[…]
In the new blog post, Google’s Matthew Forsythe confirms that the developer verification system is slated to come online on September 30 of this year. The initial deployment will be limited to countries with a high level of app scams: Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand.
[…]
Google released its new developer console back in March, inviting external developers the opportunity to pay $25 and verify their identities early. Developers who don’t register will find that their apps cannot be sideloaded on Google-certified Android devices once verification has rolled out. Google says that almost every app in the Play Store is now ready for the change, and a “large majority” of apps outside Google Play have completed verification.
[…]
Google says it will verify the apps in the following stores when it begins enforcing the new restrictions.
Google (Google Play)
Honor (HONOR App Market)
OPlus (OPPO App Market)
Samsung (Galaxy Store)
Transsion (Palm Store)
vivo (V-Appstore)
Xiaomi (GetApps)
[…]
The next step toward verifying apps will come this month as Google deploys a new system service on most certified devices. The package (com.google.android.verifier) will appear on phones and tablets running Android 8 or higher, allowing Google to block the installation of unverified apps. It will remain dormant until verification is activated in your specific region.
In July, Google plans to roll out the new developer APIs and begin testing for “limited distribution” accounts. This is Google’s solution for hobbyists who want to make their own apps and share them with a small group. Limited accounts won’t require a fee or government ID verification, but you can install these apps on up to 20 devices.
In August, the advanced flow will become available globally ahead of verification becoming mandatory in the first markets. As detailed a few months ago, the advanced flow will allow users to bypass verification, but the process isn’t easy. You’ll have to navigate to a buried menu, confirm you understand the risks multiple times, and wait a whole day before completing the process.
And that brings us to September, when Android devices in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand will begin checking verification status before installing apps. However, things get murky after that. Google will undoubtedly monitor how verification works as millions of users are suddenly limited to verified apps, which could affect how it moves forward. Google says it intends to expand developer verification in 2027, eventually making it a global device policy.
Hey Google, could you not dictate what I’m allowed to install on my own damn device for my “safety”? I don’t need a third parent, and if I had to pick one it wouldn’t be you.
May a thousand bricks breach Google HQ’s windows.
Bricks aren’t enough, every Google building needs carpet bombing while the assholes who’s main purpose is to do evil are locked inside.
I hope this leads to the death of Androud and the rise of something more open to replace it. There was a huge market for it when Android came out in competition with Apple’s closed model, but now that Google is closing up Android, let’s hope alternatives get some attention. Unfortunately, alternatives will mean no tap to pay, no RCS, etc., for a long time, since Apple, Google, et al., turned these things as proprietary as possible, but I’d still like a decent alternative to get enough power to eventually change those things.
This is a crazy thought, we could elect people willing to enforce anti monopoly laws that are already on the books.
Fantastic idea. As soon as we have that option, that’s what I’ll do. Until then I suppose I’ll watch the two parties full of right wingers ruin everything.
Problem is things like corporate banking requires an Android or iOS app. Or a GPU with traffic info. There are problems the lack of anti monopoly laws enforcement.
Up until now, I haven’t been overwhelmingly emotional about all the horrible things happening right now.
I don’t know why this news hit me particularly hard. Reading it made me feel like a part of me died. Got glassy eyed. This kind of feels like the final betrayal in a sense. Not the ultimate betrayal, but one super close to my heart.
Hey, it’s gonna be alright
-You still will be able to sideload apps, they just add a nasty 24-hour cooldown -In the meantime, it’s worth having a migration strategy to a mobile OS that actually respects you - be it Graphene, Lineage, or Linux/Sailfish.
be it Graphene, Lineage, or Linux/Sailfish.
The prob comes when the ONLY mobile OS that work for the things ppl want to do are IOS and Android. We could see a world where MOST web sites are locked behind chain-of-trust reqs. Certainly all the important ones needed for normal life.
We’re not quite there today. But it is the direction.
Yep, it’s time to start moving away from these big tech companies and develop utz competitors
Pathetic
Fuck this shit!
How greedy are you?
GrapheneOS is the way to go
I switched a couple months ago and it’s been absolutely fantastic
Google, you stick to your guns, I’ll stick to mine. Sayonara.
This is like if Walmart started policing what products Target can sell and policing what products can go into your house, while not bothering to police their own store.
Sooo if I just use adb to disable that service
com.google.android.verifier
I wont have to put up with google’s bs?
Or just reinstall the OS without google.
We’re about to see a bunch of cell phone repair shops offer this service.
Wym without google? I couldn’t find anything related to what ur talking about
AOSP is lacking google.
It actually requires an extra step to install Google when you install an OS on an android device.
