Starting next year, Google will begin to verify the identities of developers distributing their apps on Android devices, not just those who distribute via the Play Store.
Fuck google, verify my ass motherfuckers
I sent Apple to hell because of dumb “you can’t change UI to your liking”, guess Google is next
*yes, this was seen miles away. I work with a laptop most of the time, so phone doesn’t matter much for me, apart of a box that rings a few times a year
**Yes, both companies are run by greedy dumbfucks. I am getting tired and angry that finding companies that are different takes actual dedication. It should not be this way
devils.
Let Google know what you think about this: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfN3UQeNspQsZCO2ITkdzMxv81rJDEGGjO-UIDDY28Rz_GEVA/viewform
Who organized this form? Is there something official to make it look like it’s not just signing me up for spam?
A valid question.
It’s the official survey form from the Android Developer page on the matter: https://developer.android.com/developer-verification/guides
Guess I’m going back to a dumbphone next time because I’m NOT letting Google see what I’m downloading, I’d rather carry a laptop all day.
GrapheneOS works likea champ on my used Pixel 7 Pro, it was less than 100USD about 6m ago
There are alternatives to Google and Apple products. I recommend the MNT Pocket Reform if you’d like a full keyboard, or a Librem 5 if you prefer a more typical smartphone form factor.
That pocket reform looks super cool, added to the “save up for me” list
In short, they make independent stores impossible?
Mostly; they just force themselves into the process for publishing each app and have an effective veto on apps. So yeah, no stores fully independent of Google.
… Didn’t the EU JUST fine Apple half a billion euros over the same thing?
linux phones please hurry!
Android is Linux…
gnu/linux user space phones please hurry!
This is about as useful as the assholes going “It’s not Pedophilia, it’s Hebephilia!”.
It’s so heavily derive so as to be effectively wrong. It’d be like calling a human a jawless fish sure it’s technically true but entirely misses the point.
oh what’s the problem then I wonder
Haha. Ha.
Damn, it feels like someone is treating a 1984 novel like an instruction…
This is awful. One of my favorite differences between Android and iOS, as both a user AND developer is sideloading.
The closer google gets to apple, the more similar they become. Except apples shit generally all works well together. Knock off air tags, chromecast, audio groups, and so many other things are riddled with bugs and never fixed.
If you make android the same as iOS, I might as well switch.
Only reason I stick with Apple is because their stuff simply works and is supported (in most cases) for almost 10 years.
Sideloading still works, just the apps have to be signed. Still awfull.
I highly doubt they’ll sign Torrent clients.
(Yes I torrent on my phone, cuz why not lol :P)
Torrent client is just an application, author shouldn’t be responsible - naive thinking I suppose
Torrent clients are not illegal in any way. So why not?
Idk, apple doesn’t allow them on their app store.
Right sorry. I thought you meant developers won’t sign them. Obviously you mean Google.
I hope Google at least will only sign identities, e.g. you really are DeathByBigSad and this is your key which you can sign apps with. Not look at the apps themselves. That may be too much to hope for. :(
How many great apps will we lose because of this, though?
What’s extra funny is that I already did all of this, and yet, I’ve been informed that my developer account is subject to deletion because I’m not active enough. Since my game does not get regular updates I said F this, let them delete my account. It’s still available for sideload on itch.io anyway. Jokes on me for believing that.
So yeah, it seems like Google is actively hostile towards building a library of software/games that just work and intentionally only wants live service garbage apps on their platform because those make more revenue.
I’d say a big ton of them :(
Can Nintendo request Google revoke authorization for emulator developers? Or publishers requesting revoking any of the hugely popular manga aggregator apps. Or maybe they’ll just outright refuse them from the start, like they will with revanced.
I’m on your side and you are correct, besides Google amassing a ton of money (each registration costs $25) they will have total control and we know that Google is far beyond “not evil”.
none of those apps would receive authorization in this scenario. you would not be able to use them
We just need to find a way to fake it, I guess anyone that wants to sideload has to root.
