:32 PM

    daringfireball.net/2026/01/mac adding onto @gruber 's article with the android/PC angle:

    it's telling that Android never forbade alternative stores or pulled games, and there was still zero interest in i.e. SlideMe or the Samsung store. Amazon's app store was only popular because they gave out free apps and was the only game in town on Fire tablets (the giving away free apps is telling for Epic's own game store on PC too, where outside of free subsidized games and Fortnite, no one uses it instead of Steam)

    third-party app stores are very much a forced meme and the main marketplaces on a platform are natural monopolies; it's probably better to regulate those instead, or support other platforms

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Replies

  • Natev600@mastodon.au
    Jan 17, 2026, 11:02 PM

    @cb @gruber also from the Android side. I find side loading far more useful than alternative app stores.

    Over the years I've probably installed less than 10 apps straight from the web, but when I've needed to (because they weren't on Android market place/play store) it's really useful.

    In the fun old days these were typically rooted utilities or older versions of apps I preferred. Now as I've got older and more boring I find the need decreasing.

    15-25 year old me would have missed out on a lot of curiosity and fun if that option weren't available anywhere.

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  • U+002Ccb@treehouse.systems
    Jan 18, 2026, 12:05 AM

    @v600 @gruber the only third-party app store on android that doesn't feel like grift is f-droid, and that's a really obscure thing

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  • John Grubergruber@mastodon.social
    Jan 18, 2026, 12:09 AM

    @cb @v600 But F-Droid knows its audience, and provides that audience what it wants. It meets demand from a certain type of user. There is no such demand for things like Samsung’s or Amazon’s or Epic’s stores.

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  • Fazal Majidfazalmajid@vivaldi.net
    Jan 18, 2026, 12:44 AM

    @gruber @cb @v600 F-Droid provides anonymity, since there isn't even a login, which is why I use it whenever possible over the Play Store.

    Imagine the risks of being known to have downloaded Grindr in Iran or Saudi Arabia, since both Apple and Google have shown they will cave to authoritarian governments, or even authoritarian biollionaires, without a fight.

    Apple's App Store is only slightly less bad than Google, as they redefined privacy restrictions like denying sharing IDFA in App Tracking Transparency as only applying to Third Parties, not themselves since they are the Second Party. The arrogant double standards reek of entitlement, as pretty much everything else they do of late.

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