If you haven’t seen this yet, Google is planning to require mandatory developer identity verification for all Android apps, including apps distributed outside the Play Store, taking effect September 2026. This affects every independent and open source Android developer directly.
This is not just about the Play Store. After September 2026, on any certified Android device, applications from unverified developers will be blocked by default. The only proposed bypass, the “advanced flow”, exists only as a blog post and has not appeared in any beta, dev preview, or canary release. No one outside Google has seen it.
The community has been fighting back at keepandroidopen.org:
- Read the full breakdown of what this means
- Sign the open letter (organisations only)
- Contact your national regulators — contacts listed by country on the site
- Add the countdown banner to your project
September 2026 is closer than it looks. The time to push back is now.
This is what happens when you don’t have strong competitors. We need to promote more independent OS platforms for smartphones like Linux distros.
AKA: Don’t waste time and energy fighting google, spend it helping GNU phones.
Both are important.
Legal cases create precedents which can be used to fight similar cases in the future.
I expect the opposite but hope I’m wrong.
Every single time competitor appeared, they were ignored. Blackberry, Symbian, Windows 8/Mobile.
Microsoft even tried throwing money at app developers to bridge the biggest gap aka apps, but most companies didn’t even want their money, perceiving porting as too troublesome.
What? BlackBerry was ignored? BlackBerry existed before Android and iOS. It was Android and iOS that killed BlackBerry.
It’s actually a shame, because Windows Phone was actually good. It featured a much more user/task-centric UI, letting users think about what they want to do, rather than which app they need to use to do it. Of course, this was bad for apps’ ability to gain and reinforce brand recognition. So of course they didn’t want to support it.
Honestly this, I thought the windows phone was really good. That said I’ll never forgive Microsoft for buying nokia and effectively killing Meego (yes I know sailfish is a thing but it’s pretty stunted growth wise)
I was a windows phone user and the last Windows version is to blame for killing their phones. They released a half baked platform that literally required SOAP for all network traffic. No raw TCP or UDP access just SOAP… a horrible standard based on XML with like 10x the overhead. 6.1 was probably the best but even that was plagued by compatibility issues.
have you read the process - it’s all about anti scam which is a billion dollar industry right now
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/android-developer-verification.html
We are taking about Google. The US tech company that works with the US government(which is rotted to the core now). No matter how noble the reasons they will tell you for this actions, this identity verification will be used for surveillance and control of personal life. This is basically the same thing as with child safety now.
Graphene os announced a partnership with Motorola. My next phone will be a Motorola with Graphene OS.
Motorola should make their own wallet app that works on graphene os.
People don’t get it: it doesn’t matter Graphene or LineageOS. Its still Android and will still be bound to the same limitations, unless you go fully degoogled which means give up on internet banking, cardless payments and government apps. (And much more like m Donalds app and more… But I don’t care for those)
We need open trust platform not one controlled by Google, Graphene or lineage are just not valid alternatives. We need a Linux phone.
People should just stop being so addicted to convenience.
Quit internet banking and cardless payments.
I don’t care for cardless payments, but I do use internet banking, you cannot do without at least here, and government apps too are useful and doing with out is just… Impossible.
Mobile banking is mandatory here, if not able to do mobile banking then you can use non free SMS messages, which sucks.
Government apps mandatory I mean that without, you are cut from most digital government services, which is not practical at all. Survivable, but a pain.
You say non free SMS messages as if it’s otherwise “free”, but the product is you.
Utility or privacy, it’s your pick. If you value privacy more, you won’t give in to utility.
Government apps are the only one I think are hard to do without.
You talk of what you don’t know. Bank apps here are mandatory by law. If you don’t or can’t use a bank app then you can use a SMS verification approach where you are required to PAY SMS that the bank sends you.
Receiving SMS here is free, only those from the bank for verification are to be paid without the bank app, it’s just a scam to force you to use the bank app.
The bank app itself is not a scam like a you are the service approach, and it’s not free either as you pay the bank services with your bank account fees already. Maybe you don’t pay a specific fee for the app, bit you already pay your home banking fees anyway.
Methinks anyone fighting the system will have to carry two phones: one phone presenting a fake happy face to the government and corps and usable only for bank transactions and bureaucratic processes, and a degoogled phone for the things we actually want to do, like organizing rallies and redistributing samizdat.
