Xiaomi no longer wants APK files to be used on Android devices. The Chinese company wants to close Android a little more. However, Google doesn’t like that at all.
Share APK files
You can of course download an app in the Play Store, but sometimes an app is, for example, not yet officially out in the Play Store or there is an update that does not go well. It is then nice to be able to use an APK. That is a separate file with the app or update and you can then put it on your device outside the Play Store.
Very useful, but not without danger. In this way, for example, it is also possible for cyber criminals to let you install an app with malware in it. Phones therefore usually warn when you either open that APK files can be used or when you try to install an APK file.
Xiaomi vs Google
However, APKs can be extremely useful, for example to undo a bad update, to peek in the code if something new is coming and for example to be able to forward apps to your friends if you have developed an app yourself that for some reason is not yet in the Play Store.
Xiaomi is not fond of it. Insider Mishaal Rahman shares on Twitter (via 9to5Google) how a developer of the Chinese phone brand suggested to the Android Open Source Project to stop allowing Android owners to copy APK files from their phones. According to the developer, private resources can be better protected this way. It’s better if apps are only available through the Google Play Store or another trusted app store.
false safety
Google doesn’t like that. It believes that Xiaomi’s proposal means that APK files will still be copied via a debug build of Android. It just wouldn’t be that safe at all. Moreover, Google believes that an APK cannot remain secret at all, so that further protection of its content does not make much sense in principle for that reason.
Xiaomi is blunt. What do you think, is it good that you can do so much with APK files or should Android be better boarded in this area?
– Thanks for information from Androidworld. Source