Edit: Discussed somewhat here https://www.benedelman.org/applovin-permissions/. Seems like it's abetted by garbage from the carrier.
Something for iOS to look forward to?
One is not obviously better than the other, though I'll grant that Apple has managed to get their users to a place where being subjected to them has become a point of pride, which is impressive.
There are settings carriers can push to iOS (access to features like tethering, some network configuration stuff) but this type of malware cannot be pushed onto iOS. At worst, carriers push shitty Java applets to the (e)SIM, but that's all sandboxed off from any user interaction.
Exotica like Fairphone and PinePhone are starting to look pretty good...
The root problem is that Google Play is poorly curated. One problem it has is that it ranks apps that have many downloads higher than those with fewer downloads. AppLovin is used to boost downloads for the purposes of the Google Play algorithm.
Of course, this is known to Google.
Even so, I avoid stocks that don't have a sustainable, value-based business model.
65% (68^%) net (gross) income margin for Q2 '25 [1]. 44% (54%) net (gross) for Q2 '24.
(Nitpick: I don't love financial dashboards that don't define and date their metrics. For example, what does leverage on that page mean?)
[1] https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1751008/0001...
I've known for a long time that T-Mobile shipped junk apps upon initial setup, but seeing them loaded OTA after a single click on an ad (even a few pixels off of the "x" button) is very concerning. Even putting aside the moral issues with practices like this, that's a huge security hole in a very large percentage of Android phones.
OgsyedIE•4h ago
Ideally, I can just nag my non-tech savvy relatives to let me install such a security app for them and then enjoy having peace of mind for their behalf.
taspeotis•4h ago
margalabargala•3h ago
alfalfasprout•3h ago
It's a fundamental tradeoff between allowing multiple ways for apps to be installed or forcing everything through a single installation workflow (a la iOS and its App Store).
margalabargala•3h ago
OP had a good suggestion for a solution, something that allows gating surprise app installs.
renewiltord•3h ago
margalabargala•3h ago
BoredPositron•2h ago
margalabargala•2h ago
Buying a $100 phone every other year when offered an android phone for free from the carrier is a meaningfully bad financial decision for people less well off than yourself. You are fortunate to be in a position to not have to worry about money like that, but try to have compassion for people less rich than yourself.
BoredPositron•2h ago
margalabargala•2h ago
Yes if you buy an ancient device it is less. If we compare apples to apples, or apples to androids, you could buy an equally old android device for next to nothing. Any "wiggling" was because the discussion was about new devices before you decided to pretend to miss the context clues.
You are delusional if you think that there exists an iPhone that is not much more expensive than a lower end Android of a similar age. All the namecalling and pretending in the world won't make it otherwise.
anonymars•19m ago
> You can even get apple care with the new subscription model and sneak a new battery for 12 bucks
> you could buy an equally old android device for next to nothing
Is that Android device going to have any support or security updates or battery life?
DrewADesign•3h ago
margalabargala•2h ago
The phone they have have that was being asked about is probably either free or close to it with carrier incentives.
Here on HN we are in a bit of a bubble. Most users of this site can just make a $500 purchase if they want to and not think about it. The median American's liquid savings are well under $10k, and buying the least expensive iPhone is a burden. "Buy an iPhone" is not a suggestion that should be made to a person who would have to put it on a credit card and would be unable to 0at.it off that month.
filmgirlcw•1h ago
Yes, there are way more options to get sub $500 Android phones, but pretending like an iPhone is too expensive for most Americans when carrier deals are often as good or better for iPhone options (to say nothing of the older phones being sold by Total Wireless and the like) and when more people in the United States use iPhone vs Android is a little bit silly.
We just got $1130 from Verizon for my husband's old iPhone 14 Plus towards his new iPhone 17 Pro (I get a new phone every year so I’m just on the Apple Upgrade plan or I buy it outright each year, whereas he gets a new phone every 3 years or so), making it essentially free (we had to change the plan he was on but it cost the same as the old plan) and if he’d wanted a regular iPhone 17, he could’ve dropped down to a cheaper phone plan too. A 16e would’ve been even less than that.
colechristensen•3h ago
Before the iPhone you couldn't even get the "cool" phones in America, Japan had so much better things available and everybody envied what wasn't available here.
The reason we have any control from the carriers was the power Apple had and the stubbornness of Jobs.
A lot of the battles being lost by Apple are being won by groups who will make the ecosystem worse.
margalabargala•3h ago
That doesn't make it a reasonable device for a sizable segment of the non-tech-savvy population though.
lukev•3h ago
OgsyedIE•3h ago
FredPret•3h ago
At least this used to be true in the halcyon days when iOS was simple.
Nifty3929•1h ago
ChrisMarshallNY•1h ago
Geeks don’t like it.
But Apple is a three-trillion-dollar corporation, because most folks aren’t geeks.
MrDarcy•37m ago
nicoburns•4h ago
JumpCrisscross•2h ago
TinyMDM at $23/year seems to fit the ticket [1]. (I've never used it and just heard about it today.)
[1] https://www.tinymdm.net/pricing-usd/
jeroenhd•3h ago
There are antivirus apps on Android that will warn you for this crap, but an antivirus cannot work on an operating system designed to install malware.
kokada•2h ago