this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
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What percentage of Android users actually install FDroid and how many are stuck with monopolistic defaults?
We just had an antitrust trial where Google got spanked for malicious defaults.
Defaults aren't the same as restrictions. I've had F-Droid since it's inception and got no clue why others don't use it but that's their life and choices.
On iOS I had no such option apart from the inconsistently available jailbreak requiring Cydia.
They're both shitty practices don't get me wrong, I was only saying that that user seemed to be implying Google in any way restricts sideloading on android which is not true.
I'll tell you - average user just doesn't know about it. And doesn't know the benefits.
Source: was an average user before joining lemmy
Well, I'm glad you know about it now, but let's be real nerds won't shut up about it, so there are plenty who do know but choose not to.
That said, I see no way under a capitalist framework to justify Google being forced to explain to users that they can use F-Droid and what the benefits are, nor do I think such average users will understand an explanation or choose to not ignore it and enforce them to word it such that it doesn't end up doing nothing or the opposite.
You're just in those circles.
Most people don't know any nerds, or people who are particularly tech-savvy, and if they do, "alternative app stores" isn't really the most engaging of topics that people have with their friends.
Thanks for your input! What I'd love to know is what are those people into, if not tech? If they don't know any "nerds" then who do they know and what do they talk about?
The vast majority of users exclusively stick to defaults.
Microsoft got in a lot of trouble in the 90s for simply including Internet Explorer in Windows, as it disincentivized people from installing a different web browser such as Netscape.