The only way to fake it would be to use a “public” signature, but then again, I’m sure google will revoke them eventually. I guess rooting won’t be enough, one would have to change some internal binaries. Perhaps it’s time for a ungooglified android OS 🤷♂️
It really is past time we saw serious work on a mobile flavor of Linux. Not AOSP, not anything whatsoever downstream of Google, but a regular Linux distro with a mobile friendly DTE.
Sadly, it only runs on genuinely ancient smart phones. I can’t even re-purpose my old pre-loved phones that I’ve kept after upgrading, because most of them are still too new for postmarketos
Woah, what’s a red username mean on Voyager? Are you an administrator?
Yep, blahaj.zone admin :)
Isn’t that what Ubuntu Touch is?
Oh, I thought the project was dead. Apparently after Canonical dropped it, it was picked up by the community. Thanks, I’ll look into it. It might even be worth supporting.
Hasn’t Apple been losing in court across the world for doing exactly this?
No, it’s nothing like what Apple’s been doing.
Apple has been losing in court about everyone needs to give them money anytime anything makes any money on iOS, or even thinking absolutely allowing others to install anything beyond their App Store.
This is Google demanding every app that can be installed on Android must be signed by them, and the only cost is registering with them your name and address, possibly verified by government ID. (And quite possible doxxing you at the same time as they already do on the Play Store…)
These are very different, and unlike Apple, will more likely be applauded by numerous world governments in the current “anything a child can even remotely even know about” must have its users be checked to make sure they are “allowed to”.
And here I thought I wouldn’t root or flash my next phone.
So I guess my next phone will be a Chinese phone. Even if it spies on me, I’ll have the freedom to install whatever I want from anywhere.
The Chinese have a golden window of opportunity. Let’s hope they don’t mess this up.
There dies the last remaining reason to use Android.
You say that like there’s a better alternative
There’s iOS. It works great, but has no real sideloading. Android works meh, but had proper sideloading. Now Android will no longer have it, so you might as well bite the bullet on the OS with better hardware integration.
I’d argue it doesn’t “just work” any longer. I recently left iOS for Android, after 10 years with an iPhone. The keyboard was the first issue, the OS stalling and making the device heat up was another. The lack of actual smarts got a bit annoying, too. You ask Siri something and it goes down a k-hole.
I’ll probably end up on a Fairphone without any Google tripe, which is a shame, because I quite like my new OnePlus 13.
Apple is basically the default (at least in the US) so if Android cant offer significantly more theres not much reason to use it
iPhones are too expensive for some people. Not everyone has $500 lying around.
You can’t get an iPhone for $100, an unlocked Motorola phone is only about $100, if you get a carrier locked version its like $30-$40 (and you can carrier unlock them 60 days after activation, just get the cheapest 30 day plan will do, you don’t even need 60 days of service to get it unlocked.
Pricing wise, Android phones will still have advantages, even with google’s autocratization.
And use what instead?
Linux. The mobile ecosystem will have to mature fast though.
There are a few key issues with mobile Linux:
- UIs that have simply not gotten any attention
- A severe lack of decent hardware
- Scaled down desktop apps on a phone (seriously who thought this was a good idea)
- No security whatsoever
- Basic features missing or requiring a significant degree of tinkering to get working such as audio or calling
I don’t think it will. It hasn’t so far, despite there having been linux phones in the past, and it’s got the Windows Phone/Symbian problem where users don’t go to it because it lacks support for the apps they use, and developers don’t support it because it doesn’t have much by way of users.
Let’s hope, gaming on Linux has become so good I un installed windows completely…
That’s why we need to move to it - be the egg that becomes the first chicken.
I mean we do have the benefit of Waydroid on most Linux distros, so maybe it’ll be a Wine/proton situation where the new OS emulates Android apps in a separate container.
