Starting next year, Google will begin to verify the identities of developers distributing their apps on Android devices, not just those who distribute via the Play Store.
devils.
Google will require developer verification for Android apps outside the Play Store
Submitted 7 months ago by mas@jlai.lu to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
Lutra@lemmy.world 7 months ago
ritten@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Fuck google, verify my ass motherfuckers
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 7 months ago
python@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Time to build more PWAs please?
RealM__@lemmy.world 7 months ago
goddamnit I JUST bought a new Fairphone 5 and opted not to go for e/os variant, because I was worried of incompatibility issues.
Guess I’ll have to learn how to replace my phone OS in 2026…
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Guess I’m going back to a dumbphone next time because I’m NOT letting Google see what I’m downloading, I’d rather carry a laptop all day.
3laws@lemmy.world 7 months ago
GrapheneOS works likea champ on my used Pixel 7 Pro, it was less than 100USD about 6m ago
jcs@lemmy.world 7 months ago
There are alternatives to Google and Apple products. I recommend the MNT Pocket Reform if you’d like a full keyboard, or a Librem 5 if you prefer a more typical smartphone experience.
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
That pocket reform looks super cool, added to the “save up for me” list
hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Will, what’s the point now? Fuck it get an Apple. Why not.
xcjs@programming.dev 7 months ago
Let Google know what you think about this: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/…/viewform
chaospatterns@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Who organized this form? Is there something official to make it look like it’s not just signing me up for spam?
xcjs@programming.dev 7 months ago
It’s the official survey form from the Android Developer page on the matter: developer.android.com/…/guides
nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
will I be able to install the Google Play store on graphino S
LuigiMaoFrance@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
Right now? Yeah, its very easy to do, and there’s a download link for it included in GrapheneOS’s preinstalled app-store.
I am however worried that eventually Google will make running custom software (apks, alternate firmwares) so difficult that development for those will stop long term.
Balldowern@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
So I guess my next phone will be a Chinese phone. Even if it spies on me, I’ll have the freedom to install whatever I want from anywhere.
The Chinese have a golden window of opportunity. Let’s hope they don’t mess this up.
InnerScientist@lemmy.world 7 months ago
And here I thought I wouldn’t root or flash my next phone.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
In short, they make independent stores impossible?
festus@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
Mostly; they just force themselves into the process for publishing each app and have an effective veto on apps. So yeah, no stores fully independent of Google.
xthexder@l.sw0.com 7 months ago
… Didn’t the EU JUST fine Apple half a billion euros over the same thing?
ratzki@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
This will not apply to GrapheneOS, right?
nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
just last month there was news about some changes in Android that will make it harder for alternative distributions… go figure
tranquil_cassowary@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
It won’t apply to GrapheneOS. It only applies to certified OSes and GrapheneOS is not certified because it doesn’t license Google Mobile Services.
nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
this might be the thing that makes me install it
DegenerationIP@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I did so at the Weekend and I wont Go Back.
kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
I highly doubt it
mybuttnolie@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
linux phones please hurry!
wabafee@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Android is Linux…
mholiv@lemmy.world 7 months ago
gnu/linux user space phones please hurry!
smiletolerantly@awful.systems 7 months ago
This is about as useful as the assholes going “It’s not Pedophilia, it’s Hebephilia!”.
iglou@programming.dev 7 months ago
Haha. Ha.
nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
oh what’s the problem then I wonder
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
It’s so heavily derive so as to be effectively wrong. It’d be like calling a human a jawless fish sure it’s technically true but entirely misses the point.
cookie019@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
If I understood correctly they use DMA as an additional justification. Thank you, EU parlament.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 7 months ago
Permissive licenses were a mistake.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
Isn’t AOSP mostly GPL?
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 7 months ago
It really is past time we saw serious work on a mobile flavor of Linux. Not AOSP, not anything whatsoever downstream of Google, but a regular Linux distro with a mobile friendly DTE.
plyth@feddit.org 7 months ago
ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
Sadly, it only runs on genuinely ancient smart phones. I can’t even re-purpose my old pre-loved phones that I’ve kept after upgrading, because most of them are still too new for postmarketos
FryHyde@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
Isn’t that what Ubuntu Touch is?
