cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/45277582
Opening my weather app this morning I was greeted by this warning:
Google has announced that, starting in 2026/2027, all apps on certified Android devices will require the developer to submit personal identity details directly to Google. Since the developers of this app do not agree to this requirement, this app will no longer work on certified Android devices after that time.
It’s the first time I hear about this, seems to be about:
Cirrus app: Github
Was this a big thing I somehow missed? I hope more devs will follow suit.
Can’t have shit in a closed system. Fuck google.
Linux on phones needs to become a thing. If they start locking down like apple does I will literally go back to a dumb phone.
Degoogled android ROMs will not have this restriction, as they will just have googles verification system removed. So until linux for mobile is a bit more ready you can still use graphene/lineage/etc.
The issue with that is that fewer and fewer phones have unlockable bootloaders.
So long as you can still have GrapheneOS and others. Google’s handling of pushing updates and device tree shows how fragile that actually is. Linux phone is going to be the best solution so long as Google runs Android
Aparrently they are trying to close the Sharing off android.
They can’t actually do that as vendors build off of the sources.
Luckily we have other vendors like Motorola who are very supportive of custom roms
Idk if I’d call it “very supportive”, Motorola voids your warranty to install custom ROMs.
Seems to me like there’s about to be one hell of a market for phones that you can run alternative operating systems.
Except the economics for it are trash. Google uses Android as a loss leader to make money on Google’s services.
I think fairphone is doing ok. Kind of expensive
Damn the economics. The only people who care about “cheaper phone” are those who don’t care about other things
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A shitton of people have lived economic realities that don’t allow them to splurge on a phone at all, even if they’d really like digital freedom or privacy. See: half of the global smartphone market, where Android Go and KaiOS enabling cheap smartphones lead to millions of sales.
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People who can and want to don’t even make the jump because the reality of owning a non-iOS/Android phone is that it requires sacrifices. I went to a concert last night that required me to have the Ticketmaster app to even get in. Everyone at that concert had to have either an iOS or Android phone, myself included. I’m testing Ubuntu Touch on a second phone, but if I make it my daily driver, I’m going to have to keep a second phone around for stuff like that. Ecosystems are too locked down now, and unfortunately you will have to either miss out on some things, or adapt hard-core.
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The devices and software have to be there. Right now there are only a handful of truly modern devices thar you can load Ubuntu Touch or another Linux distro on, and they’re… not quite straightforward for non-techy people to get up and running. Which is, believe it or not, the vast majority of users.
2025 being the year of the alternative smartphone OS seems just about as likely as any other year being the year of the Linux desktop.
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I am going to refute you over here.
I can’t seem afford a Linux phone (or any mobile device really), simply because they tend to be made by labour in high-pay countries, while I am in a low pay country (which means I am not paid as much either).And then I can’t afford to try any possibly existing Linux ROMs on my phone, because I can’t afford to brick it at all.
Unfortunately, I think the vast majority who care are already using one. However, with Google device tree and other shenanigans on Pixel devices, it probably makes substantial room within the niche market for the likes of Fairphone and Shiftphone to get into new regions.
On the other hand, mandates for major operating systems to report illegal activity that are in the pipeline could have a larger effect.
I dunno, I’m talking out my ass.
If I didnt have to pay 2x - 3x the price for a fairphone in the US I would’ve already switched. Unfortunately, $1k for a device with USB 2.0 is really not worth it for me or anyone else I know.
If I didnt have to pay 2x - 3x the price for a fairphone in the US I would’ve already switched. Unfortunately, $1k for a device with USB 2.0 is really not worth it for me or anyone else I know.
Going for a used FP4 should address both those concerns!
Thr cheapest one I can find is $600, for a phone that is 4 years old. I would prefer not to do that.
Thr cheapest one I can find is $600, for a phone that is 4 years old. I would prefer not to do that.
Reasonable, I suppose, although age really shouldn’t matter that much if the hardware features are sufficient and you’re running your own OS.
The low-end models around here have become cheap enough that I’m considering a second one as a testing environment/travel phone/untrusted device 😅
I’m really confused by this. First, does any phone running a legit copy of Android count as a “certified Android device”?
How can they enforce this for apps not on the play store? Like if I write my own APK will my phone just refuse to run it if I don’t go through some paperwork with Google? How does that work?
Like if they’re capable of this then why aren’t they doing it already to prevent piracy?
To your first question: Google released a list of all “certified” android devices and it’s basically every phone from every halfway known brand. So yeah, you will be effected. The only devices unaffected by this would probably be no name Chinese phones (probably also Huawei, but I am not shure) and IOT devices like smart fridges. The best way to avoid this would probably be installing a custom ROM, like Graphene OS.
To your second question, the Android System already controlls the package Installation process, do you know the “Do you want to install this APK” popup, you geht every time you want to install an app outside of the playstore? That’s controlled by the android operating systen and by extension Google. In the future, every android apk would have to have a unique “developer key” attached to it and if it isn’t verified by google, the android system can just refuse to install the apk. For that, you don’t have to go through the playstore, but you still would have to go through a verification process with Google for every app, you make. How that will be implemented in detail is not yet quite known.
Google could have done this much earlier, it isn’t hard to implement, but you can’t make it in a way that only negatively impacts ransomware or pirated apps. And most sideloading on Android is perfectly legitimate, so the reason, why Google hasn’t done it, because there is (deservately) a big pushback from developers.
(probably also Huawei, but I am not shure)
Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT is no longer based on Android code and requires some workarounds to install applications outside of AppGallery (Huawei’s app store).
Technically, this would allow the identification of malware providers in Google’s app store.
Practically, every us citizen’s personal identification details were taken by doge idiots and are likely by now up for sale at a cheap price, so false identification by malware providers is pretty much guaranteed.
It’s a “we covered our ass” policy same as any “save the children” that does anything but the implied thing.
Technically, this would allow the identification of malware providers in Google’s app store.
play store publishers are already needed to submit (and publish) their name and address. they made it a requirement ~5 years ago.
This is about all app makers, not just ones in the Google Play Store. This also applies to third party app devs and hobbiests making open source apps to put up on alternative app stores like the all open source F-Droid.
How do I uncertify an Android device then?
Install a custom ROM. Or buy a Chinese made phone, such as Xiaomi (which I do not recommend***).
Edit: some custom ROM links in no particular order:
*** Edit 2: I don’t recommend the route of a Chinese brand, because I’ve had only bad experiences.
Why the Chinese phone would work? In Europe they have Google play services and thus are also affected. Maybe it’s the Chinese version of those? Not sure if they have Google play services there
That’s a fair point. It depends on the manufacturer. Some brands don’t have google play preinstalled. I probably should have mentioned that before, sorry mate. The Xiaomi I had didn’t have playstore installed, so I had installed fdroid and aurora store. I’m actually not sure about the future of aurora store with this play store integrity bs.
