i love how google will basically destroy the worlds most popular mobile operating system just to protect youtube premium revenue
this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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Literally TODAY someone I know installed an application called "PDF viewer for android" that had a green adobe icon and it started wrecking absolute havoc on their phone with pop ads and redirects to scam support sites.
The AppStore is full of this shit.
We really need some money poured into the Linux mobile space because this is a terrible direction to go.
dug my pinephone out of a drawer yesterday and gave it a whirl. still pretty rough unfortunately even after updating postmarket os.
Cool being able to SSH into my phone though
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Plain AOSP is already pretty brutal. An alternate OS is practically a non-starter. Phones aren't just web browsers and SMS.
- Tap-to-pay
- Including transit fares
- Bank apps
- RCS messaging
- MFA and security apps
- Work profiles
- Streaming media that's not 480p
Not to mention that the camera is going to suuuuuuuuck.
Forking or improving AOSP is more viable but none of the more mainstream ROMs want to piss off Google. That's why most LineageOS forums forbid talking about defeating Play Integrity.
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Google can go fuck itself.
Hopefully this will put some jet fuel into the Linux phone development.
I'm checking out Graphene OS next week and pretty pumped about it. This Google ratfucking has been just the push I need to get off Android.
And obviously I haven't stopped telling people around me haha
Most F-Droid users are NOT custom ROMs.
This means that as long as F-Droid does not get their own developer key - it will become useless.
F-Droid is privacy focused - both dev and user, and they oppose requiring devs to essentially give up their privacy and sign the APK with their own dev key.
Now, if F-Droid is dead, GrapheneOS becomes useless. Who would want to develop apps for the 0.0001% of the population (i.e custom ROM users)
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Again not on custom ROMs.
(And could help the push of new alternatives os)
If it's easy to patch this out, I wonder if there will be manufacturers that will choose to do so for their official ROMs. It would be extra value for the brand, imho. A reason to choose, say, Samsung, over a Pixel phone, if Samsung were to patch this restriction out, for example. After all, they also have the Galaxy Store which is also offering apps that I doubt they'll want Google to regulate.
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I hope google fails as a whole in the near future and gets dissolved once and for all. Sick and tired of tech companies trying to be sources of authority, working with authoritarian governments, and dictating what you can and can't do.
I’ll be honest, tech got us by the balls… and they know it.
No they don't. There are viable, open source alternatives for 99% of the software/services we use. The fact that people are not aware of it is already like half of the real problem.
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So now 3rd party app stores need an ADB loopback to work around that.
Not hard to do, but uselessly annoying.
Installing the third party stores would be way harder than it is right now if they do that though. No way the devs of e.g. f-droid are getting a verification on an app that bypasses Google's new 'safety measures'
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How long until they patch out getting developer mode working on you phone without a registration, requiring you to pay for it and also take a "short" AI generated crash course in app development and monetization?
Hold up, why all this crap... when most of the malware/infostealers is on Google Playstore... and googe itself is doing it.
It's called "eliminating competition".
The only advantage Android has over iOS is being able to install [any] software.
That's one of the big ones. Also phones with SD card slots and headphone jacks.
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Is this even legal in the EU? The majority of phones in the EU are Android phones so this effectively gives Google control over what apps can be installed to the majority of phones. I thought the Digital Markets Act was designed to prevent exactly this.
Google will become the exact same as apple, third party stores are technically "allowed", but requires Google's official stamp (digital signature), it's same with Apple. Its probably legal since Apple is already like this.
A corporation like Epic Games will be left alone since they can afford lawyers. An open source volunteer dev making a Youtube alternative client will get their certificates revoked under dubious "ToS Violation" claims and they won't have money to sue.
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this seems to be going the shittitest direction it could...fuck Google
ps: loving the apple simps coming out to claim iPhones aren't perfect just because you can't "sideload" lool
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Get fucked
Ok, fuck this crap. This was the main reason to prefer Android over iOS. Going to start trying out some of the FOSS Android forks
Another example of Embrace, extend, and extinguish
Google has stopped releasing parts of android as open source and it releases some as a code dump without the modification history to make harder to use. Android forks are going to struggle to keep up.
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Free market and openness my ass.
ThIs ApPLicAtIoN iS DaNgErOuS
This is the final push I needed to switch to GrapheneOS. Thanks Google! Now, if only I didn't have to give Google money for the Pixel so I can install GrapheneOS.
This will kill the FOSS app ecosystem regardless. Android forks of any form should be abandoned. GrapheneOS can be a decent stopgap though.
Sorry for the downvote, but I see this take repeated here on Lemmy so often and it just makes no sense. This will not kill the FOSS app "ecosystem". Nothing whatsoever changes for FOSS ROMs like LineageOS or GrapheneOS. And as long as there are FOSS operating systems, apps will be developed for them. If anything, this could drive mainstream adoption of free/libre Android forward, re-invigorating the scene through public outcry.
And to the people who propose fully jumping ship from Android to "Linux phones" because of Google's recent changes, you would only make the app support matter worse. As someone who daily drives both a phone with LineageOS and one with postmarketOS (mainline-ish Linux), mobile app support is endlessly worse on Linux than the fallout from Google's developer registration could ever be. That is not to say that Linux phones will not eventually get to a point of reasonable maturity, but it is way too early and frankly utterly irrational to bury AOSP Android or needlessly hate on it.
Normal people aren’t flashing custom ROMs. The audience for some FOSS software will shrink by several orders of magnitude.
But the pain really kicks in when your government/bank/streaming apps require attestation of a signed boot chain and Google Play services running.
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Google hit by EU lawsuit in 3.. 2.. 1..
EU wants to read all your online communications so, no, they will not be saving you from this. This furthers that goal
Luckily it's not the same body in the EU who's in charge of enforcing AND setting up proposals.
The EU is not a "one opinion" government body.
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Can someone "redpilled by corporate" explain me how this policy actually increase security?
It's trivial for a malware developer to pay $25 with a stolen card and a stolen id
Look at the "verified" bots on xitter, they didn't solve the bots problem, rather just monetized it
It's a lie. Google just wants control.
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i bailed on android to join my family on ios, and i hate it. now i cant even go back comfortably. so... linux phones?
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We need better Mobile Linux / Android distros
What did you expect? Did you think we were living in a fairy tale and could build a better world?
So, will an app like this
https://codeberg.org/muntashir/AppManager
which uses (w)adb, be able to install apk as I currently do?
Or will they also fuck this up ?
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Calling it already, one of the most popular apps around will be a wrapper around ADB in order to install new apps - maybe Shizuku or Sui?
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