2d ago

Let Google know what you think about their proposed restrictions on sideloading Android apps. - Android developer verification requirements [Feedback Form]

docs.google.com Android developer verification requirements

Use this form to submit questions or feedback about the new Android developer verification requirements announced in August 2025. You can learn more about the requirements in the Android developer verification guide. Sign up for early access here.

Source of feedback form:

https://developer.android.com/developer-verification (bottom of page)

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98 comments

Public pushback on stuff like this does work on occasion. It even worked on Apple when they proposed upload filters for CSAM.
Google's intent in the short term probably is just about malware, but in the long term it gives them, and governments which can pressure them the ability to ban any app from nearly all Android devices. Once deployed, there's a near 100% chance of such a mechanism being used for evil.
- I don't buy the malware arguement. Most major social apps function like malware (tracking location and anything they can). In the 90s, any app that did that (say to your laptop) would be treated as spyware.
  
  No doubt many "legitimate" apps, including some of Google's own are spyware. This claims to be about the sort of malware that steals your bank account login.
  I'd even speculate that most of the people involved are working in good faith; they think they're the good guys and they can be trusted with that kind of power. Nobody should have that kind of power though because it always leads to corruption.
  
  I would love to see an interview with the team. Because you’re probally right.
  
  It's only spyware if Google can't monetize it. Which is ironic if you think about it.
  
  Also the true malware is currently signed and it still reaches millions of people, most of the time downloaded straight from store.
  
  I would argue that was the definition even in the early 2000s. then it became a business model for famous companies.
  
  True, even in the early 2000s, an application tracking your laptop locations would be treated as extremely dangerous spyware and the relevant could would be treated as a borderline criminal actor.
- Google aren't opposed to evil any more though, they removed their motto of "Don't Be Evil".
  
  Alphabet Agency company was never opposed to evil. They're like the "nice” drug dealer giving you what you like until you keep coming back. Or the guy in the van giving out free candy.
- I thought their intent was to (attempt to) reduce piracy
  
  Their intent is to reduce people running software they didn't purchase through their commissioned store.
- Apple is a bit more receptive to bad PR, but Google has a history of kinda ignoring developer feedback, like with the JPEG XL thing as a narrow example.
  This is an especially technical matter to; it’s no threat to them.
- The malware argument falls like a house of cards when you just dig a bit nd see that Play Store is full of indiscutible malware like flashlight "apps".

98 comments