Signal-android: Possibility to download .apk from http://www.whispersystems.org/ or github repository
It'd be great if the .apk app could be downloaded without the need to use google play or to compile the source code
duy
All 6 comments
We are reluctant to distribute raw APKs for a few reasons:
1) No upgrade channel. Timely and automatic updates are perhaps the most effective security feature we could ask for, and not having them would be a real blow for the project.
2) No app scanning. The nice thing about market is the server-side APK scanning and signature validation they do. If you start distributing APKs around the internet, it's a reversion back to the PC security model and all of the malware problems that came with it.
3) No crash reporting. We are able to react very quickly to crash bugs through exception reports.
4) No stats. We are largely dependent on Play for knowing how many users we have, what types of devices they're running, and what version of Android they have. This allows us to make decisions about where to prioritize development and which platforms we should be supporting.
I'd also be curious to know why you are reluctant to use Play? Many people seem to be under the impression that avoiding Play prevents their device from phoning home to Google, but that's not the case. On 2.2+, if you have the GSF on your device, it will phone home whether you have a Play account registered or not.
moxie0
on 26 Jan 2013
duy
on 3 Mar 2013
One reason to avoid Play is that it still has the bug where it refuses to update or install anything, complaining about 'lack of storage' when there's lots free :-(
alanthehat
on 19 Nov 2016
F-Droid is a well-known alternative app-store that works more often than Play & seems secure.
alanthehat
on 19 Nov 2016
This discussion has already been hashed out, please read issue https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Android/issues/127.
mateoeh
on 19 Nov 2016
@mateoeh I did.
It seems to have taken me 3 hours.
It didn't answer my issue.
127 is closed.
alanthehat
on 20 Nov 2016
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Most helpful comment
We are reluctant to distribute raw APKs for a few reasons:
1) No upgrade channel. Timely and automatic updates are perhaps the most effective security feature we could ask for, and not having them would be a real blow for the project.
2) No app scanning. The nice thing about market is the server-side APK scanning and signature validation they do. If you start distributing APKs around the internet, it's a reversion back to the PC security model and all of the malware problems that came with it.
3) No crash reporting. We are able to react very quickly to crash bugs through exception reports.
4) No stats. We are largely dependent on Play for knowing how many users we have, what types of devices they're running, and what version of Android they have. This allows us to make decisions about where to prioritize development and which platforms we should be supporting.
I'd also be curious to know why you are reluctant to use Play? Many people seem to be under the impression that avoiding Play prevents their device from phoning home to Google, but that's not the case. On 2.2+, if you have the GSF on your device, it will phone home whether you have a Play account registered or not.