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

9to5google.com

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

#131

Post by nottorp »

baby_souffle wrote: post #41
87636899376 wrote: post #14

Official announcement: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-... More info: https://developer.android.com/developer-verification https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ... Personally...we all know the Play Store is chock full of malicious garbage, so the verification requirements there don't do jack to protect users. The way I see it, this is nothing but a power grab, a way…

Can you elaborate a little bit about this hidden internet access control setting?

It's been there since Android 1.0.

What's missing is a way for the user to deny it.

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

#134

Post by foobar47859 »

rkagerer wrote: post #115

I've grown increasingly hateful towards both my Android and iOS devices over the last decade. The platforms themselves are increasingly user-hostile, and their appstores are crammed full of shitty, privacy-invading, telemetry-hoovering, dopamine-triggering, ad-filled, lipstick-covered apps that are often garbage compared to the pioneering days of mobile. I miss the days of my old Palm Pilot. Is anyone working on fixi…

Vollo from German is one https://volla.online/. They sell a nice set of devices that run either a custom Android or Ubuntu Touch. Their custom Android has a nice bunch of UI and privacy features.

Fairphone from the Netherlands is another https://www.fairphone.com/

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

#135

Post by jajuuka »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #101

Android's ability to run binaries outside of the Google Play Store is a key differentiator of their product vs. Apple's. Or at least it used to be.

I think this is another thing that has changed in time. Custom ROM's used to be the defining feature of Android but over time less and less people used it. I think sideloading has gotten to that point as well. Where it's a power user feature that most people don't touch. So Google feels confident in nixing it since it only affects a small group of people.

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

#137

Post by ocdtrekkie »

mid-kid wrote: post #104

They have the ecosystem by the balls. Phone manufacturers in recent years have been making unlocking & modifying their devices more and more difficult, google and app developers have been cracking down harder on modded devices by implementing TPM equivalents in the hardware to sign and verify that your system is a google-appproved one, and alternatives still are decades behind in terms of app ecosystem. I think they…

I would say this is a bold choice for a company whose existing restrictions around third party apps and stores and in-app purchases has already been found illegal. While it doesn't look like they're pushing for it right now, forcing Google to sell Android was something the DOJ has considered as a penalty.

I'm not sure Google still has the ecosystem by the balls. It's very possible whatever Googlers who made this decision are the type of folks who don't comprehend they work for a monopoly that like actually can't do things like this anymore.

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

#139

Post by jajuuka »

Yokolos wrote: post #16

> Google notes “supportive initial feedback” from government authorities and other parties: Ah, then I guess everything is fine. I'm sure they aren't in favour because it gives governments greater control over what apps we're allowed to have on our phones. That would be absurd.

I feel like that makes the most sense. That this isn't something Google thought up but something that the EU wanted to ensure its government ID app was "safe". Google does benefit but the timing seems to line up.

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

#140

Post by Kim_Bruning »

I never really got into "phone" progrmaming, always waiting for the shenanigans to die down. But somehow the shanigans have gotten worse and for a significant chunk of the world population, the phone is the only computation device they have at all.
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