[tdeck]

> Android Pay is easy to get working on a rooted phone you just need to slightly modify one single SQLite database.

"You just need to slightly modify one single SQLite database" has got to be the most unintentionally amusing thing I've read all week. I'm happy to poke around in the internals of Android, but even most of my developer friends would see a process like that and go "nope, not worth the effort". Ordinary people do not know what SQLite is, or how to run scripts, so a barrier like that is a deal breaker for them.

[2cb]

You can run a script to do it for you, you don't even have to know what SQLite is, you just need to go on xda and run the script that makes Google Pay work.

Although I would argue that these concerns only apply to regular users who wouldn't bother rooting their phones in the first place. Most people who root their phones are willing to run scripts and know they need to be a bit hacky to make stuff work.

Users who are not willing to take that view shouldn't be rooting.

[josephcsible]

> Users who are not willing to take that view shouldn't be rooting.

My original point was that a lot of users like this exist, and for these users, all third-party app stores are unfairly inferior.

[2cb]

The only restriction they have for unrooted phones is lack of auto updates, a mild inconvenience at worst. You also have to hit "install" on a little pop up window when you install something. That's it.

Most regular users are capable of hitting an update notification manually.