Opening my weather app this morning I was greeted by this warning:

Google has announced that, starting in 2026/2027, all apps on certified Android devices will require the developer to submit personal identity details directly to Google. Since the developers of this app do not agree to this requirement, this app will no longer work on certified Android devices after that time.

It’s the first time I hear about this, seems to be about:

Tech crunch article from august, “google will require developer verification for android apps outside the play store”

Cirrus app: Github

Was this a big thing I somehow missed? I hope more devs will follow suit.

Ulrich
link
fedilink
11618d

They’re not “pulling” the app from anywhere, it’s just simply not going to work on “certified devices”. This is the end of Android as we know. It’s been a good run.

When one thing dies, another thing is born.

UBPorts is ready to go and isn’t tied to Google hardware like Graphene.

It’s also absurdly lacking in features compared to Android/iOS (never mind app support) and the dev team is so small they can barely maintain existing device support. VoLTE is still unsupported in the majority of devices. The OS doesn’t even have basic security features like drive encryption

I like UBPorts a lot but I think the alternative/FOSS smartphone market is too fragmented between it and SailfishOS/PostMarketOS that none of them will emerge with enough adoption to be real competitors to the iOS/Android duopoly. Didn’t mean to be overly negative. Just my two cents

Doesn’t have manufacturer support

Volla, Fairphone, and Pine offer devices with it preinstalled and it works on a wide variety of others.

I think you’re aware of the size of those manufacturers compared to the ones shipping Android.

Ulrich
link
fedilink
518d

And what’s being born?

It should die first

@Auli@lemmy.ca
link
fedilink
618d

I believe you can sideload with ADB.

Ulrich
link
fedilink
118d

You can but that’s REALLY not a solution. How many times/day to plan on plugging in your phone and running a couple dozen commands to update your apps?

Nope, from how Google puts it, play services will block any and all apps without a valid signature from working at all on play certified devices.

You’ll be able to install them via adb probably, but when you run them play services will stop you.

Play services already prevents certain apps from starting until you say a yes/no on a popup, so the framework for this is already in place.

Mubelotix
link
fedilink
3
edit-2
17d

This is completely wrong. I asked this exact question to google in their poll and I got an answer from them saying it would always work with adb. It’s for devs so you can run those apps of course. This means F-Droid can implement a Shizuku backend to install apps and the UX will be even better since it will bypass popups. However, initial setup will be far more complicated

Only works for those of us who own a pixel or bought one for the reason but this won’t effect Graphene users

Ulrich
link
fedilink
1018d

It’s going to affect 100% of Android users because no one is going to develop apps just for the 10 people using uncertified devices.

We’re at least a dozen!

Except it will, because developers aren’t going to bother maintaining an app where the install base is just pixel users with Graphene

@Auli@lemmy.ca
link
fedilink
1
edit-2
15d

Why if it isn’t on the app store the install base is already insanely small. People who sideload are not the majority.

Yep. We’ll be fine for a while but Google’s seriously axing the platform for foss projects and security-minded users. In no more than half a decade I anticipate Android’s open-source development scene will begin looking very similar to Apple’s.

@Akip@discuss.tchncs.de
creator
link
fedilink
1918d

Yes you’re right. I’ve worded that wrong in the title!

Ulrich
link
fedilink
1318d

You can edit it 🙂

@Akip@discuss.tchncs.de
creator
link
fedilink
2718d

Done! for the curious, original title, “Cirrus App dev pulling app from certified android devices in '26/'27” new, “Cirrus app dev informing the app will stop working on certified android devices in '26/'27”

Create a post

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

  • Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
  • Don’t promote proprietary software
  • Try to keep things on topic
  • If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
  • Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
  • Be nice :)

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

  • 0 users online
  • 113 users / day
  • 519 users / week
  • 1.44K users / month
  • 4.49K users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 4.27K Posts
  • 108K Comments
  • Modlog