We really need a third alternative when it comes to mobile
Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
441–450 of 1001 posts
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#442> Google will begin to verify the identities of developers distributing their apps on Android devices, not just those who distribute via the Play Store This is absolutely unacceptable. That's like you having to submit your personal details to Microsoft in order to just run a program on Windows. Absolutely nuts and it will not go as they think it will.
> will not go as they think it will. How will it go? Where are people going to go? People who draw a hard line on this can’t go to iOS for more freedom. Linux phones aren’t ready for prime time. So what’s left? Going back to a flip phone that doesn’t even have the capability of running apps in the same class?
Aside from the prospect of bad press and user protest - There are still non Play Protect certified Android phones being released, including a few rare phones that skip the Play Store altogether (including the Fire phones). So they could lose at least a little bit of ground in this area. In a sense, they are in competition with their open source offering, even though they have a lot of control over it these days.
It could also make jailbreaking more commonplace, which on the Android side has died down in recent years because sideloading is enough for most users.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#443As a developer of android apps that get distributed outside of the Play store, a Google identity verification system sounds like a nightmare. What if I'm deemed to be politically incorrect? Will Google brand safety exclude me?
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Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#444The article didn't say much about the account approval process, but from the looks of it Google will be able to arbitrarily accept and revoke applications as they see fit. So much for an open platform, bring forth the gatekeeping! Personally I would be fine with unsigned apps requiring the user to click through a notice before install, or having a setting to toggle to enable unsigned apps. Windows does something simi…
What they say they want to accomplish could be almost 100% accomplished with self signed certificates. Or public certificates like letsencrypt etc. if you absolutely have to have third party attestation of the key.
The fact they incidentally position themselves as the only gatekeepers rather than accomplishing the same without doing that tells you all you need to know about their intent.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#445Imagine you develop a VPN app that specifically helps people evade government censorship.
Everyone can figure out what's going to happen next.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#446Official 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…
> Every time I hear mentions of "safety" from the folks at Google, I'm reminded that there's a hidden Internet permission on Android that can neuter 95% of malicious apps
Of that they still refuse to sandbox the play store.
It's easy to see that there's a pattern on what they are copying from GrapheneOS.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#447Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access
> Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. I’ve never agreed with this premise. I buy things that mostly meet my needs and desires in every other walk of life. I’m personally OK with extending this to computers as well.
That doesn't make sense. How do meet your own needs and desires if you can't use your own property the way you want?
And isn't the point in this very situation that people simply can't buy what they want because Google and Apple are a duopoly and now Google is going to follow the path of restricting what you can do with your own property?
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#448If this is a thing then the solution they offer is incorrect. A big giant red screen: “warning the identity of this application developer has not been verified and this could be an application stealing your data, etc” would have worked. What they want is to get rid of apps like YouTube Vanced that are making them lose money (and other Play Store apps)
I've often lamented at work that we lose freedom at the guise of "security".
Security and Intellectual Property (IP) protection could both be true. Google has a big enough reason to make it happen now.
In a perverse way it's not that protecting Google's IP is making us safer. Yet it, strangely is.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#449This aligns with their AOSP recent changes.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#450Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access
> Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. I’ve never agreed with this premise. I buy things that mostly meet my needs and desires in every other walk of life. I’m personally OK with extending this to computers as well.
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