Xiaomi, the Chinese manufacturer of smartphones and much more but above all one of the main Android OEMs, is unfavorable to the practice of APK extraction so common in the world of the green robot, fortunately, Google does not think in the same way.
Because APKs are useful for the Android world
Over the years, the possibility of extracting and sharing APK files very simply, used for installing applications (we explained illo tempor and in this guide how to proceed ) has been very important for the Android ecosystem, revealing itself to be an ‘ authentic godsend for curious users and professionals with curiosity or the need to try, for example, the latest innovations introduced with a version of a particular app.
But the advantages of this practice certainly do not end here, on the contrary, there is an even more significant one to remember: think of the case in which a new version of an app has brought with it important operating problems, well in situations of the Typically Android users can simply turn to reality like APK Mirror to download an older version of the problematic app and not update it until a corrective official update is released, so they can continue using it smoothly in the meantime.
Isn’t what has been said yet enough to convince you? Well, then there is another scenario a bit borderline to consider: let’s say you have no Wi-Fi coverage and you have little mobile data available, not enough to download an update for a game or app.; in this case, you could have a friend do the download with plenty of mobile data and have the APK file to be installed locally sent to you.
Xiaomi against APKs on Android devices
Although the examples mentioned should be sufficient to demonstrate how, in everyday use, the ability to extract and install APK files is an important advantage for users of Android devices, not all manufacturers think the same way. ‘are those who like Xiaomi are openly opposed to this practice and have recently demonstrated it.
As pointed out on Twitter by the usual and very attentive Mishaal Rahman, a Xiaomi engineer presented a proposal to the Android Open Source Project ( AOSP ) aimed at completely preventing Android device owners from extracting APK files and copying them from their devices in order to share them. On the basis of the request of this engineer of the Chinese manufacturer, there would be the declared need to protect ” private resources” that could be contained in them.
Do not allow the shell to obtain data apk
Apk may include some private resources, so we should not allow others to pull it.
In short, according to the Xiaomi developer, applications for Android devices should be available for download only through the Google Play Store or other reliable app stores. The good news, for all those who do not think like Xiaomi, is that not even Google seems to have the slightest intention of listening to such a proposal, although probably not for the reasons you are imagining.
A Googler, in fact, has decided to highlight the flaw in Xiaomi’s proposal: the block in question would only concern the extraction of APKs from normal (“user”) Android builds. However, in such a scenario, it would be sufficient to install an Android debug build to bypass the block, in short, the protection method proposed by Xiaomi would not serve to protect anything.
Various other Googlers have negatively commented on the proposal with perfectly acceptable arguments: “ Can an APK ever be considered private? ”,“ I don’t think we should expect the contents of an APK to remain secret. I’m not sure why we should want it, and even if we wanted to, there really isn’t a way to guarantee it, not even with this change. ”
In short, a nice sign of opening against a proposal aimed at a greater closure of the Android ecosystem.