For me its maps. Getting directions is mostly why im still on /e/. I would love a linux phone! But im stuck at the moment.
Well, FairPhone has GPS support on Ubuntu and that opens the world to a bunch of native GPS apps
Note that I haven’t tested this, I’m an iOS user, but Linux with Fairphone is starting to sound better and better. I moved from Android to iOS because Android started feeling so restrictive compared to what it used to be in the single digit version numbers era, it stopped making sense to prefer it over the more convenient OS. Now it seems Linux on certain phones is starting to get usable enough that it can be what Android used to be a decade ago when I still liked it.
Interesting i may have to give it a shot.
Do let everyone know if you do, I think there’s actually quite a few people here who’d be willing to make the change to Linux if the Fairphone is truly as well supported as the UBPorts website claims
100%. I have one app for work that i also need. Do you happen to know if two oses can work on a phone? Like grub allows?
Quit internet banking? That’s the only form of banking available when the banking offices only have open on every other Tuesday, during the full moon between 11-12:30, closed for an hours lunch.
This is the route I’ve gone, also if you think any bank, or government is going to suddenly support a Linux phone I’ve got bad news
Given an open certification process anybody could apply and achieve that, at least in theory. Something that with play integrity you cannot being obscured and proprietary.
So who knows, maybe one day even a Linux phone could. But not unless we get an open certification approach.
I see this take repeated again and again it is simply not true. LineageOS and other FOSS AOSP-derivatives are the best, most-supported and most-accepted FOSS mobile operating systems that we have available to us. And no, you neither have to give up on contactless payments nor on internet banking or government apps. There are many applications that don’t play nice with FOSS Android, but if you make the effort to choose your service providers with intent, so that they are compatible, then it is very much possible to daily-drive a fully de-Googled phone.
I agree with most of everything you wrote.
But banking apps and government apps is not a convenience, is a requirement, especially because, well, by law, they are required to provide an app and there is no choice around it. At least here.
I could indeed go back to bicycle everywhere I want to go and take in the train, but that is not convenience, that is life, so I need a car.
My point is that Google controls Android, whether they graciously allow us to have our foss Android and recompile it from sources is nice, but we still depend on Google and this is not good.
This is what needs to change, and there is no way around it.
Graphenes is degoogled and can support play services in a locked down environment so it doesn’t have full control of your entire system. Play services is what is expected to be used to do the verification process.
While play services are mandatory for play cartification, the opposite is not automatic. In fact, bootloader and device fingerprint play an important role and when you replace the stock OS usually play integrity fails by design.
Do you know first hand that you can achieve play integrity with Graphene and no strange tricks like spoof signature or root?
WTF are you talking about?
will be bound by the same limitations
It’s based on AOSP (open source). They can easily fork Android and do whatever they want. Open source means full control over software / OS.
Starting from scratch has zero benefits, and only means the experience is shitty and app ecosystem is nonexistent.
give up on internet banking…
And those apps which require hardware verification using Google APIs are available on Linux? How does this equate to “we need a Linux phone”?
The issue, as you said, is “we need an open trust platform”. The best path forward is we push for that so that Graphene and anyone else can us it.
Giving up all the open source work and app ecosystem of Android is irrelevant and only prevents 99.999℅ of people from adopting it.
I am sorry to say that forking AOSP is not an easy solution.
I cannot talk for Grafene as I don’t know much of that organization, but I have been part of the Lineage Os organization for a little bit as a maintainer, and I can tell you that nobody is actually able to start working on such an effort as an AOSP fork.
I would gladly be happy if such a work would actually be maintained and supported long time, but I’m skeptical that anybody but a big organization has a power and a resource is to do so. After all even Linux is actually brought along by lots of organizations and also commercial organizations.
Yes, we need an open source trust platform, and I believe that is the only real way forward. I would vouch for a Linux mobile operating system, but indeed, air truly open, Android would be good as well.
They’re not wrong.
Of course you can fork and have full control over your fork, but Graphene and company want to be able to keep merging AOSP’s code to keep up with features and improvements.
Merging code from a divergent codebase is harder the more divergence there is, and with big codebases it can easily overwhelm small and medium-sized teams.
It’s the same reason there aren’t lots of chromium forks with manifest v2 support, while it is technically feasible, it requires a bigger effort than most projects can afford.
Keeping an open AOSP fork is not a bad idea, but it’s not clear whether GrapheneOS or any other project will be able to keep up with that workload.