Just go through the process of installing the OS yourself, and skip the “install gapps” step. You’ll have a phone without google, and this app blocking shite will have no impact on you
Thx
Reinstall the os without google? And then have no push notifications? Kinda need push notifs
Why? I have never owned a phone with google. Works great.
Glad it works for you. I need push notifications
Doesn’t MicroG (foss reimplementation of Play Services) fix that?
If thats one of the fixes available to grapheneOS users then yes Im pretty sure thats how you can get push on GOS
Not super sure you can strip google out of your android install and replace it with MicroG though (id love to be proven wrong though) and my bootloaders locked down (fuck you Semensnug you filthy animals)
You may have some luck with ADB
And now I’ll never be interested in creating software for android. I hope google’s LLMs are up to the task.
So is there a way to bypass this or is basically everyone using a phone that isn’t one of the fancy Linux ones essentially fucked?
Android is open source (and also Linux), so there are many custom OSs that aren’t “fancy linux”, but just Android without Google apps. See: LineageOS, GrapheneOS, e/OS. You might be able to install one of them on your phone if it’s compatible!
Just reinstall the OS without google.
Or you could buy a new or used device that’s already degoogled. Or go to your local phone repair shop and pay them to do it for you.
Can you do that even if the bootloader is locked (as it is on many phones nowadays)?
Yeah, you just go into settings and unlock the bootloader.
If you have some really shitty phone that you can’t unlock the bootloader, then you don’t own the phone. Put it in the nearest electronics recycling bin, and buy one that you can own. You can buy phones that are already degoogled for a few hundred.
Fortunately its illegal in many countries to sell a phone whose boot loader can’t be unlocked.
Then “reinstall without Google” isn’t a solution you can suggest universally to everyone even if you don’t know their phone model
Sure I can. Because buying a degoogled phone costs just a few hundred
LineageOS is the way.
GrapheneOS, too.
Let’s see. I won’t ever buy a Pixel. And Motorola is… iffy.
You can buy a used Pixel. Motorola has some useful hardware, but this is about freedom, not best price performance.
See the “socialist” up there ☝️?
Price is a component of “freedom”
Used pixels are usually oem locked
I hate this timeline
An additional sting for some of us -
In Australia, not only is 3G deprecated (I miss my Nokia n91), but 4G / 5G must be of the VoLTE variety. To date, there is no after market OS that is fully VoLTE compatible (Legacy, Graphine etc) here - its hit or miss. Additionally, most (but not all) overseas phones are on IMEI black lists by default.
Essentially, because the OEM are lock step with Google, you can’t avoid this issue by purchasing a common phone, unlocking your boot loader (assuming you could in the first place) and flashing CFW. Do that and you can’t make phone calls. Don’t do it, and you get caught up with this new app verification slop.
They think they’re winning… but I think “lol. Keep going. I have a flip phone.” As soon as this Samsung dies (adb debloated and all), I’m out entirely.
My Galaxy A20 has been going strong since 2019. If I get anything, I’ll either be something from that era or just go full flip phone.
PS: someone mentioned the commodore flipphone. I like Perri and the C64 revival but let’s be honest here…the Callback 8020 phone is $$$ for pretty bog standard dumb phone parts. The components don’t justify it (barring perhaps the 48MP camera), let alone some of the design decisions.
If you look, I imagine you can find a local equivalent of this instead -
https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/opel-mobile-touchflip-4g-flip-phone-optouchfp
(TTfone or Sunbeam I think?)
With right launcher and larger battery, I find it perfectly cromulent, with very good keyboard. It even runs FUTO voice STT (albeit slowly), my banking apps, Signal, FB messenger, maps, 5MP camera etc. It’s not going to replace flagship anything… but maybe it doesn’t need to. And it’s 1/8th the cost.
There’s a good YouTube channel for anyone considering such devices -
What sort of incompatibilities are present with VoLTE? I’ve used Graphene for about a year and a half without issue but then again I pretty much only use my phone for calls messages and lemmy
Yeah, that’s the fun bit. It’s not that Graphene can’t do calls.
It’s that in Australia, post-3G, “works on 4G” is no longer enough. The phone / firmware / carrier combo has to play nicely with VoLTE, IMS provisioning, and 000 emergency calling. If the carrier doesn’t like that exact combo, you can have perfectly good LTE data and still lose service or get nuked by IMEI/TAC filtering.
Graphene on a supported Pixel is probably the best-case scenario. Sadly, that doesn’t generalise to other phones here. It’s a dice roll.
TL;DR: VoLTE is carrier-blessed black magic. Same bands, same radio hardware on paper…very different outcomes.
Very cromulent system. Much consumer choice.
