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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

#581

Post by lwhi »

rvnx wrote: post #406

If 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)

There will always be tangential business aims that are designed to be satisfied at the same time as the consumer benefit.

To be fair though, this strategic duplicity is a technique Apple has used since Jobs; so it's not as if Google used the approach first.

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

#582

Post by curiousgal »

joelthelion wrote: post #507

I think this might backfire in that it might be enough to prompt technical people to seriously start looking for alternatives. I personally will be extremely unhappy if I no longer can run dns66, newspipe or Firefox with ad blocking on my phone. I think I might also start spending less time on my phone, which would be a good thing for me and a terrible thing for Google (in aggregate of course).

Exactly! And I'll even stop paying for their other products as well.

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

#583

Post by munchlax »

EasyMark wrote: post #335
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…

It's never about security (at least not user's security). It's like you pointed out only about power and locking in customers. They don't care if your phone gets hacked or you bank account drained. They care about the bottom line. Android is fine. Google should have 2 layers if they're worried playstore 1 has only well vetted authors and apps. playstore 2 can be the free for all (mostly) of the current store. These c…

It's the security of having happier shareholders, making more money.

That's still security, albeit an entirely different threat model.

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

#584

Post by reddalo »

paradite wrote: post #464
rvnx wrote: post #406

If 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)

It won't work because of too many false positives. People are already trained to ignore warnings, like how they blindly accept T&C without reading.

Maybe they shouldn't offer a "OK" button that the stupid user can blindly click. They could tell you, "this app is dangerous, go to system settings to enabled" and a "Dismiss" button.

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

#585

Post by nromiun »

chenxiaolong wrote: post #31

If this is enforced via Play Protect, then the whole mechanism can likely be disabled with: adb shell settings put global package_verifier_user_consent -1 This does not require root access and prevents Android from invoking Play Protect in the first place. (This is what AOSP's own test suite does, along with other test suites in eg. Unreal Engine, etc.) I personally won't be doing this verification for my open-source…

I really hope this is done via Play Protect. You can also disable it temporarily in Google Play and install whatever you want.

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

#586

Post by lwhi »

cedilla wrote: post #565
tgma wrote: post #503

The funny thing is Stallman started his fight like half a century ago and on regular days Hacker News shits on him eating something off of his foot and not being polished and diplomatic, and loves practical aspects of Corporate Open Source and gratis goodies and doesn't particularly care about Free Software. On this day suddenly folks come out of the woodwork advocating for half baked measures to achieve what Stallma…

Stallman actively hurts the cause with his behaviour. I'm not only talking about his eccentricities, but also the adversarial and combative language. Yes, Amazon is trying to swindle us, but few people will be convinced of that when you start your argument by calling the kindle an "Amazon swindle" every time, directly implying that anyone who has one is an idiot or even malicious. Yes, it's unfair that someone can be…

It's inconvenient to have to recognise that we are being f**ed in the ass by corporations like Amazon, but that doesn't make it any the less true unfortunately.

It's also a damn shame that the majority of the people who are skilled at communicating messages effectively are working for these corporations; because without them, the unfiltered message of people like Stallman is all we've got.

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

#587

Post by Ms-J »

This will also open the door for targeting you specifically with spyware if software can only be installed from the Play store.

If you are logged in with a Google account that the government doesn't approve of or not signed into an account at all, you may receive a modified app that spies on you.

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

#588

Post by monegator »

throw10920 wrote: post #393

This is really bad. I think that most people on HN will agree with that. The problem is that most normal people (HN is not normal - mostly for the better) don't even understand what sideloading is - let alone actually care . How can we fix this? (aside from making people care - apathy enables so many political problems in the current age, but it's such a huge problem that this definitely isn't going to be the impetus…

> how can we fix this?

Easy: tell them they won't be able to use cracked spotify anymore

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

#590

Post by [deleted] »

medhir wrote: post #407

Every 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

[deleted]
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