This right here is the beginning of the end for Android. It shouldn't be possible to limit apps because of Developer Mode in the first place. Google wants to go walled garden, like Apple. Well, then, I'll just go Apple in the first place; they have the better ecosystem. I was with Android for the openness.
this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
114 points (98.3% liked)
Ontario
3612 readers
155 users here now
A place to discuss all the news and events taking place in the province of Ontario, Canada.
Rules
- No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.
- Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
- No porn.
- No Ads / Spamming.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Im going to try Graphene on Moto and hope for the best
Same, my phone will become a credit card and ID and nothing more, I'll chat with you folks and the TOR and Yggdra-folk on Postmarket or my laptop.
Extra-credit spite: take your phone off on your taxes, you don't choose to own or use it. Fuck em the whole way down.
lame as fuck
they can suck my left nutsack before I let them decide how I use my fucking device.
Can't wait till I decide which linux/graphene os capable phone I want to use, I'm jumping ship this year 100%, fuck digital feudalism.
You are using your phone as if you own it, this is not allowed
This is a little thing I like to call Security by Incompetence
Fuck you Presto whatever the fuck you are.
Ontario transit payment card, or app in this case.
Uhm, why can this random app figure that out?
What is this PRESTO app? Anything important?
If an app forces me to choose between being able to use dev mode or using the app, chances are the app will lose.
Toronto and Ottawa transit pass thing
Ah, OK. Nothing important, then.
...
I still use the card, no account tied to me, I never trusted my phone enough to put any "payment/nfc" options on
Metrolinx's reply to someone's play store comment about this restriction:
Thank you for taking the time to write in, and we apologize for any inconvenience. This restriction was introduced to help protect customer accounts and personal data, as certain device settings can increase security risks. We are revisiting this based on feedback and appreciate you sharing your experience.
Hopefully they backtrack on this decision as fast as Ford and the gravy plane.
I'll go pester them too.
The gravy plane
🤣🤣🤣
Meanwhile, with Google's upcoming restrictions on 'sideloading' (I.E. installing apps that haven't registered with Google, including paying them a fee and providing your government ID: see more at https://keepandroidopen.org/), soon the only way for users running Android to install apps that Big Brother Google hasn't approved will be... enabling Developer Mode.
Enabling Developer Mode of course requires a 24-hour waiting period, so you can't just turn it off real quick to use this app and then back on, either. (EDIT: Apparently the 24-hour waiting period only applies to the first time enabling developer mode. The rest of my concerns stand, though.)
If apps refusing to run in developer mode is or becomes a widespread thing...well, it ain't good. And making it so that important publicly funded apps can't run in developer mode would be an easy thing for Google to lobby for...
The 24-hour wait is supposed to be a "one-time" restriction. After you do it once, you should be able to instantly go back-and-forth if needed.
TY, I wasn't aware of that. That makes it slightly better, though still isn't great.
Yeah this has potential for massive pain.
Can confirm I am seeing the same thing
Left a 1 star review.
I will be emailing my MPP about this. Publicly funded apps should not be allowed to do these things.
Damn, I'm on the beta. Can't leave a review.
I think I'm on the beta.
@avidamoeba funny. if they hadn't said anything I bet noone would have cared. But since they DO CARE about dev. ops enabled, that says to me, what are they concerned about?
Is there a way I can monkey with my presto app data and ride for free?
Sounds like they want somebody to patch their APK!
@henfredemars i mean, if they want help maintaining it, this is a weird.. albeit brilliant yet sneaky way to go about soliciting community involvement.
Likely do to gps spoofing is my guess.
This is also my assumption. They are probably getting rider telemetry from the app. But I guess that would be a huge privacy issue...
@Entertainmeonly what on _earth_ does the Presto app need to know one's location for? you boop the turnstile do you not?
Because they can, and you can't stop them. Just like every other data sink.
It was just a guess. Hi, I'm an idiot. You should internalize everything i post. Without exception.
I wonder if I could bypass this by cloning it in my work profile
Just tried. Still detects it.