REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission

[binwiederhier]

I received this question via email:

I was reading about your software ntfy, and I think it's great !
But I was shocked to know that it requires the "REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES" permission. Why ?
I also noticed that the GooglePlay version doesn't need this permission, but the F-Droid version declares it.
Why the difference between the two versions?

[binwiederhier]

There is a bit more background on it here: #531

But the summary is: When you send an .apk file to ntfy as an attachment, Android will not allow you to install the .apk unless the application that downloaded the file has the REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission. This applies to trying to install the .apk from ntfy itself, as well as when you try to install it from a file browser. It was wild.

This at least was the case on my device. But when discussing this in Discord it was not everyone's experience.

Honestly I am happy to remove the permission. I don't think many people will miss it.

[Quantum-Future]

I agree with Google's view explained in #531: "Permission use is not directly related to your app's core purpose".
Why sending an .APK as a ntfy attachment? To make updates?
I don't feel comfortable knowing that an .APK could be installed automatically from within ntfy.
I prefer having this permission removed.
Thank you.

[Quantum-Future]

Hello, the current version (1.16.0) was released on Dec 11, 2022.
Do you have plans for releasing an updated version without this permission and some bugfixes or new features?