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Oh, I thought the project was dead. Apparently after Canonical dropped it, it was picked up by the community. Thanks, I’ll look into it. It might even be worth supporting.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Hasn’t Apple been losing in court across the world for doing exactly this?
Xatolos@reddthat.com 7 months ago
No, it’s nothing like what Apple’s been doing.
Apple has been losing in court about everyone needs to give them money anytime anything makes any money on iOS, or even thinking absolutely allowing others to install anything beyond their App Store.
This is Google demanding every app that can be installed on Android must be signed by them, and the only cost is registering with them your name and address, possibly verified by government ID. (And quite possible doxxing you at the same time as they already do on the Play Store…)
These are very different, and unlike Apple, will more likely be applauded by numerous world governments in the current “anything a child can even remotely even know about” must have its users be checked to make sure they are “allowed to”.
GlenRambo@jlai.lu 7 months ago
I’ve nothing to add but upcoming every comment.
EmilyIsTrans@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
This is awful. One of my favorite differences between Android and iOS, as both a user AND developer is sideloading.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
The closer google gets to apple, the more similar they become. Except apples shit generally all works well together. Knock off air tags, chromecast, audio groups, and so many other things are riddled with bugs and never fixed.
If you make android the same as iOS, I might as well switch.
PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Only reason I stick with Apple is because their stuff simply works and is supported in (most cases) for almost 10 years.
Mihies@programming.dev 7 months ago
Sideloading still works, just the apps have to be signed. Still awfull.
themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
We just need to find a way to fake it, I guess anyone that wants to sideload has to root.
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
I highly doubt they’ll sign Torrent clients.
(Yes I torrent on my phone, cuz why not lol :P)
Integrate777@discuss.online 7 months ago
Can Nintendo request Google revoke authorization for emulator developers? Or publishers requesting revoking any of the hugely popular manga aggregator apps. Or maybe they’ll just outright refuse them from the start, like they will with revanced.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
How many great apps will we lose because of this, though?
Superorbit@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
Fuck that’s actually really bad
padge@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
They’re already starting to clamp down on sideloading. I use Aurora Store out of principle, but it’s getting more and more common that apps will refuse to launch if not downloaded from the Play Store. I get the risk of sideloading maliciously modified banking apps or whatever, but surely you could just compare a checksum or something?
Shady_Shiroe@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I guess it’s time to switch to developing apps for Linux mobile distro
The only reason I like android is cuz I can make my own apks and use them without issue.
napkin2020@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Fuck you
dorumon@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Man! These guys are literally recreating what made using Symbian a pain to deal with and what sparked its downfall. Even if it was somewhat warranted due to the legitimate malware but atleast you could still run Java and Flash apps with permissions just fine. Now the last reason to run android is basically disappearing and I’m kinda glad I degoogled my latest pixel as of late. But like I kinda also hate that we are moving into an era where you cannot even control what apps on your mobile device right now outright. It was already bad enough with the automatic opening of Google Play for sideloaded apps and now its only to get worse from there. Genuinely speaking of android when it first came out was a breath of fresh air compared to symbian and iOS. It’s kinda a shame that now it’s losing what made it great to begin with.
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
Or, said in the common corporate tongue, “embrace, extend, extinguish”.
NuclearDolphin@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
There dies the last remaining reason to use Android.
filcuk@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
You say that like there’s a better alternative
kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
Apple is basically the default (at least in the US) so if Android cant offer significantly more theres not much reason to use it
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
There’s iOS. It works great, but has no real sideloading. Android works meh, but had proper sideloading. Now Android will no longer have it, so you might as well bite the bullet on the OS with better hardware integration.
patrick@lemmy.bestiver.se 7 months ago
And use what instead?
NuclearDolphin@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
Linux. The mobile ecosystem will have to mature fast though.
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 7 months ago
If it starts for real, the freedom of Android is lost.
We need to sue them 1000 times and more before they can even start this.
themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Maybe we should just go to Huawei، they have their own OS.
Shanmugha@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I sent Apple to hell because of dumb “you can’t change UI to your liking”, guess Google is next
*yes, this was seen miles away. I work with a laptop most of the time, so phone doesn’t matter much for me, apart of a box that rings a few times a year
**Yes, both companies are run by greedy dumbfucks. I am getting tired and angry that finding companies that are different takes actual dedication. It should not be this way