Of course Linux phones require a lot of work too, but it’s work oriented towards making it work instead of towards undoing whatever sabotage google ads to AOSP, so it might motivate more people or be easier to do.
Also, both approaches are compatible.
Linux phones can use waydroid, which depends on AOSP, to run Android apps.
I don’t do any of those. It’s easy.
https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/116261301913660830
Not sure if it applies to users only or to developers making apps too. Anyone knows?
This is a totally unrealted point. This applies to the age verification requirements and not the freedom to install apps outside Google control
My next phone will be a Motorola with Graphene OS.
I’m thinking maybe my next phone is a dumb phone that can only make calls and maybe text. They still make those, right?
LightPhone?
Hopefully they launch it before September, it certainly seems like it will take longer.
I’m using a Motorola 5G Ace with /e/ OS and its been a great phone (camera is just OK)
Is there a release date on these… like before September hopefully?
The situation has changed recently.
Google backed down from this being mandatory this week. There will be an option to allow side loaded apps but it will require a 24h delay to enable.
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-android-sideloading-unverified-apps-new-rules-3650343/
Imagine loading a website but you need to wait for 24 hours to be able to access it
adb is notably unaffected by this if i recall correctly - please correct me if i’m wrong
If not now, it will be soon. Why are we pretending they care?
they can’t if your device is rooted or running a different rom
That doesn’t help anyone getting a new device, or if they retroactively brick the ability to root your devices that were previously able. I was going to root the S23 Ultra I type this on, but that is not longer possible as I missed the memo on Samsung flat out removing the ability to do so.
Wait a 24 hour delay? Damn. I heard a month or so ago that they had planned to back down on the strict sideloading ban, and came into the comments to point that out. But a mandatory 24 hour waiting period (something, if memory serves, America can’t even do to own literal deadly weapons)‽ Geez that’s way worse than I was expecting.
Grotesque
This is all pointless because the scammers will just have you download their apps from the play store anyways, its not like anyone is maintaining that cesspool.
Coming from someone who just reported multiple ads on Facebook that featured what I’d argue was CSAM, yeah, I agree.
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I’m not giving them my face id or finger print, fuck them. If this change sticks my next device will be an iPhone.
I hate being that guy, but at this point we’re just jumping from a frying pan to another.
Pretty much, that’s just where we are at. What made Android preferable to me was the freedom it offered and Android vendors kept chipping away at that for years. With this change implemented Android will be nothing more than cheap iOS, by then you may as well raise money to get the real thing or cheap out harder by buying a feature phone if doing so is an option.
I’m using a Nokia 105 as my work phone, but I’m contractually required only to be reachable by phone.
IMO, the bandaid solution is a degoogled phone, be it Graphene, e/os or whatever, but we need at least a third player.
or device pin
It doesn’t sound like you would have to.
So you’ll move to an even more locked down OS? Out of the pan, into the fire?
It’s what I did when my bank app stopped working with my custom ROM and Oneplus’s final update to the phone made the stock ROM unbearable. At that point - might as well have the convenience of iOS (also I did like that it used the full screen on Carplay whereas Android Auto was limited to 2/3 of the screen and the rest was an Android Auto logo).
That said, Linux phones support seems to be getting pretty good on Fairphones which is great because it used to be that you’d have to have an old phone to have any real Linux support (like my Oneplus 7 pro was too new, whereas the 6/6T are supported by PMOS and Ubuntu)
Android was just in a place of “it’s not freer enough over iOS to be worth it anymore” for me and still is.
Also I do run hacked YouTube now on iOS as well, which was literally the biggest thing I missed from my Android days lol, ad-free YouTube without paying.
How much more locked down will iOS even be in comparison at this rate though? iOS may not let you do whatever you want, but neither does modern Android. As time went on vendors restricted the system further and further.
Using a custom rom now is basically impossible, Google now releases AOSP source code only as snapshots and no longer accepts outside contribution, and now they almost fully killed sideloading and only made this concession after near universal backlash from online spaces. Do you really trust Google won’t try to pull this kind of move again?
Android only becomes more closed as time goes on, at this rate it’ll be little more than a budget iPhone anyway. At least with Apple you get longer software support and a fancy SoC. A community maintained Android hardfork or a Linux phone would be the ideal options here. But the former doesn’t exist, and no smartphone I can get my hands on runs the latter. So iOS it is, or a feature phone.
