Technology

Google getting rid of all the things that made people want an android phone over an iPhone.

Remember that brief period in the US where, for a fleeting moment, Lina Khan went after a few companies for monopolistic practices?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

Malware-ridden apps made it into Google's Play Store, scored 19 million downloads

https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/apps_android_malware/

How about letting the users decide what to sideload? What the hell?

I hope the EU is ready to also sue Google.

Google says it's no different than checking IDs at the airport.

Fucker, if I own the airport, own the planes in the airport, am the only person using my own planes in my own airport, then nobody is asking for my ID.

Our phone, our software choice.

I don't like how tech is evolving...

Wasn't Apple sued for not allowing sideloading?

The moment I don't get to run my own stuff and F-Droid, I'll be switching off smartphones.

Oof, time to bite the bullet and switch email providers. Shit like this is why I've spent the last couple years de-googling my life.

I'm probably going to spam this around a bit, since most people don't seem to know about it, but a reminder that FuriLabs has a (GNU+)Linux phone with decent spec.s and the ability to run Android app.s (from what I've heard) pretty decently: https://furilabs.com/

Biggest drawback is it's based on Halium. Usual growing pains of a new product/company apply but apparently the company is pretty responsive and their dev.s have worked with customers to get things like calling working with the carrier and bands of their country where it hasn't worked before so improvements move pretty quickly.

Collection of different experiences I've variously seen online over the last year or so:

• https://clehaxze.tw/gemlog/2025/07-20-flx1-actually-usable-linux-phone.gmi
• https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41839326
• https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1fa1ljn/furilabs_flx1/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1j46f2w/flx1_linux_phone_display_out/
• https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/furiphone_flx1/

I don't own one, myself, so I can't give any personal experience but I've seen it around for a few years now but most people don't seem to even know about it. Maybe there's a reason for that? But none I've ever seen anyone say.

so basically i have to send in my id to google just to sideload a test apk i made in flutter to my own phone to test it out?

Two things especially worth noting from the article.

If you have a non-Google build of Android on your phone, none of this applies.

This means that at least GrapheneOS will be unaffected for now. Other ROMs without gapps will be unaffected only as long as you don't install gapps. Since Graphene has a sandbox for them, I'm assuming it'll be fine. That is, unless Google decides to lock the bootloader entirely.

In September 2026, Google plans to launch this feature in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. The next step is still hazy, but Google is targeting 2027 to expand the verification requirements globally.

So most users worldwide still have at least 1.5 years until it's implemented. Plenty of time to get a Pixel and install Graphene on it. Or to figure out some other plan.

Don't get me wrong - this is insane, unreasonable and horrible news for everyone. We should push back as hard as physically possible against it. However, at the very least we still have some time to figure things out before the policy rolls out.

The Android ecosystem has been feeling more like an invasive chaotic advertisement machine the past few years. The play store is a cesspool, the weather app switch was poorly executed, Google Podcasts went to the graveyard, and Google pay getting shut down meant I had to switch back to vomits Venmo.

I still have Android gaming handhelds, but why wouldn't I just get an iPhone the next time I go to replace my phone? I can't believe I'm even saying that after being so die hard Android so for years.

Great. This could be just the boost that free android needs. Graphene and eos can brace for a few new customers i guess

I honestly wish for the responsible people to die. A natural, painless death, but let it be quick. All of silicon valley is so evil it would be deemed unrealistic for a movie villain. They are selling out our freedoms and planet for what? They are already stinking rich.

FYI: Apple got sued for blocking other app stores. This would prevent f-droid from being installable

EU: How often do I have to teach you, old man?

Last I checked, unverified software didn't run the risk of making my phone fly itself into, and bring down, a skyscraper.

Did some research and here are your options:

• use custom mod (the new restriction only applies to certified devices). You can use microG (/e/, iode, Lineage) or sandboxing (GrapheneOS) to run apps requiring Google services. Google will still try to kill it but my bet is it will still work for at least a couple of years
• Ubuntu Touch - you can buy new devices with it, it can run android apps using waydroid but you will not be able to run any apps requiring google services. It can run native Linux apps. Native UT apps are build using QML. It has a completely new system API so it's closer to Android then native Linux. It's based on Halium which uses the kernel from Android
• PostmarketOS - native Linux running native Linux apps. Can use waydroid. Few supported devices but everything works on PinePhone Pro and few others phones.
• Droidian or similiar - Debian running on Halium. Kind of half way between PostmarketOS and Ubunut Touch. Native Linux but running on Android based kernel

Personally, I will stick with GrapheneOS for now (my Pixel still has at least 6 years of support). When I'm unable to run all the apps I need on it I will switch to two phones setup: stock Android for work/car apps, some Linux phone for everything else. When my Pixel dies I will switch to iPhone.