I’m note a programmer. I Don’t Understand Codes. How do I Know If An Open Source Application is not Stealing My Data Or Passwords? Google play store is scanning apps. It says it blocks spyware. Unfortunately, we know that it was not very successful. So, can we trust open source software? Can’t someone integrate their own virus just because the code is open?
Most phones use customized versions of Android and decide you shouldn’t have root access. It opens up security issues and makes it easier to bypass ads and DRM which they don’t like.
You can get it on some phones, including Google’s.
But why is Android even called opensource when there are restrictions by Google? Isn’t it a dangerous path when Google can decide to ban F-droid on the platform? What could stop them from doing that? How is the future of Android even guaranteed under such a greedy company like Google?
The Android source code is available, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean that all phones are based solely on that source code. Almost all vendors (including Google) have closed-source additions to it.
There are indeed people who agree with you. I do in principle too, but I can’t say this is something I think about much, which is probably how much people who even understand the issue feel. And most people don’t have a clue the issue exists.
Google could ban F-droid on some phones, but not all. OEMs could overrule Google on such things with their custom Android builds, and even if they didn’t, users could create their own ROMs to solve the issue for rooted devices.
And there are Android derivatives which are Google / PlayStore or Play Services free. Like Lineage OS, GrapheneOS, CalyxOS or /e/OS