Using a custom rom now is basically impossible
Why do you say this?
- Sent from LineageOS
So don’t? Device PIN is explicitly an option.
I don’t get it… Google‘s main appeal over Apple is that you can install anything on Android. It runs worse, is less stable and sometimes just does dumb stuff. That’s like if Nintendo would get rid of Mario/Pokémon
That was it before they got a solid fanbase. Now the main appeal is that they are mostly cheaper phones.
Cheaper, but not by far:
iPhone 17 Pixel 10 iPhone 17 Pro Pixel 10 Pro iPhone 17 Pro Max Pixel 10 Pro XL € 979 899 1339 1099 1489 1299 You are taking the flagship phones. If you want a simple, functional phone, you can find some decent ones for a price as low as 200€
Indeed, since the company behind Android+PlayServices also sells phones running Android+PlayServices. But aside from this it’s on me for reading something that was not written.
Why make this a table instead of a list?
I just love having to scroll horizontally to read a comment.
Android’s own appeal probably died somewhere in 2013 or 2014, but it has always kept strong for a very simple reason: phone prices. You could either pay 700 dollars for an iphone, or 200 for an android
I don’t think that’s really the main appeal, honestly. The main appeal is just that it isn’t Apple. And were I someone who didn’t care about the installation of third-party applications, I wouldn’t be running to buy an iPhone. Android is just plain more customizable and if you need a quality of life feature, you’re probably going to find some way to have it.
Android is just plain more customizable and if you need a quality of life feature, you’re probably going to find some way to have it.
Yes.
I used to feel that way about stock Android, but the really useful apps dried up on Google Play a few years back.
Discovering F-Droid brought back the joy of customizing Android, for me.
My conclusions:
- Much of the charm of Android is already gone for the average user, but many haven’t noticed.
- Making F-Droid harder to install isn’t going to help.
I’m not sure what Google has done to alienate the folks writing quality free apps, but whatever it is, most of them are only on F-Droid, already.
This feels like Google is just shutting the door on the walled garden they’ve been building for awhile.
Except now that feature is locked
You can get an iPhone at around 500$. Below that price, sure, Android is good. But once you reach the price at which you could get an iPhone, why not get one in the first place? Android isn’t more customizable in this day and age than iPhone.
Besides custom launchers and icons, the only thing that comes to my mind is custom WhatsApp messaging sound.
I hope projects like Postmarket OS and Sailfish get big enough soon and have compatibility in banking apps so we can make the switch to Linux phones. Android is a sinking ship tbh.
I’ve never used a banking app. Don’t they usually have web sites? What am I missing on?
Nothing, but in some countries banks force you to use apps. You know, "for your security ".
Pretty much. My bank imposes transfer limits on the web portal vs the app, since there’s purportedly more security in the physical device rather than a web page accessible from any system.
While I don’t necessarily disagree with this, it means those apps also have to be searching for things like “Is USB debugging on? Is this running in an emulator? Is the device rooted?”
None of these are bad checks to make from a security perspective, but by relying on the app on a single device as a defacto MFA hurts the ability to manage personal finances when you’re in a position like this, with Google defining the security requirements of their ecosystem at a higher level than any single app.
I am forced to use the app to access the website.
my main use of my bank application is for verification for government stuff, as well as managing my money without having to get on my pc. it would be really annoying to lose access to it, as with it i dont have to use the verification number table which is physical table of numbers that has to be replaced occasionally and could get lost.
So much for their “don’t be evil” policy
didnt they drop it like decade ago?
Yeah, about the same time we started cutting Google out of our day to day. Every time we hear about Google it’s just getting more and more evil/greedy in one way or another
Start moving to LineageOS or GrapheneOS now. Plan your next phone purchase on a model supporting one of these. eBay a used phone if you have to. Get out.
Do they have their own app stores? How does that work? Already switched my PC to Linux. Maybe I’ll look into that.
It’s a weird Frankenstein mix with GrapheneOS. They have a Google compatibility layer, which allows some Google Store apps to run, but at the cost of providing tracking and telemetry to Google. There are other FOSS app stores as well.
You’re advised to use containers and containerize Google, Meta, and other privacy violating social media apps, which will feed data back but limit what data the apps can send. Also, you can shut down the containers when not in use, which ends all telemetry from those apps.
