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Google is requiring mandatory developer verification for all Android apps in 2026 (infosec.pub)

submitted 1 week ago by TheTearMiser@lemmy.world to c/android@lemmy.world

229 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Regulators won't be any help - Apple has always been even more locked down than that, and no one forbade it, so how are they gonna stop Google from doing the same? IMO the only way out is to leave Android and turn to Linux completely (that means Linux hardware adaptation layers, no more Android anywhere). Some phones have already been made like this

[–] prex@aussie.zone 9 points 1 week ago

Surely this will lead to the balkanisation of Android.
Motorola is going to grapheneos, Xiaomi etc go with their own app stores and so on.

[–] garbage_world@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

But regulators forced Apple to open up a bit

[–] ricdeh@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Main-line Linux phones are really not the way, at least at the moment. Android is fine, AOSP really is an amazing project and easily one of the most impressive software projects ever advanced by humanity. AOSP-derivatives like LineageOS or GrapheneOS are just as much FOSS as any traditional Linux distribution.

[–] bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

AOSP is nice and everything, but you do realize with their next move, Google can take it away anytime they want, right? They actually have already taken steps that make it harder to create independent ROMs, by stopping the publication of device trees.

[–] KuroiKaze@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Regulators forced Google to do this lol