cross-posted from: https://jlai.lu/post/24787719
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.
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Apparently they’re doing it to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act. But they’re doing it in the USA too.
The fuck…
setting up walled garden using security excuse. What’s the next excuse?
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It’s always the same nonsense. “Safety”, “security”, “privacy”, etc.
They won’t ever say for ma profits
We all know the reason.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the actual fuck, Google‽
I swear to Hephaestus, at this point I’m considering switching to UBPorts or Sailfish OS or something…
I think Sailfish is banned outside of Scandinavia. The company will not allow others to have it if you dont live there.
This is from their site:
We currently sell in European Union, UK, Norway and Switzerland.
Please be welcome to use our products anywhere in the world, however due to our limited resources we can only support the noted regions.I think you’re pulling things straight outta your ass.
I swear I just saw something the other day that said it was unauthorized outside the region. I remember thinking it was strange. I swear I remember seeing it.
It’s the next level for magicians to master, after they’ve perfected the top hat.
Well fuck, if I was off my face, I look again.
If it helps, my comment was more riffing off of noodlejetski’s phrasing than what you’d originally said. “pulling things straight outta your ass” felt like some off-brand magician so I wanted to make a joke about that.
While I won’t tell people exactly what to search, I can guarantee that I can find malware first try on Google Play. Google Play Integrity is just as dodgy.
When a preventative measure very obviously won’t solve the stated problem, that may not be what it’s really there to solve. This is another of Google’s anti-open-source moves designed to bring all Android devices entirely under their control and surveillance. It goes along with their bringinh all Android development in house and making it harder for third parties to make their own custom versions of Android (Graphene OS etc.). It also seems a little odd that this happens right when several countries are introducing requirements that users supply ID to visit websites.
It is like the whole world becomes a psychopathic dictatorship overnight.
Apps that use dark patterns (aka almost everything in the play store) are more harmful than apps commonly flagged as malware.
Harmful to who? People? Perchance.
Googles bottom line? Give them all the dark patterns in the world twice.
wdym flagged as a malware? the ones I ahve seen are all about unknown unsources
Sounds like another lawsuit waiting to happen
Think of it like an ID check at the airport, which confirms a traveler’s identity but is separate from the security screening of their bags
😐
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html
So this is the ID check… When do we get the full body security scans and cavity searches?
ELI5 if this will affect the use of F-Droid?
If you have the stock OS from the manufacturer, it will affect you. If you flash a custom ROM, it won’t.
Edit: You can still use F-Droid regardless of which android you’re running, but if you run stock you can only install the apps that have developers registered with google.
I hope there will be at least some bypass using ADB like with older apps.
The bypass is to just not install gspps…
Custom ROM usage is gonna explode
Probably why Google is also taking steps to make custom ROM development significantly more difficult. They evidently want to kill off all Android ecosystems except the ones they control and watch.
To be clear, developers will have the same freedom to distribute their apps directly to users through sideloading or to use any app store they prefer.
They’re fucking with us
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html
You’re free to distribute your app wherever you like, but no one will be able to use it.
iOS has had this same system for forever and nobody’s ever (seriously) claimed you could sideload on there.
And, just like that, no more modded apps, no more custom stores, everything is tightly under control unless you install a custom ROM (and then it’s no more banking apps,etc.). And it’s all for our own good, after all, big brother Google knows what’s best for us!
Requirement of authentication apps is making it trickier too. If you want to go to a concert or sporting event vended by ticketmaster, you’re fucked outside of Android and iOS.
Clocking into jobs increasingly requires Android or iOS.
Yes, there used to be papers for “coordinate systems” you could use as 2FA, and SMS one-time-passwords… but they are slowly being rolled out in the EU due to security concerns and the “Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)” standards mandated by PSD2. EU banks are transitioning to app-based and biometric authentication now… here you literally need a phone if you want any form of online banking.
yeah, I had to resurrect an old phone to go to a concert last week. It’s possible I’ll never go to one again. I wouldn’t have bought the tickets had I known about that bullshit.
Some banking apps do work so it would be helpful not to spread that misconception.
True. Also, most banks offer a web interface.
For now… :(
My (major Canadian) Bank app (TD) has always just worked, no matter the state of my bootloader or root, and I’ve never bothered with Magisk Hide or anything like that to try to dodge root checks.
I just use the web browser instead of a banking app.
Welcome to Chinatown world!
American company Americanly doing some American shit:
What is this, Asia??
I think you didn’t get the subtility of my irony. That wasn’t an interogative phrase but and exclamative one accompanied with an adjectives: World. I should have said welcome to the brave new world social credit score coming soon.
Luigi #2 where are you?
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shit like this really should be illegal
Probably is
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