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Android developer verification: Early access starts

android-developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#631

Post by khannn »

akimbostrawman wrote: post #464
khannn wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're going to reduce me to a user, iOS is the better choice. I had an iPhone before and it's a picture taking, instagram, social media machine with iMessage—bringing the console wars to normies since inception. Because the hardware is so constrained an iphone lasts forever compared to a similar android. My two year old pixel is slow now, but I know people completely happy with a five year old iphone. Pause, I c…

I have multiple generations of pixel phones and could not tell the difference in performance between them in basic tasks. Maybe because i installed GrapheneOS which makes both stock android and ios feel like a bloat and spyware riddled toy.

I have a Pixel 7 and it's ridiculously slow so I've been thinking about GrapheneOS.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#632

Post by debazel »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #570
curtisnewton wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then i guess you can't publish apps? I want to distribute apps (someone might also want to simply sell them), not publish them I don't need a publisher, internet is a publishing media already > you don't have the right to publish to the android platform then let me install an alternative OS on the HW i legally bought and own or pay me back. > the harms caused by malware and malicious actors life is full of people d…

> life is full of people doing harms and malicious actors, but we don't let Google or any other company gatekeep our lives Yeah, you're certainly not speaking for malware victims here. android is not your life, so google gatekeeping android (actually only google approved builds) is not gatekeeping your life. You certainly should be able to load an alternative OS. isn't that what lineage and other android distribution…

Loading alternative OSes is not an option anymore because play store attestation is now mandatory to live a normal life in society.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#633

Post by like_any_other »

svat wrote: post #7

From the very first announcement of this, Google has hinted that they were doing this under pressure from the governments in a few countries. (I don't remember the URL of the first announcement, but https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-... is from 2025-August-25 and mentions “These requirements go into effect in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand”.) The “Why verification is important” s…

> because the governments of countries where such scams are widespread will hold Google responsible.

How many virus infections and scams was Microsoft held responsible for? What about Red Hat, or Debian?

And at least let Google plainly state this, instead of inventing legal theories based on vague hints from their press releases, to explain why their self-serving user-hostile actions are actually legally mandatory.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#634

Post by basilikum »

ramshanker wrote: post #233

Ancedotal: I used to believe in this "freedom to install". Than my Father got scammed (~$1000) in the name of Electricity recharge. The APK was sent over WhatsApp. Now I am not so sure how to implement this freedom. At the bare minimum there has to be big red warnings. One thing which can immediately improve security is forbidding SMS read access forever. Just like Apple does. No App should be able to read SMS.

Genuinely curious: would you mind telling more about how your father got scammed and how the adversary managed to get your father to install an app from WhatsApp?

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#635

Post by chii »

Spivak wrote: post #619
Workaccount2 wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really its probably the dumbass judge that told Google "The apple app store isn't anti-competitive because they don't allow any competitors on their platform" when google asked why the play store was ruled a monopoly and the app store wasn't. I cannot think of a more detached and idiotic ruling than that.

But the ruling is correct. You can't have it both ways, if you invite competition you're not allowed to be anti-competitive. You can be Nintendo, offer a single store, only allow first party hardware, and exercise total control over your product. Then your anticompetitive behavior can only be evaluated externally. But if you open yourself up to internal competition with other phone vendors, other stores, and then you…

> But the ruling is correct. You can't have it both ways, if you invite competition you're not allowed to be anti-competitive

That's just stupid, because being anti-competitive is an emergent outcome, rather than anything specific.

Apple is definitely anti-competitive, but they exploited such a ruling so that they can skirt it. Owning a platform that no other entrants are allowed is anti-competitive - whether you're small or large. It's only when you're large that you should become a target to purge via anti-competitive laws. This allows small players to grow, but always face the threat of purging - this makes them wary of trying to take advantage too much, which results in better consumer outcomes.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#636

Post by gblargg »

idle_zealot wrote: post #38
gblargg wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they can be less evil to more people rather than pushing people to a non-evil platform.

What is the non-evil phone platform? Aftermarket Android ROMs?

If they had gone ahead and blocked local installs, and forced every apk to be signed by a registered developer, I'm assuming there would have been a strong push for a viable Linux on these devices.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#637

Post by Groxx »

BrenBarn wrote: post #242
thisislife2 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy this argument at all that this specific implementation is under pressure from the government - if the problem is indeed malware getting access to personal data, then the very obvious solution is to ensure that such personal data is not accessible by apps in the first place! Why should apps have access to a user's SMS / RCS? (Yeah, I know it makes onboarding / verification easy and all, if an app can acces…

Yeah. I mean the irony is that the one advantage of having a controlled and monitored app store would be that the entity monitoring it enforces certain standards. Games don't need access to your contacts, ever. If Google Play would just straight up block games that requested unnecessary permissions, it might have value. Instead we have 10,000 match-three games that want to use your camera and read all your data and G…

I really think all permissions systems need what we had back in xposed/appops days:

Permissions should ~always be "accept (with optional filters)", "deny", and "lie". If the game wants contacts access and won't take no for an answer, I should be able to feed it a lie: empty and/or fake and/or sandboxed data. It's my phone and my data, not the app's.

We had it over a decade ago, xposed supported filtered and fake data for many permissions. It's strictly user-hostile that Android itself doesn't have this capability.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#638

Post by akimbostrawman »

khannn wrote: post #631
akimbostrawman wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have multiple generations of pixel phones and could not tell the difference in performance between them in basic tasks. Maybe because i installed GrapheneOS which makes both stock android and ios feel like a bloat and spyware riddled toy.

I have a Pixel 7 and it's ridiculously slow so I've been thinking about GrapheneOS.

The only reason for me to get a pixel is GOS. I never want to get back, it makes other mobile os feel icky.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#639

Post by Someone »

bogwog wrote: post #540
leoedin wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really see how you can both allow developers to update their apps automatically (which is widely promoted as being good security practice) and also defend against good developers turning bad. How does Google know if someone has sold off their app? In most cases, F-Droid couldn't know either. A developer transferring their accounts and private keys to someone else is not easily detected.

> In most cases, F-Droid couldn't know either. A developer transferring their accounts and private keys to someone else is not easily detected. 1. The Android OS does not allow installing app updates if the new APK uses a different signing key than the existing one. It will outright refuse, and this works locally on device. There's no need to ask some third party server to verify anything. It's a fundamental part of…

>> In most cases, F-Droid couldn't know either. A developer transferring their accounts and private keys to someone else is not easily detected.

> 1. The Android OS does not allow installing app updates if the new APK uses a different signing key than the existing one. It will outright refuse, and this works locally on device

You missed the and private keys part of the original claim.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#640

Post by fithisux »

ferguess_k wrote: post #531
rom1v wrote: post #342

I want to be able to install apps from alternative app stores like F-Droid and receive automatic updates, without requiring Google's authorization for app publication. Manually installing an app via adb must, of course, be permitted. But that is not sufficient. > Keeping users safe on Android is our top priority. Google's mandatory verification is not about security, but about control (they want to forbid apps like R…

Yes, it's all about control. Control the platform. Control the access to the platform, and the world is your oyster. And the political and legislation system are their friends. It is the establishment. The only way to fight is to indoctrinate the next generation, at home, and in school, to use FOSS. People tend to stick to whatever they used in childhood. We the software engineers should volunteer in giving speeches…

Really difficult because you need to have two devices.

One mandated be the establishment and one mandated by visions and freedom.

But it would be a great start.

On my work laptop I am mandated to use Windows 11 but I run (and when I have time) I develop FOSS.

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