Google Play Now Lets Anyone Build Private, Vibe-Coded Apps That Run On Android (techcrunch.com) 32
Google Play is adding support for private personal Android apps, allowing users to build an app with tools like Google AI Studio and run it on their own devices without publishing it publicly to the Play Store. "These personal apps won't show up in Google Play's search or listing pages, and won't be shared with anyone except for the app's creator," reports TechCrunch. From the report: The idea comes as more people are experimenting with building their own applications via AI for specific, personal needs. However, being able to use that app on their own Android device has meant publishing to Google Play, making it accessible to the Play Store's some 3 billion users. That led many to limit their vibe-coding efforts to web apps that could run on any device instead of something built natively for Android.
Now, Google says Android device owners can vibe-code an app using Google AI Studio, then launch it for their own use. These apps are still required to comply with Google Play's existing policies but allow users to experiment more directly with building apps for Android. Initially, the feature will be available to users in the U.S., age 18 and up.
[...] In the months ahead, the company said that users will be able to share their vibe-coded creations with a network of trusted friends. That means the apps you built for family or friends, or maybe your child's T-ball league, could be used with a small group of people, without having to go public on the Play Store. And if the app ever really becomes popular, there will be a way to shift the personal app to one that's published on the Google Play Store for everyone to try, after completing the trust and safety reviews.
Now, Google says Android device owners can vibe-code an app using Google AI Studio, then launch it for their own use. These apps are still required to comply with Google Play's existing policies but allow users to experiment more directly with building apps for Android. Initially, the feature will be available to users in the U.S., age 18 and up.
[...] In the months ahead, the company said that users will be able to share their vibe-coded creations with a network of trusted friends. That means the apps you built for family or friends, or maybe your child's T-ball league, could be used with a small group of people, without having to go public on the Play Store. And if the app ever really becomes popular, there will be a way to shift the personal app to one that's published on the Google Play Store for everyone to try, after completing the trust and safety reviews.
Well, then... (Score:3)
That totally validates Google's locking down of the Android ecosystem and its requirement that all developers register with Google. Why, could you imagine the security implications otherwise????
Re: (Score:2)
The requirement to publish a developers contact info is part of the EU Digital Service Act (Articles 30:Traceability of traders & 31:Compliance by design for online platforms).
If your app generates revenue in any way, you are a "trader" in EU lingo. If you could add an update to your app later that generates revenue in any way, you could become a "trader". "Traders" are required to publish: (Full business or individual name / legal representative info, A physical mailing address (or P.O. Box for indi
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Google is required (as a "platform" under EU DSA ) to ensure that this information is publicly available to all EU users of apps on Android
Only apps that Google distributes. But Google is requiring registration even for developers who use alternate stores like F-Droid. It should be F-Droid's responsibility to comply with the regulations for apps it distributes... Google should not be involved because it's not the platform in this case; F-Droid is.
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Section 31 of the DSA is Compliance by design: It requires Google to design the platform (Android -not just the play store) in such a way that developers will automatically be compliant with the obligation to publish their information.
Google did this by requiring developers to register with Google in order to make Android apps. The idea was floated that stores like F-droid could register and accept the liability for ensuring that the developers they were hosting were compliant, but it came out that if the
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No, you are misinterpreting the DSA. It refers to "Providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders"
The "online platform" is the app store, not Android itself. This is explicitly defined in Article 3 of the DSA: "online platform’ means a hosting service that, at the request of a recipient of the service, stores and disseminates information to the public."
So if that's the reasoning Google's using, it's mistaken and/or a deliberate lie.
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Additionally, Article 31 merely requires online platforms to provide a way for traders to communicate their contact info, and requires random checks to make sure they're doing it. It does not require any sort of vetting ore registration by the platform beyond making sure the online traders have put something up.
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I can't argue with that. I am not Google's lawyer. I only know what was posted on the public dev blog.
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So Google put some spin on it, AKA lied...
Shocked, I am.
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Google of course likes to minimize the effort needed to switch from an independently distributed apk file to putting it into the play store.
Get fucked (Score:3)
"These apps are still required to comply with Google Play's existing policies"
Google wants to be Apple SO BAD, but they don't have the cachet, only the user unfriendliness.
Pass. (Score:3)
A good step, but... (Score:2)
Since the dawn of the PC era, I could write any code I wanted and run it on my computer.
Every person should have total control over the devices they own.
Hopefully, the new AI tools will allow us to take total control over every device we own, whether the manufacturers like it or not.
Using software as a weapon of control sucks.
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huh? it's trivial to write any code you want and run it on your phone
But with respect to your "dawn of the PC era", unless you wrote the operating system, you couldn't write and run code that could do anything and everything your computer was capable of - only code that could do what the operating system would permit you to do.
That's no different today.
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But with respect to your "dawn of the PC era", unless you wrote the operating system, you couldn't write and run code that could do anything and everything your computer was capable of - only code that could do what the operating system would permit you to do.