But you do have to manage this. Privacy comes at the cost of complexity and effort. Is that worth it to you? It is for me.
GrapheneOS has basic apps, but you can get lot of alternative apps to Google on F-Droid
LineageOS doesn’t have any store preinstalled, but you can install them yourself from the internet. F-Droid offers only open source apps, and Aurora Store is alternative front end to Google Play, which can download any app from GP.
You can use the Google Play app store if you want; or you can use alternate app stores like F-Droid, Aptiode, Accressent, or probably some other thing I’ve never heard of.
It just occured to me what this is all about: shutting down the ICE tracking app. They won’t carry it on the play store, but its still being shared.
With this, you can’t get it on your phone. And, given how much Google is sucking up to tRump, they want to help him shut this down along with all the other evil.
The governments put pressure on Google to police off play apps and harm because they are attached to Android so they’re being required to build this.
You can still get it, you just need to wait 24h before you can install the first app the first time, and there will be some big scary warnings.
Right, but after this change over?
Ya, this is their new workflow for people who dont authentic themselves.
Turn on developer mode and choose the right setting, reboot phone, wait 24h, then you can install anything. You have the option to stay like this, or revert to 24h wait after 7 days.
Edit: they just announced it in the past few days.
Fuck them. I hope open source / de-googled android can somehow survive this.
They’re really working hard at distancing themselves from that “Don’t be evil” motto.
they did that years ago
they stopped as soon as they stopped blocking eleciton denial content YT. they were preparing to support trump with propaganda 1-2 years before his election.
Fuck Google.
google can eat shit.
the moment I see a viable linux phone, I’m out.
But they did this knowing that at this point there is not a viable alternative. It’s both monopoly, vendor lock, eee and enshittification all at once…
by 2027 there will be a linux phone. consumers won’t put up with this shit and vendors aren’t so blind to see an opportunity.
There was already a Linux phone and even a Firefox phone, but with no wide app support it’s going to be a failure, just like it happened with Windows Phone.
And I’m saying this as a person who would love for a true Linux phone alternative to succeed.
All a Linux phone needs to succeed is an app store and to be able to securely process payments without google and then developers and companies are interested.
2127…
2227…
2327…
2427…
Surely 2527 will be the year of the Linux phone…
Never owned an iPhone
Currently on android purely for alternative os’s
Next phones for my family will either be Linux, if they hold the line, or iPhone if no one does
Why would anyone pick a garbage Android device if they’re as locked down as iOS and costs as much?
Make it shitty, Google. I hope companies that behave as yours are get the same enshitification ending
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I thought they just rolled this back?
Once per device you will need to wait 24 hours before installing unauthorized apps. That’s all the new restrictions do. It will basically not affect power users at all.
For scammers, the 24 hour waiting period completely breaks their scams. They won’t be able to trick people into installing malware if they have to call back to resume the scam the next day. Google said that was their goal and their new solution actually does this without impeding power users.
Google found the balance that we were asking them for, yet people won’t stop complaining and even lying about it in posts like this. Maybe that energy is why the users won this time, but either way, take that energy and fight any of the thousands of real fights.
Sideloading APKs is an easy vector but so is the Google Play Store. It’ll take scammers like 5 minutes to just perma move to GPlay shenanigans, and its already well known to have poor quality control and tons of malware available to download with the useless play protect logo.
This is just Google’s public justification for creating their walled garden. They already pulled this exact scam with Chinese OEMs which is how Huawei got banned, and others stopped selling in the US. They huffed up some story about CCP spyware and then mandated that GPlay be installed in full, otherwise face consequences from congress.
Even Samsung got pulled in and they essentially agreed to use GApps as the de facto communication suite for their phones in exchange for allowing Samsung to continue to use their Galaxy store.
They see stuff like AOSP as a threat because anyone can just fork the OS and make their own non google Android, and they don’t want any OEM to replace GPlay like what Motorola is attempting right now (hence the increased urgency to lock down Android).
Google’s monopoly in the mobile space revolves around every phone using GPlay, so they’ll do anything to maintain their control.
Got a link boss? You’ll excuse me if I don’t take your word for it and all that
The website linked above lays out the change https://keepandroidopen.org/
“Will not affect power users at all” is just not true. I will now have to wait an entire day before I can start using my next phone. Well, either that or android-translation-layer advances enough for me to switch to a Linux phone full-time.
