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351

What will you do after Android starts restricting FOSS apps? (reddthat.com)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by PumpkinDrama@reddthat.com to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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I mostly use apps installed from F-Droid, so I’m not sure how I’ll use the phone, except that it’s sometimes required as a contact method.

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[–] PoisonedPrisonPanda@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

where do you get that stuff with a dev key?

sideloading is completely fine, only requirements are the tools on the pc and a cable.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I've seen differing reports on that one. One Q&A with a google rep that made it sound like android studio (? The IDE/toolkit) could still do whatever without a key but with a lot of vague reference to other modes and programs.

Which, to me, reeks of "Sooner than later, all devs will need a key". Because if it were really that clean cut, they would be screaming it from the mountain top.

[–] PoisonedPrisonPanda@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I think that goes similarily with the plan that app publishers need to be authorized to publish on play store? same as with a key. KYC everywhere

so you mean unauthorized apps wont be running on android?

that would be anyway the enshittification of android.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago

so you mean unauthorized apps wont be running on android?

That is indeed the plan and what is meant by "starts restricting FOSS apps" (which is an incorrect statement but whatever)

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/google-will-block-sideloading-of-unverified-android-apps-starting-next-year/

However, making that happen outside of its app store will require Google to take a page from Apple's playbook and flex its muscle in a way many Android users and developers could find intrusive. Google plans to create a streamlined Android Developer Console, which devs will use if they plan to distribute apps outside of the Play Store. After verifying their identities, developers will have to register the package name and signing keys of their apps. Google won't check the content or functionality of the apps, though.

(...)

Google says that only apps with verified identities will be installable on certified Android devices, which is virtually every Android-based device

What was argued was that people can basically just compile/download and deploy their own apps via development tools. Which is unfeasible for the vast majority of users for skill reasons but also, as I said, likely to be blocked by google themselves in the not too distant future.