Remember?

[izzyondroid@floss.social]

Remember? "Sideloading" is here to stay, and won't go away, they said? Don't be afraid, they said? Something something "we heard you"? Suuuure! Who would ever doubt it!

Attached the copy of a mail developers with apps in the PlayStore CURRENTLY receive. Please, read the text in the red box carefully:

"Apps not registered by September 2026 WILL NO LONGER BE INSTALLABLE ON CERTIFIED ANDROID DEVICES in select countries."

See an exception there? I don't.

#Google #Android #DeveloperCertfication

[hiddenalpha@mastodon.social]

@IzzyOnDroid

Keep Android Open

Your phone is about to stop being yours. In September 2026, Google will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with them.

(keepandroidopen.org)

[izzyondroid@floss.social]

@hiddenalpha Tell me We were one of the first signatories there.

[hiddenalpha@mastodon.social]

@IzzyOnDroid

[seanking@woem.men]

@IzzyOnDroid@floss.social And because what? They want to have more control over Android akin to how Apple does with iOS? Google's pathetic.

[weirdwriter@caneandable.social]

Can Google just call themselves Apple now? @IzzyOnDroid

[julian@digitalcourage.social]

@IzzyOnDroid go @GrapheneOS !

[webkitten@tech.lgbt]

@IzzyOnDroid And this is why I've turned off system updates on my Samsung and sticking with Android 15.

[raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie]

@WeirdWriter @IzzyOnDroid
No, even Apple (they dropped Computer from the name) wasn't really entitled to be called Apple. Long before Apple II the Beatles setup Apple Corp with an apple logo. Apple Computer lost the court case and promised to never do music.
So sued and lost again when they launched iTunes.
They had to pay Fujitsu for iPad & then Cisco for iPhone names.
Google are despicable and I won't call installing locally"Sideloading". Been installing software & data before Google existed.

[synnef@woof.tech]

@IzzyOnDroid it's very disturbing that so many people took google announcing the "advanced flow" for "sideloading" apps as a victory

announce something extremely bad, then make the conditions a little better while not addressing your proposal's root problem, and the general sentiment becomes "welp, this is fine, it could be worse" instead of "we need to keep fighting because our activism is working"

so yeah, keep fighting, you do an amazing job

[kasiandra@chaos.social]

@IzzyOnDroid so motorla is working to bring a @GrapheneOS device (as far i know). @jolla could be also been an alternative. My shity unrootable Nokia works, but if I can't install my apps anymore, my new device must be somthing with Graphene. I don't want an american controlled device without controll. Will fight against this decision, but if google don't allow sideloading I need something more secure.

[king_of_ooo@defcon.social]

@kasiandra @IzzyOnDroid Jolla is largely proprietary so I would recommend avoiding it like the plague.

[schaf@netzkms.de]

@WeirdWriter @IzzyOnDroid they'd first have to develop a working operating system for smartphones.

[ki@chaos.social]

@IzzyOnDroid
what I don't get is, there was an EU court ruling that apple had to allow alternative app shops... why does that not apply to Google?

[edybolos@androiddev.social]

@ki @IzzyOnDroid doesn't the same ruling still allow apple to require apps to be notarized, even if they are distributed on 3rd party app stores? this is basically the same.

[steppl@mastodon.social]

@IzzyOnDroid

The option of "sideloading" without hassle, was years ago (and sofar) the argument for me to go to Android.

But looks like FDroid and alike stores do something right so google wants to protect their market positions. 🤬

[zebidijah@mastodon.social]

@IzzyOnDroid so if I'm locked into a walled garden that won't let me load and run the code I want... Why would I not just opt for the better build quality of an iPhone??

What benefit is left in androids favor if it's just going to act like Apple, which is what drove me to android in the first place??

I foresee a zero-app future and a return/rise of web apps (self hosted or otherwise) instead...

[jwz@mastodon.social]

@IzzyOnDroid They pioneered this with me a year and a half ago. They locked me out of the "Play" [sic] store and made me unable to update my decade+-old app because I wouldn't give them a lock of my hair. https://jwz.org/b/ykcj

[izzyondroid@floss.social]

@webkitten TBH, and this is my personal voice here (though shared by some of our team for sure): this is one of the reasons I enjoy my SHIFT phone for. Android 15 (currently), no Google (by choice; they support two variants of their ShiftOS: with, or without Google – I've chosen the latter). And the libre ROM with full sopport from the device vendor They support their community, at SHIFT

[izzyondroid@floss.social]

@synnef the thing is: that mail does not even mention the possibility of an "advanced flow" – it simply says "sign or die". As if it has been dropped again.