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Comment by alightsoul | Hacker News Reader

I am not sure I am against app verification. I almost installed an APK that was a banking infostealer. Is there really no other way? Microsoft fixed this with a built in virus scanner on Windows

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That is exactly the problem a choice of app stores solves. Instead of downloading APKs you se stores you trust, and some store apps support multiple repos. Its a Linux like solution.

There's definitely no way to prevent crime except for putting a surveillance camera in everyone's bathroom.

Depends who is watching.

It could be Mister Rogers himself for all I fucking care, no cameras in the bathroom please.

Android, at least those with Play Service, already have built-in scanning for APKs right now. The main problem is currently only Google can "trust" the dev signature for apps they release, so if an app or dev is in Google's naughty list, either for outright malware or for an adblocker, they're out.

At least there will be a setting for users to allow any app from any dev, which those who know about it will enable right away, and those who don't know about it have no business to use it anyway.

> Microsoft fixed this with a built in virus scanner on Windows

Oh, Android has this already! Third-party apps will still be subjected to the Google Play Protect scanning. Making sideloading needlessly difficult is done for business reasons, not device safety.

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