Remember?
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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. 🤬@steppl by "alike stores" you mean @IzzyOnDroidOrg and others I guess? 🥰 Yes, I hope we're doing something right. We give our best!
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@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 I'm currently trying to debate whether or not to get a Pixel just to put GrapheneOS on it.
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@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
@jwz luckily you know at least two places accepting you and your apps without doxxing you. We don't want your personal data – and I mean that: what we don't have, we cannot loose. We need to know it's really you? OK, there's always GPG & friends ("sign your commits"). But of what interest to us is your private data?
️ But then, we make no money with our "store". We do not sell ads (or data). We runs things because we love to do stuff with and for the community. Support is of course welcome -
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.
@IzzyOnDroid @neil Countries that are not the "Select Countries" is where the exception lives. The likely translation here is that consumers in a market without functioning consumer protection bodies / law will be the "Select Countries" where those apps can't be loaded.
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@niedlichenacktschnecke Google certified (i.e. "ships with GApps etc"). If you're running a libre ROM without GApps, you're liberated from that.
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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.
@IzzyOnDroid I've been on Android since the beginning, but that ends next time I'm buying a new phone.
"Don't be evil" silently disappeared ... -
@IzzyOnDroid@floss.social And because what? They want to have more control over Android akin to how Apple does with iOS? Google's pathetic.
Because google thinks we are morons. They think that we are not smart enough to use our devices responsibly. They also think we are stupid enough to buy their bullshit excuses.
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@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.
@IzzyOnDroid yeah that's weird, my first assumption is that it's just clever writing to scare developers into signing up for the verification program, because the advanced flow has already been clearly announced and explained
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@IzzyOnDroid I've been on Android since the beginning, but that ends next time I'm buying a new phone.
"Don't be evil" silently disappeared ...@Sir_Limpalot Just the first word disappeared, actually…
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@IzzyOnDroid yeah that's weird, my first assumption is that it's just clever writing to scare developers into signing up for the verification program, because the advanced flow has already been clearly announced and explained
@synnef If it has been clearly announced and explained, why isn't it even mentioned there in a footnote – but the opposite stated? I'd expect at least a small hint then. Instead, an absolute claim.
Honestly: if I bought something, it should be mine – and my decision how I deal with it. I don't need a sugar daddy watching me, and telling me how I should behave. If I want security measures, I want to choose them by my own terms, sorry.
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@Sir_Limpalot Just the first word disappeared, actually…
@IzzyOnDroid @Sir_Limpalot ... and not silently: they made an announcement when they decided to change their bye-line.
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@synnef If it has been clearly announced and explained, why isn't it even mentioned there in a footnote – but the opposite stated? I'd expect at least a small hint then. Instead, an absolute claim.
Honestly: if I bought something, it should be mine – and my decision how I deal with it. I don't need a sugar daddy watching me, and telling me how I should behave. If I want security measures, I want to choose them by my own terms, sorry.
@IzzyOnDroid @synnef They maybe omitted it to push as many developers as possible to do as they're told?
And I totally agree with you!
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@IzzyOnDroid @synnef They maybe omitted it to push as many developers as possible to do as they're told?
And I totally agree with you!
@Numerfolt Maybe they don't reach the "critical mass" fast enough?
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@Numerfolt Maybe they don't reach the "critical mass" fast enough?
@IzzyOnDroid True, if nobody did that, they couldnt implement it without loosing lots of money. I like the way you think
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@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.
@EdyBolos @ki @IzzyOnDroid I expect Google to just block "notarizing" for apps they don't like, like Apple recently blocked an app from third party stores, under the argument of "security": https://torrentfreak.com/apple-revokes-eu-distribution-rights-for-torrent-client-developer-left-in-the-dark/
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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.
@IzzyOnDroid "Apps not registered by September 2026 WILL NO LONGER BE INSTALLABLE ON CERTIFIED ANDROID DEVICES in select countries." would probably mean "You'll have to jump through all the hoops with the (for the time being, we'll make it worse down the line "for your safety") one day wait etc. in EU and some other few countries, otherwise fuck you".
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@niedlichenacktschnecke Google certified (i.e. "ships with GApps etc"). If you're running a libre ROM without GApps, you're liberated from that.
@IzzyOnDroid @niedlichenacktschnecke Or a liberated ROM with GApps, if you want that.
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@IzzyOnDroid There are though.. but I agree this is not ideal at all for an "open" system. Apps will still be installable, whether you sideload or push from pc. There will just be pretty annoying hurdles to go the sideload route. Had me worried there!! My projects app folder was about to be deleted.
@tillbtc @IzzyOnDroid The language of that letter suggests that apps will NOT still be installable, even with hurdles, in some countries. The ones they feel like they can get away with it in.
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@EdyBolos @ki @IzzyOnDroid I expect Google to just block "notarizing" for apps they don't like, like Apple recently blocked an app from third party stores, under the argument of "security": https://torrentfreak.com/apple-revokes-eu-distribution-rights-for-torrent-client-developer-left-in-the-dark/
@SylvieLorxu @ki @IzzyOnDroid Yup, or apps that certain governments don't like.
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@SylvieLorxu @ki @IzzyOnDroid Yup, or apps that certain governments don't like.
@EdyBolos @ki @IzzyOnDroid Sadly even of that I already have an example ready. When this enforcement becomes OS-based instead of app store based it is game over: https://fortune.com/2025/10/05/why-did-apple-google-remove-iceblock-app-immigration/
