Google experiments with user-choice-defying Android search box
- Reference: 1632307392
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/09/22/google_android_search_box_experiment/
- Source link:
Alex Russell, who joined Microsoft in June as partner program manager on Edge after more than 12 years as a senior engineer at Google, noted on [1]Twitter the appearance of WebLayer.
[2]WebLayer , as Google describes it, is "a high level embedding API to support building a browser." It's sort of like [3]WebView on steroids. WebView is an API in Android and iOS for presenting web content within a native app and is the basis for WebView in-app browsers (IAB) [4]implemented in apps like Facebook, Microsoft Bing Search, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat.
[5]
"Can't express just how deeply disappointed I am in the Googlers who let this happen," Russell wrote. "Google Search is pulling a Facebook. What a massive, destructive, self-owning fuckup."
[6]
[7]
Or rather, Google is just trying Facebook's captive browser approach to see how it feels.
"This [has] not launched and is an experiment that has been running for over a year for a small percentage of users," said André Bandarra, developer advocate at Google, [8]in response to Russell's concern. "We've been looking into API differences and there's work happening to close the gap. We're looking into what would be needed re: docs too."
Is this terrible for privacy? For web developers? For users? Yes, yes, yes
The upshot, Russell claims, is that when using WebLayer, the Android Google Search App – the contractually mandated search widget adjacent to Android home screens and known as AGSA or AGA – forgets the user's logged-in state, permissions, extensions, and privacy settings. And given that Android is present on more than 2bn devices, this change could affect a large number of people without their knowledge or consent if it sees widespread deployment.
"Is this terrible for privacy? For web developers? For users?" Russell [9]asked . "Yes, yes, yes."
[10]
And that's not to say that the current formulation of AGSA, which relies on [11]Chrome Custom Tabs (CCT), introduced earlier this year to address the shortcomings of WebViews, is ideal, either. Russell claims it partially respects user choice but still ignores user preferences.
Either way, you may think that a search result you obtained through the AGSA, or [12]Google Go for that matter, will load in your chosen browser when clicked on. Under the current incarnation of AGSA, that's true only if you've chosen Chrome as your default browser on Android.
And under WebLayer, you get a separate, WebView-like, in-app-Chromium-based pseudo-browser that's distinct from the one chosen as the device default – at least that's the way this experimental technology currently presents itself.
[13]
It's like Google is backsliding in terms of its browser experience on Android. Essentially, right now if you open a link from the Android search widget, it's always handled by Chrome with apparently some user preferences ignored, and in the WebLayer experiment, not even that happens: the links open in a pseudo-browser separate from your device's browsers and their settings.
As Russell explained to The Register , it's not really a browser because the WebLayer doesn't handle normal browsing on the device and you can't install it like a browser. And the problem – disregarding user choice – is similar for other browser plumbing APIs like WebView and CCT.
Browser choice is actually rather consequential, or at least it has been to regulators in the past. Recall that from [14]2001 through 2011 Microsoft was required as a result of its antitrust settlement consent decree to provide Windows users with browser choice, and from 2009 to 2014 in the EU it presented users with a browser choice screen.
[15]Google takes a page from Microsoft of old and revives browser ballot on Android
[16]Microsoft finally debuts Euro-choose-a-browser screen
[17]Europe tickles Microsoft with €561m fine for browser choice gaffe
Browser choice also matters to publishers, Russell said, because WebLayer non-standard behavior can hurt sign-in rates, hinder autofill forms used for purchasing and checkout flows, break re-engagements features like PWA installation and Push Notification opt-in, and interfere with data used to make ads effective, like placement attribution.
The issue is that while you, as a mobile device user, may have set a preferred default browser, that choice is not being respected by the AGSA or by apps that create a [18]Franken-browser out of APIs like WebLayer, WebView, or CCT.
These concerns are not new for Russell, who has spent years advocating for web as a platform, and in April while still at Google highlighted [19]the problems Apple's browser restrictions pose for the web ecosystem.
But Russell is not alone in arguing that browser makers continue to interfere with user choice. Web developers [20]have [21]for years [22]complained about how Apple's insistence that all iOS browsers run WebKit under the hood and how its disinterest in implementing certain web APIs has ensured web apps can't compete with native apps. And they have done so despite Apple's claim in the face of antitrust complaints that those who don't like its App Store rules can [23]compete by making web apps.
"The mobile web is a pale shadow of its potential because the vehicle of progress that has delivered consistent gains for two decades has silently been eroded to benefit native app platforms and developers," Russell said in a [24]blog post in July. "These attacks on the commons have at their core a shared disrespect for the sanctity of user choice, substituting the agenda of app and OS developers for mediation by a user's champion."
The Register asked Google whether anyone wished to comment but we've not heard back.
