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Google is requiring mandatory developer verification for all Android apps in 2026 (keepandroidopen.org)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/android@lemmy.world
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If you haven't seen this yet, Google is planning to require mandatory developer identity verification for all Android apps, including apps distributed outside the Play Store, taking effect September 2026. This affects every independent and open source Android developer directly.

This is not just about the Play Store. After September 2026, on any certified Android device, applications from unverified developers will be blocked by default. The only proposed bypass, the "advanced flow", exists only as a blog post and has not appeared in any beta, dev preview, or canary release. No one outside Google has seen it.

The community has been fighting back at keepandroidopen.org:

  • Read the full breakdown of what this means
  • Sign the open letter (organisations only)
  • Contact your national regulators β€” contacts listed by country on the site
  • Add the countdown banner to your project

September 2026 is closer than it looks. The time to push back is now.

Keep Android Open
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[–] 10 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I don't care for cardless payments, but I do use internet banking, you cannot do without at least here, and government apps too are useful and doing with out is just.... Impossible.

Mobile banking is mandatory here, if not able to do mobile banking then you can use non free SMS messages, which sucks.

Government apps mandatory I mean that without, you are cut from most digital government services, which is not practical at all. Survivable, but a pain.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Methinks anyone fighting the system will have to carry two phones: one phone presenting a fake happy face to the government and corps and usable only for bank transactions and bureaucratic processes, and a degoogled phone for the things we actually want to do, like organizing rallies and redistributing samizdat.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago* (1 child)

    You say non free SMS messages as if it's otherwise "free", but the product is you.

    Utility or privacy, it's your pick. If you value privacy more, you won't give in to utility.

    Government apps are the only one I think are hard to do without.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    You talk of what you don't know. Bank apps here are mandatory by law. If you don't or can't use a bank app then you can use a SMS verification approach where you are required to PAY SMS that the bank sends you.

    Receiving SMS here is free, only those from the bank for verification are to be paid without the bank app, it's just a scam to force you to use the bank app.

    The bank app itself is not a scam like a you are the service approach, and it's not free either as you pay the bank services with your bank account fees already. Maybe you don't pay a specific fee for the app, bit you already pay your home banking fees anyway.

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