At the dawn of the PC era, the OS did not prevent you from doing ANYTHING. So, no.
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Sure, go far back enough (and yes, I was on computers at that time) but surely he's not saying, "Man, computers were better when you could only run one process at a time, and the operating system let you do literally anything" etc etc and if so, the answer to that is, you can still do that if you want .. you just can't do it *inside* somebody else's software architecture. You still own the hardware, do whatever you want.
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On an open-source OS such as Linux or {Free,Open,Net}BSD, you can, if you want, write code that runs in kernel context. So you really can do anything you want with the hardware.
But I think most people understand that the OP meant more along the lines of running one's own apps that don't have anti-features like telemetry or ads or whatever.
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Sure, go far back enough (and yes, I was on computers at that time)
I think that's clear from the UID, it's at least good for that much!
but surely he's not saying, "Man, computers were better when you could only run one process at a time
Up through Windows 98 you could still do whatever you wanted on that platform. And ofc there was the Amiga, which was fully multiprocessing, unlike any of the other consumer OSes. It had no memory protection at all unless you swapped to a CPU with a MMU and ran a handler like GOMF. (I think a few Amigas came with MMUs, maybe the Unix machines? But the normal OS didn't use it.)
I think a lot of people do think computing was better back then,
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Many phones do not allow to unlock the bootloader. Now try to write a software that disallows connections to ad servers. What do people do? They use the Android userspace VPN API for this. The only problem: You can only have one VPN active at a time. So no chance to both login to your company VPN and preventing the tracking frameworks in the app to phone home at the same time. If you want kernel level VPN ... you need root on the device. If your vendor allows you to root the device at all, Google will after
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My first computer was a Radio Shack Color Computer. It had no real OS as such; just a BASIC ROM. And if you were willing to write 6809 assembly language, as I was, you had absolute control over the hardware. There was no "OS" to mediate.
What? Everything in this is wrong. (Score:3)
Anyone can build an app and install it on their own android device, unless you're running one of the few Android builds that disables sideloading. That's how, virtually, every app designer tests their app. Yes you can run an emulator, but you also want to test it on a real phone.
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It cuts out a few steps of the process, and arguably makes things easier. This is "developer outreach" because Google's made themselves so hard to do business with, they're haemorrhaging android app devs. This is an attempt to turn that around and build a few more developers up in a sort of "free tier". Just as soon as one of those devs decides their little app is quite cool and they want to share it with their mates... then they have to jump through countless hoops to get into the Play Store. Google's hopi
Huh? (Score:1)
Who thought this was a good idea?!?! (Score:2)
Designed to leak (Score:2)
I suspect that Google will be pushing a 'social media' user interface, not a 'remember your score' UI. A whole cohort of like-minded people using the same applet to give their data to Google: It's "free e-mail" version 2.0.
Who will they buy equipment/uniforms from? Which suburb/town are they traveling to? Where will they eat/celebrate? Which hospital do they take injured children to? How much will it cost to re-paint the club-house? What are their fund-raising choices?
Government Surveillance Requirement Added (Score:1)
Google AI Studio-Generated Playground Shooters (Score:3)
My attempt at using Google AI to vibe code a simple basketball-themed elementary school math game took an interesting turn. After asking Google to generate four free-throw shooters for the game, Google AI not only gave me kids who took free throw shots at a playground (with kids in the stands) but also came up with an additional twist of its own. Once the kids released the basketball, they immediately took out a gun and kept firing rounds repeatedly across the court. Tried to prompt Google AI to remove the guns and gunfire but it fell on deaf ears because I got flagged for violating Google's rules and had to manually delete the trigger-happy free throw-shooting kids Google AI had generated to get back in Google's good graces before it would listen to my further prompts! In the end, I was unable to coax a decent game out of it despite a number of attempts. Hoping a promised Unity partnership will improve the game's generated characters, scenery, and physics. It did generate a nice-looking splash screen for the game and some impressive looking 3-D game characters, but none of that made its way into the game (which was about vintage Dr.J Vs Larry Bird One on One [dailymotion.com]-caliber, so perhaps I missed some kind of option/setting.
And what great apps they will be. LOL! (Score:2)
Sounds strange (Score:2)
Not sure how it works, but on my phones and tablets, I can simply download an *.apk, and install it with the file explorer.
Or, as it is a self written: I push it from the IDE to the device.
Probably just because debug mode and developer mode is active.
A vibe coder should "figure" how to activate those.
Funnily my banking app does not run, if it sniffs, debug mode is on, and a debugger is connected to the device.
Does not run, as in giving an error: disable debug mode first.
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Looks like no-code framework 101 to me. Instead of putting together lego pieces, you now prompt how to combine predefined elements and something usable comes out. You won't code your billion dollar app with that, but for someone being no coder, a casual game or personalized todo list app can be nice.
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I was more thinking about typical enterprise software.
But your example makes sense, too.