Phew! I was just about to get the new Pixel too, not going to now. I wonder if Samsung will be effected.
> The changes will affect all certified Android devices once live
I think that is a yes, it will affect Samsung
Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
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Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#82These days I don't really want a smartphone at all, but begrudgingly use one for things like mobile banking, receiving SMS tokens, etc. If someone made a screenless powerbank-shaped Android device, I might be interested. The device would double as a 5g wifi modem, and to access the UI you'd remote in over VNC from a laptop, or unrestricted mobile device like a PinePhone.
Sounds like you want a laptop with a built-in LTE modem running Android inside a VM.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#83What does this mean for projects like Grapheneos, or fdroid?
"The changes will affect all certified Android devices once live". AKA GrapheneOS should remain unaffected (as it is not "certified", per Google parlance), and F-Droid should remain available - in theory.
If they keep up this "boil the frog slowly" crap though, I may be migrating off of Android and over to a strictly Linux-based phone, like a PinePhone, Librem, etc.
Fuck the scumbags at the top of big tech making decisions like these.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#84Official 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…
> had me believing that bypassing the restriction might've been possible by disabling Play Protect, but that doesn't seem to be the case since there aren't any mentions of it in the official info we've been given.
I don't think we can know for sure before the change is actually in place. Going through Play Protect would certainly be the easiest way of implementing this - it would be a simple change from "Play Protect rejects known malware" to "Play Protect rejects any app that isn't properly notarized". This would narrowly address the issue where the existing malware checks are made ineffective by pushing some new variant of the malicious app with a different package id.
It's a big change for the ecosystem nonetheless because it will require all existing developers to register for verification if they want to publish a "legit" app that won't be rejected by any common Android device - and the phrasing of the official announcements accurately reflects this. But this says nothing much as of yet about whether power users will be allowed to proactively disable these checks (just like they can turn off Play Protect today, even though very few people do so in practice).
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#85Never, I'll stick to LineageOS till it ceases to exist.. then I'll just buy a dumbphone, f... Google!
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#86Holy shit, going to the official page[1], there's something that is somehow even worse than the loss of freedom: "You'll need to prove you own your apps by providing your app package name and app signing keys." That is capital-I Insane. [1] https://developer.android.com/developer-verification
This is confusing, since signing something already proves that you own the key.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#87While I like to jump on the Google bash train as much as anyone, this is to comply with EU laws. Apple implemented a similar change for the EU App Store earlier this year to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA), a regulation that now requires app developers to provide their “trader status” to submit new apps or app updates for distribution.
IANAL, but I don't see how that applies to apps that Googled doesn't distribute.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#88Well, I guess I didn't want to use half of the apps on my phone anyway.
Might as well throw the phone in the bin.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#89While I like to jump on the Google bash train as much as anyone, this is to comply with EU laws. Apple implemented a similar change for the EU App Store earlier this year to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA), a regulation that now requires app developers to provide their “trader status” to submit new apps or app updates for distribution.
Just wonderful. Why does Europe insist on imposing regulations like this that companies then force on the rest of the world? It's one thing if they're benign but this very much isn't.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#90It will be interesting to see how they handle packages from the various f-droid repos. F-droid builds and signs all their apps themselves, so will all of f-droid be covered by a single signing key and developer account? Or will the fact that they take apps from lots of folks bar them from an account?
I'd bet money they'd just ban them; the whole point is to stop users running unapproved applications on their phones.