Google will require developer verification to install Android apps, including sideloading
Google has announced that only apps from developers that have undergone verification can be installed on certified Android devices in 2026...
Control and censorship. Imagine a developer distributing an apk that Google doesn't like, let's say, emulators, ad-blockers, VPNs (if they become illegal in some places), piracy apps or many others. Just remove their verified status and voilà.
This is awful. Google is quickly becoming a new walled garden, Apple-style.
VPNs (if they become illegal in some places)
This is literally VPN situation with iOS in mainland China. There are no VPN apps on the App Store. iOS users cannot bypass the firewall. For android, Huawei is trying to push this "Harmony OS" which could also end up being incompatible with .apks and perhaps outright block western apps.
Now the west is trying to copy this same playbook.
Once this is complete, they will target computers.
They will eventually have an "AI" chip that constantly scan your screen for any anti-regime keywords and censor it in real time.
Literally a global digital dark age.
Once we think the world wide web as a space and we look at what those in power have done with physical spaces... well, it's kinda depressing
Oh wait- I seem to recall...
So they finally switched to the same fucking piece of shit system as apple. Fuck you google, you're removing the remaining advantages your mobile OS had.
Google can gargle my side loading nuts
The fuck..
Big Google and big government want your data. I hope Linux phones get good enough for daily use soon.
Welp, it’s over folks.
The end of an era that proofed stallman was right. It lasted from 2010 to 2025 (?)
Saw this comment on Ars and it's a good point:
This isn't about apps. It's about control - the Feds want to be sure that they can track who is creating apps so they can control the spread of government-disapproved apps. Like the app that someone created last month to track ICE raids. If you control who distributes apps, you can further control what apps are made, and whether those apps are seen as a threat.
Information control in a dictatorship is extremely important.
Screw google. I'm buying phones that can run postmarketos or any normal Linux applications mobile OS. Need to grow the normal Linux phone market. Someday there'll be a Steam Deck moment for mobile operating systems
Goes into effect globally by 2027, at least that gives some time to explore alternatives.
People in the EU are probably going to be fine because of the protections there, people in other countries though...
Your screenshot is misleading - apps installed from alternative marketplaces on iOS also need to be signed by a certificate linked to a known developer by Apple, exactly like Google wants to do it on Android.
Well, Russia would be even better.
Russian law requires for an alternative market and some goverment approved apps to be preinstalled. And since google refuses to certify certain Russian developers and is banned in Russia it would mean that smartphones would be required to be degoogled to be sold.
More pwa's please. Why do we need "apps" at all. Laptops function fine without them.
Laptops let you run arbitrary programs. Many people now only have mobile and no PC. I'm not sure if there's already pressure to have PWAs registered with Google, but if they're already doing that with browser extensions and apps, doesn't seem too far fetched they would go there too, even setting aside all the stuff PWAs can't do.
Its essentially a sandboxed webpage, if Google is going to block access to the internet then we got bigger issues...
BTW you can run arbitrary programs on android, eg check termux and all the packages there. That's not sideloading as it's not even an "app". You could run things there and then connect via a browser to local host and port for Ui purposes.
VPN apps don't work as a pwa's AFIAK.
Apple doesn't allow VPN apps in mainland China, so iOS users in mainland China cannot bypass the firewall.
Let Google know what you think about this: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfN3UQeNspQsZCO2ITkdzMxv81rJDEGGjO-UIDDY28Rz_GEVA/viewform
I'm really glad I quit using "smart" phones these days. First AI was being shoved down our throats more and more and now this.