That is all true, however it seems like a slippery slope to me.
To stop scams, it would instead be a good idea to block app installation (of ANY apps including in the Play Store) when the screen is being monitored or a call is active.
Then when sideloading apps, grey out the install button for 3 seconds to hopefully pull the user out of any mindless flow state a scammer has put them in.
Or we stop babyproofing the world for fools. Imagine a car that only ran gas from approved gas stations because someone was caught inhaling unapproved gas when someone else told them it would heal their sickness.
Maybe we could just have a switch for normal/expert user, with a warning that expert user mode should never be enabled if you’re not an expert. That’s it.
For a start, there’s no reliable way to detect when the screen is “being monitored”. You’re presumably thinking of remote control apps but they use the accessibility API which is something many users with visual impairment have enabled all the time, for things like screen readers.
Basically all of them use the “Cast” feature, so you just need to detect that.
Google made some noises in a blog post, but beyond that there is no evidence that they have changed direction. I guess you can take them at their word if you want, but that seems rather naive given the context.
They came out with more information on what their walk back looks like. More information is on the website https://keepandroidopen.org/
This entire flow is delivered through Google Play Services, not the Android OS, meaning Google can modify, restrict, or remove it at any time without an OS update and without any user consent. The advanced flow has still not appeared in any Android beta, dev preview, or canary release. As of the date of this update, it exists only as a blog post and UI mockups. The community is being asked to accept a product announcement as a functional safeguard five months before the mandate takes effect.
Until Google provides a shipping implementation that can be independently verified, our position remains unchanged: all apps from non-registered developers will be blocked once their lockdown goes into effect in September 2026.
As far as I’m aware, there’s only the advanced flow thing that is mentioned in this post?
If that’s the only solution, I wouldn’t call that “rolling back.”
For a while they were completely removing the ability to install unsigned apps altogether. So continuing to allow it albeit with more steps is indeed stepping back somewhat from what their plans were.
Rolling back usually means to revert it fully.
The advanced flow (which includes a 24hr wait time) is not rolling back and I wouldn’t call it stepping back either. It’s obviously designed to kedp friction high so thst no one even bothers with freedom and privacy protecting apps that dont want to or can’t go through googles verification process.
This isn’t what you think it is… it’s barely conceding when the friction remains this high.
You’re being overly pedantic about my word choice instead of actually just discussing this without trying to be condescending and one up people. Online discussions are conversations, not competitions.
I’m not being overly pedantic and I am discussing it, sorry if my reply sounded a bit blunt though.
My main point is that my reply to your original comment was made with a different understanding to what you actually meant, which is not “rolled back.”
(And that I disagree that their slight change to the plan, which has yet to be seen by the public as far as i’m aware, is anywhere near a move in the right direction, maybe the tiniest nudge ever, but not meaningful).
p.s. my thoughts on your word choice was only a tiny part of my message :/
They did, but why talk about that when we can just fearmonger about things that aren’t happening?
There is more information on the website. This was Google’s “solution”:
Update: Google has revealed the “advanced flow” — it is not a solution
On March 19, 2026, Google published details ↗ of the “advanced flow” mechanism intended for “power users” to allow installation of applications from unverified developers after the lockdown takes effect. It goes like this:
- Enable Developer Mode ↗ by tapping the software build number in About Phone seven times
- In Settings > System, open Developer Options and scroll down to “Allow Unverified Packages.”
- Flip the toggle and answer a scare screen confirming that you are not being coerced
- Enter your device unlock pin/password
- Restart your device
- Wait 24 hours
- Return to the unverified packages menu at the end of the security delay
- Scroll past additional scare screen warnings and select either “Allow temporarily” (seven days) or “Allow indefinitely.”
- On the next scare screen, confirm that you understand the risks.
- You can now install unverified packages on the device by tapping the “Install anyway” option in the package manager.
This entire flow is delivered through Google Play Services, not the Android OS, meaning Google can modify, restrict, or remove it at any time without an OS update and without any user consent. The advanced flow has still not appeared in any Android beta, dev preview, or canary release. As of the date of this update, it exists only as a blog post and UI mockups. The community is being asked to accept a product announcement as a functional safeguard five months before the mandate takes effect.
Until Google provides a shipping implementation that can be independently verified, our position remains unchanged: all apps from non-registered developers will be blocked once their lockdown goes into effect in September 2026.
