I’m also noticing that Google has been moving more and more functionality into Play store, which is closed source, reducing reliance on open source components in Android ecosystem. The most recent proposal I saw was to even get rid of APKs going forward.
The new app bundles format is a worrying trend! If it’s truly exclusive to the Play Store and can’t be brought to Aurora Store or the Android package installer somehow and APKs start to fizzle out, users of degoogled Android ROMs are going to suffer. If some big name apps are only available as AABs then tough luck.
Yeah, I don’t think this will affect AOSP, but I do imagine that Google will encourage use of AAB going forward and that means less apps might end up getting packaged using APK leading to a more closed ecosystem. Unfortunately, some of the popular communication apps like Slack, Discord, or Signal are only available from vendors and if you rely on these apps you’ll be stuck using Play store.
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I’m also noticing that Google has been moving more and more functionality into Play store, which is closed source, reducing reliance on open source components in Android ecosystem. The most recent proposal I saw was to even get rid of APKs going forward.
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The new app bundles format is a worrying trend! If it’s truly exclusive to the Play Store and can’t be brought to Aurora Store or the Android package installer somehow and APKs start to fizzle out, users of degoogled Android ROMs are going to suffer. If some big name apps are only available as AABs then tough luck.
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It’s a good point regarding Google banned countries. That may be sufficient incentive for companies to keep packaging APKs.
Yeah, I don’t think this will affect AOSP, but I do imagine that Google will encourage use of AAB going forward and that means less apps might end up getting packaged using APK leading to a more closed ecosystem. Unfortunately, some of the popular communication apps like Slack, Discord, or Signal are only available from vendors and if you rely on these apps you’ll be stuck using Play store.
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