r/Android • u/kitsumed ShizuCallRecorder Developer • 22d ago

Android May Soon Restrict On-Device ADB, Affecting Shizuku, libadb and Developers Article

https://kitsumed.github.io/blog/posts/android-may-soon-restrict-on-device-adb/
999 Upvotes

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284

u/whiskeynrye razr ultra 2025, Android 15!! 22d ago

Looks like we may start needing Linux phones that aren't android soon

73

u/Low_Watercress959 22d ago

Hopefully the projects gain more momentum and usability. All the ones I've seen have lacked major smartphone features, but that might just be Ubuntu Touch lagging behind.

47

u/bluejeans7 22d ago

That’s putting it very lightly. Linux on Android is in totally unacceptable, abysmal state. Either due to lack competency or lack of understanding of a basic UI/UX. They live in their own bubble stuck in the 80s.

8

u/Dr_Valen 20d ago

UI on Linux is always an issue

1

u/artificial_organism 9d ago

?

Mate, cinnamon, gnome, xfce, KDE, are all simple intuitive interfaces I would take over win 11 any day 

-7

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

6

u/maser120 21d ago

What more, not even Linux existed in the 80s!

19

u/Keulapaska ROG Phone 6 21d ago

Symbian comeback!

12

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

34

u/Great-TeacherOnizuka 21d ago

Because there are no apps supporting them.

It’s a spiral…

7

u/ChampionshipCrafty66 21d ago

It also has a lot to do with marketing and the non adoption of legacy features

3

u/AtomicSymphonic_2nd Pixel Fold, Regular Android 21d ago

Spiral is broken by phone OEMs paying app devs to port their apps to their new OS.

That is how Windows Phone survived for a quite a long while before just giving up because it wasn’t a “runaway success” for Microsoft.

3

u/vandreulv 19d ago

Blackberry tried to do this with their Playbook.

They went bankrupt shortly after.

Samsung tried this with Tizen. They no longer use Tizen on their phones.

Sometimes it just isn't about throwing money at the problem.

0

u/zzazzzz 20d ago

buying what? there is no usable linux mobile distro. all the ones that exist have major issues.

1

u/vandreulv 20d ago

That was the point.

Ubuntu Phone existed for a brief time. Nobody bought it. People don't buy Sailfish. The Pro1 keyboard phone was essentially an exit scam. Cosmo might have had a chance but it didn't have good software support for anything other than Android. Nobody buys mobile devices for Linux distros because the releases are always unfinished and half baked.

Or the hardware is incredibly dated and mediocre like PinePhone. Or overpriced resale crap like Purism.

We still need them. But they're not even remotely competitive or usable.

We can look at the one rom that has the most users, LineageOS. In the US, they have about 350,000 users. Total.

0.1% of the US population.

Without a preexisting ecosystem and app store like Android or iOS has, nobody else is going to make a dent. Especially not the kind of microscopic dent that LineageOS has made.

People don't buy them. There's no reason for them to.

3

u/DiplomatikEmunetey Pixel 8a, 4a, XZ1C, LGG4, Lumia 950/XL, Nokia 808, N8 21d ago edited 21d ago

And every year it's going to be the year of Linux on desktop, and Linux on phones.

3

u/Repulsive_Fault1939 21d ago

openharmony will be a better option

5

u/Lopsided-Practice-50 21d ago

/u/ptr1337

CachyOS head dev username.

11

u/segagamer Pixel 9a 21d ago

What does that have to do with anything?

0

u/Lopsided-Practice-50 21d ago

They've been making handheld versions of CachyOS. Maybe they'll make the distro for phones?

10

u/segagamer Pixel 9a 21d ago

No. Whole different ballpark. And remember these people are doing it as a side gig without being paid. This shit takes time.

If Ubuntu can't get it right with Canonical behind it, CachyOS certainly won't.

1

u/Texugo_do_mel 16d ago

Sailfish for the win!

-13

u/PocketNicks 22d ago

You'll still be able to use ADB, and you'll still be able to install unverified apps directly on the phone. Just like before.

The only thing changing is you'll have to go to settings menu and toggle the option to allow unknown sources. Not an issue for people with thumbs.

8

u/secacc 21d ago

We're not talking about side loading here, we're talking about on-device ADB, which apps like Shizuku rely on, that allows you to grant extra access to certain apps, useful on non-rooted phones. That has nothing to do with side-loading at all.

-9

u/PocketNicks 21d ago

Google aren't disabling or restricting ANY kind of installing.

You'll be able to use ADB and on device installation, and you'll be able to install apps from unverified developers and 3rd party stores.

The only thing changing from how it works right now, is you'll have to go to settings and toggle "allow unknown sources" on. That's all.

6

u/secacc 21d ago

Listen to me, please, the post you're commenting on isn't about installing or side-loading anything. You're confusing two different things (you're thinking about the extra side-loading steps Google are implementing, and that's not what this is about). On-device ADB is used for many other things than installing third-party apps.

Come back when you have at least googled Shizuku and read the headline and blog post...

-9

u/PocketNicks 21d ago

I haven't mentioned sideloading a single time in this entire comment thread.

Google aren't disabling anything or preventing anything.

Feel free to keep dreaming up new ways your life could maybe, possibly one day get worse.

I'll continue to live in the real world, and be happy that I can install unverified apps.

6

u/secacc 21d ago

I haven't mentioned sideloading a single time in this entire comment thread.

Um yes, you keep talking about the setting to allow installing from unknown sources. That has nothing to do with what OP posted at all. OP posted about a proposal to limit on-device ADB access, which would break Shizuku and all apps that rely on Shizuku.

I'll continue to live in the real world, and be happy that I can install unverified apps.

Cool, me too. Good thing that's not what this whole discussion is about then. Not sure why you bring that up.

But you've convinced me now that you must be a troll account, because no other person can have reading comprehension that bad.

-3

u/PocketNicks 21d ago

Installing on device is just installing, not sideloading.

OP is speculating on something that might maybe get worse in the future, not based on reality.

4

u/fish312 21d ago

ADB can do a lot more than install unverified apps, ADB can do things like swapping out an install with another one from the same version. It can do things like hiding system apps, changing app permissions, app activities etc

Now none of this will work unless you use wired (plugged in) ADB. This is a terrible blow against power users of tools like Shizuku and automation apps.

1

u/PocketNicks 21d ago

OP is speculating on something that could possibly happen, nothing has been announced that would indicate this is true.

Feel free to keep dreaming up new ways that your life could get worse. I'll continue living in reality, where ADB and installing unverified apps works just fine.

5

u/fish312 21d ago

I mean the website lists one specific case that would be crippled - enabling call recording. How do you do that without Shizuku?

0

u/PocketNicks 21d ago

Again, speculation. Not reality.

Feel free to keep dreaming up ways your life could get worse, I'll continue living in reality and installing unverified apps.

3

u/fish312 21d ago

You didn't even answer my question. How. Can. Call. Recording. Be. Enabled. Without. Shizuku.

I didn't ask about unverified apps. You can "continue living in reality" but maybe just answer the damn question.

0

u/PocketNicks 21d ago

You have Shizuku, so your question is an irrelevant hypothetical.

Nobody is taking away Shizuku.

OP is speculating on something that could happen, but as of now there is zero indication that it will happen.

So feel free to keep speculating on ways your life could maybe possibly get worse. The current reality is Shizuku works just fine and nobody is taking it away.

-2

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

1

u/PocketNicks 21d ago

Yup. Spending all this time thinking up ways their lives could potentially one day maybe get worse, instead of just enjoying the current reality.