this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
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It's COMPLETELY possible to have an alternative app store that does these things. You could install F-Droid on your phone if you so wished right now. Many phones have Samsung's app store baked into them. Amazon also have an app store.
It would more correct to say that Google preinstalls Play store and enjoys the power of the default - this stuff is in all their licensed phones, it does the job and vast majority people lack a motivation to use anything else. But if people were motivated they could do something else it since the door isn't completely closed as it is on many other platforms.
I think this is just Epic getting pissed that they either have to agree to the terms of using Play, including give a cut of in-app purchases or go it alone and do their own thing. They could even have their own app store if they wanted - who knows if they had better terms than Google then maybe they could attract other games onto the platform, or find some other model, like curated subscription based gaming.
If you wanted fdroid to update apps automatically ~~you'd need to have some system level service running like Google Play services. This is course could be achieved with a custom rom or using root. (This is how huwai and other devices that don't get the play store, as well as Samsung handle their own stores)~~ [untrue as of Android 12, see below comment]
That said I view automatic updates as an anti feature most of the time. I should be asked if I want updates. You can of course turn off auto updates in the play store too though so that's more of a side note.
Actually as of Android 12, there are APIs that allow third party app stores that aren't system apps to automatically update apps.
Huh that's cool. I haven't looked into the apis since about Android 9 so that checks out.
Android 12 not API 12
Just so that there's no misunderstanding