Microsoft could do better here, too. The presumably reformed monopolist has changed Windows 11 to make it more difficult to switch browsers. It has made Edge the Windows 11 default upon installation and will use Edge unless the user selects an alternate browser to handle specific file types and links. Windows users do have a choice of a different browser, but making that choice requires more effort than it once did. ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/slightlylate/status/1439007771710476289?s=20
[2] https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/weblayer/README.md
[3] https://developer.android.com/reference/android/webkit/WebView
[4] https://blog.tomayac.com/2019/12/09/inspecting-facebooks-webview/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YUtTOUmHcnfI194AakmBzwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YUtTOUmHcnfI194AakmBzwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YUtTOUmHcnfI194AakmBzwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://twitter.com/andreban/status/1439956474868994048?s=20
[9] https://twitter.com/slightlylate/status/1439004923522281474?s=20
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YUtTOUmHcnfI194AakmBzwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://blog.chromium.org/2021/01/better-content-sharing-with-custom-tabs.html
[12] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.searchlite&hl=en_US&gl=US
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YUtTOUmHcnfI194AakmBzwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2001/11/01/ms_antitrust_deal_close_winxp/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/20/google_revives_browser_choice_ballot_as_eu_remedy/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2010/02/19/microsoft_browser_screen/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2013/03/06/microsoft_fined_561_million_euros_over_browser_choice_gaffe/
[18] https://twitter.com/slightlylate/status/1439242863871598600?s=20
[19] https://infrequently.org/2021/04/progress-delayed/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2017/08/04/service_workers_land_in_webkit_heralding_apple_acceptance/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/29/apple_web_developers/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/16/apple_safari_indexeddb_bug/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/04/one_of_apples_monopoly_defenses/
[24] https://infrequently.org/2021/07/hobsons-browser/
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
CC the EU and US authorities*
"The presumably reformed monopolist has changed Windows 11 to make it more difficult to switch browsers. It has made Edge the Windows 11 default upon installation and will use Edge unless the user selects an alternate browser to handle specific file types and links. Windows users do have a choice of a different browser, but making that choice requires more effort than it once did."
Oh FFS.
* 'cos the UK ones won't care.
Question
The article states "the contractually mandated search widget adjacent to Android home screens".
What's one of those then? I certainly don't have anything like that near my home screen on my Oppo phone.
Re: Question
Nope here too, on a OnePlus.
I can see Chrome and Google search bars listed under widgets, but neither are in use, and even if they were, can simply be removed.
Re: Question
Removed but uninstalled ?
Re: Question
On the Android One "standard" version of Android, the search bar can be disabled, but you can't stop it taking up space on every page of the home screen although it's inactive. Just to remind you who's boss.
Re: Question
Isn't that just the Google app. The widget can be removed but the Google app can not be uninstalled. You can disable it, but if you want to use a smartwatch Android Wear forces you to enable it to set the wear devices up although it can be disabled again afterwards. Same with that bloody assistant.
The Hotel California of eco systems, you can checkout but you can never leave.
Oh ffs El Reg, shill for Google much?
The one itsy bitsy witsy little difference being that Apple’s implementation *forces* all apps to respect the user’s browser preferences, which is a huge plus for user privacy. And which is the complete and total opposite of what Google is doing.
Of course, in The Register this is not worth mentioning. The comparison is made without context. The article just spews the Google propaganda response, almost making you wonder if the author’s real intent is to say “Yes, Google is doing something terrible, but so is everyone else” when nothing could be further from the truth. Even the mention of Microsoft’s annoying behavior with Edge doesn’t really compare in any meaningful way.
Re: Oh ffs El Reg, shill for Google much?
Did you read the same article I did?
Ban the Blob
Sooner the Google Blobi s made illegal the better. But I won't hold my breath, to many brown envelopes keep getting passed around.
Re: Ban the Blob
I have this crazy solution for this called: “I don’t use any Google products [well, except for compatibility testing] and I help others to not use any Google products either.” Nobody forces anyone to use their shit.
Re: Ban the Blob
> Nobody forces anyone to use their shit.
The lack of alternative does...
Apple? Just another walled garden, less greedy, but still dictating what you can use and (thus) do. If I have to chose between two evils, I at least go for the cheaper one. *shrug*
Re: Ban the Blob
Ok, I'll bite.
Is there a "smartphone" on sale anywhere, under £200 (preferably under £150) which does not run Android? Not something five years old, second-hand and unsupported?
I speak here as someone who can't afford - even if I wanted to - to buy into the Apple ecosystem, who is quite happy to install something like LineageOS, but can't find any recent, affordable hardware on which to do so, would be over the moon to have something by Planet Computers, but definitely can't afford that, and who recently bought a KaiOS phone to see how it does in the hands of a sprog only to find out that it's so inflexible it can't deal with my homebrew email setup, and there's an inbuilt app which fails to update once every single day, and can't be uninstalled or disabled.
I am very seriously considering building something based around a Pi and a 3G module, except that I can't package it terribly well.
For most people who want, or need, a smartphone that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, Android is the only choice. Shouldn't we be looking at Google with regulatory eyes considering its monopolistic position?
M.
Eh, Chrome hijacked my browser
Google have form here. Chrome hijacked my default broswer on the last Devuan update.
Unfortunately, Android is the "least worst" option. They're all shite.
Android 11 is so bad, I don't know what I'm going to do when my phone breaks, because I'm sure as hell not buying an Apple product.
Re: Eh, Chrome hijacked my browser
Sailfish OS?
[1]Jolla hits profitability ahead of turning 10, eyes growth beyond mobile
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/25/jolla-hits-profitability-ahead-of-turning-ten-eyes-growth-beyond-mobile/
Mobile Web Serches?
Life is too short to use a mobile to search the web. All I ever got was stupid adverts, often apparently for pointless, noisy games that had to be shut down. Better to use a PC set up to avoid such issues. Good luck to those who have the skill and devotion to find a way to make mobiles useful for searches.
Re: Mobile Web Serches?
This is why having root access is important.
I choose what appears on my screen, same as my desktop. It's horrifying how much effort it is to maintain such a simple preference, though.
No search for you...
First thing I do on a new phone is select a decent search engine and install a privacy conscious browser.
The Google search widget is deleted and all Google Assistant stuff also deactivated. Standard Google services, like Maps etc. are deactivated or removed.
To be honest, I'm seriously thinking of just going iPhone next time around, but I'm not very happy with them either... Maybe a Nokia 3210 isn't such a bad idea.
I don't get it
What's the supposed advantage of this new WebLayer?
Re: I don't get it
The advantage for Google is it ignores the user's privacy settings.
Google choice?
For a long time now Google's search has pretty blatantly ignored search terms and "user choice" to ensure that the results take users where Google wants them to go- which generally means to websites that make money for Google.