The SOLUTION and DETAILS link to an unrelated third-party site outside of the Syncthing Android repository (or even control). This comes from an import of `org.woheller69.freeDroidWarn.FreeDroidWarn` in the MainActivity.java file.
We can see that the 8 month old claim in the library being referenced is no longer accurate. However, this notification has nonetheless been added to the syncthing-android application.
This is despite a previous issue that pointed out these same facts:
Then closed the issue. But didn’t do anything about the notice.
Can anything be done or is this “an admin will do what an admin will do” kind of situation? Disappointing and not a great sign for someone who just inherited a long-running open source project from a different developer.
Although I believe the message needs an overhaul, the protest itself is absolutely justified. Google desperately wants to get rid of thirdparty stores and is rather happy that a few governments also want deeper control.
Browse the PlayStore for 5 minutes and tell me with a straight face that thirdparty stores are the real problem.
The whole point of the warning is to inform the user that his experience is about to get crappier(24h forced wait ffs). He can either act on that by following the steps outlined by https://keepandroidopen.org or choose to ignore it.
The phrasing “this app will no longer work” as in the popup is wrong, indeed. It will continue to work. It is just the question of how one can still install it then.
Google has changed its position regarding side-loading since then:
Judging by the workflow in the referenced article that you also had a look at, it is clear that Google did not change its position. If you follow the workflow under “Not verified” it says that users will have to resort to using ADB. While that means users will still be able to install not verified apps, having to use ADB is still a huge caveat and a change that will impact many users (negatively in my opinion). App stores like F-Droid won’t work anymore as-is because they would have to use ADB like anyapk does.
By the way, for Syncthing Tray on Android I only added a note to the documentation as I’m also a little bit hesitant to greet users with a popup like that. I also phrased it a bit more carefully and mention what will likely still be possible right away.
Let me just reiterate for the sake of clarity that nobody participating in the thread so far has any say on what goes into researchxxl’s fork of syncthing-android. These are all, like, just people’s opinions.
(My opinion would be that that popup is some ugly shit that would get nowhere near an app I’m responsible for, regardless of correctness or not.)
I’ve encountered the same pop-up in a different app, and it is indeed super annoying, especially since I use a device and version of Android that isn’t affected by Google-imposed restrictions.
As far as I can see, the pop-up is displayed universally regardless if the device is actually affected, and there are many which are not (e.g. the whole Chinese market where Google is banned).
