Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

Also https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/25/google-will-require-develo... (from merged thread)

Official announcement 1: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-...

Official announcement 2: https://developer.android.com/developer-verification

Play Console Help: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
9to5google.com

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Additionally, this kills apps like Revanced, NewPipe, SmartTube that will now be required to give out ID to Google, surely that's something they really want to do. All Open source development is at threat, Google's absolute dogshit procedures already imposed for the play store now imposed to the entire ecosystem. All for a shitty system that breaks down to "registering package names". Cool then, guess it's time to typo squat on every variant of com.faceboook.app, because users definitely check the package name and not "oh the icon is right and so is the title".

More and more locked down devices, Android source releases only being published once a year, device drivers for reference devices disappearing, and now, verification of all your software for your "security". The war on general computing is well and truly on.

What the absolute fuck.

This has the potential to be disastrous for Google, but maybe not.

Personally: I don't use Apple because I like being able to whip together little apps to side-load without having to check in with a walled-garden mothership. If Google is going to move closer to Apple in that regard... Apple's UX ecosystem is better, so I have far fewer reason to keep using Android.

I suspect this won't be disastrous for Google, because where will people care about this go? Apple, who is even more restrictive? This is just another in a long series of incidents showing why we desperately need a real alternative to the mobile duopoly. I would ditch Android over this, but there's no realistic alternative available to me.

Damn the future sucks ass.