Just tired

This is fucking terrifying: Google is implementing Android Developer Verification, a program that would require all developers to register with Google before distributing apps on Android starting September 2026. There is a widely-circulated narrative that Google already backed down from this. They didn't, and that misunderstanding may be the most dangerous part of the story right now.

This will kill open source. This will make it easier for governments to ban apps. This will mean apps will have to abide by what Google deems acceptable.

Also, deleting Google Play Store does NOT mean you're safe from this. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD AN UNVERIFIED APP ON YOUR ANDROID PHONE, PERIOD. To use an example from the video: it's the equivalent of preventing you from installing a .exe on your computer.

Google is controlling more and more. This is censorship. Fuck this shit.

More info here: keepandroidopen.org. They have a list of worldwide national regulators you can contact to lodge a complaint.

He’s looking for the kind soul that made him eat so he wouldn’t die. He’s looking for the older soldier he protected during a hard fight, who told him he wanted this kid to train under him. He’s looking for the man who got drunk and spilt his sorrows to a ghost fire and talked to him like he was a person. He’s looking for his fellow war orphan, who was self-destructive and suicidal when he last saw him. He’s looking for his general, whom he followed into a ghost rage. Xie Lian is all of these things to Hua Cheng, and more importantly, Hua Cheng is all these things to Xie Lian.

He never forgot that kid he wanted to protect, that young soldier he wanted to train. He remembers the devoted ghost fire fondly, and Wu Ming is the wound on Xie Lian’s soul that never healed. They were always thinking about each other. They always cared for each other to some capacity. They like each other. They are friends. Like, yes, greatest love story ever told, he looked for him forever, but Xie Lian had no idea!! Like, if Xie Lian had known Wu Ming lived, he would have looked for him, too.

I saw this when running newpipe. But wait, it gets deeper. I clicked on the details buttons and it said as of today, we have 83 days left until Google rolls out this new requirement for apps inside and outside of the google play store. If any developer disagrees with their new terms and fees, they will be blocked!

I'll share some of the info below:

Looks like they're trying to nuke the remaining privacy and freedoms we have left on the internet.

What to do?

-Get your developer friends to not comply to their new guides

- Sign the open letter on the site and take action by checking out the full resources list on their website as well!

To summarize, this is all daunting especially when you feel all alone with unfair and inhumane regulations comming out faster than improvements but we got this working together!

Share the link with your friends, family and anyone who will listen!

Link to Keep Android Open.

Link to Install F-Droid.

Link to contact international regulators.

Link to the change.org petition; they have 1,82,263 signatures as of posting this, add yours to the list, I have already added mine.

Link to their open letter, which has signatories of 71 organizations from 23 countries.

Link to the page of their project you can edit, should you have any useful information.

Link to Google's Developer verification survey, for all the good it'll do, it's still worth a shot.

Link to Keep Android Open Wiki.

Link to the Consumer Rights Wiki.

I have seen people in the comments mentioning about how this won't work, and all I have to say to that is do not borrow grief from the future, if you're going to claim defeat just when the battle has started, it's not much of a battle than it is being a bystander. When outcomes have not yet existed physically, anything goes, I read this advice post whenever I'm in need of motivation, and it might be out of place, but I think you should, too. Good advice is when you can apply it to anything, and I think this counts, whatever motives you, goes.

If you're wondering what's the harm or what's the big deal and isn't this just - I'm going to stop you right there, please, keepandroidopen has covered all their bases on that as well.

You've never written a regulator email before? Don't worry, neither have I, but it should be no different from any other email. Just be polite and specific and to the point, and you should be good.

Dear [Title],

I am writing to you as a concerned citizen and technology user to respectfully raise an issue I believe warrants regulatory attention, which is the preservation of the openess of the Android operating system.

This is ncreasing friction around sideloading through repeated warnings and permission barriers that discourage users from exercising their legal right to install software of their choosing.

Pre-installed applications and services that are difficult or impossible for users to remove, effectively tying users to specific service providers without meaningful consent.

API and Play Services dependencies that make it technically challenging for alternative app ecosystems or forked Android distributions to function competitively.

This, if left unaddressed, is a risk that consolidates control that reduces consumer autonomy, concerns that I understand fall squarely within your mandate.

I respectfully urge your office to ensure that core Android APIs remain available to competing ecosystems on fair and non-discriminatory terms and help safeguard consumer autonomy.

I would like to kindly request a written acknowledgement of the complaint. Thank you for your time and for the important work your office does.

Yours Sincerly,

[Your Name]

If you know your history, you know that change has only ever been brought about by people making change. By people standing up for what they believe and know is right. History has taught you that battles are bloody, and in that, you forget that battles are also won.

You forget that every right you hold today was a fight someone else started. And here we are again, the battlefield looks different, but the battle is the same. An open platform is not a technical preference and it should not belong to a single company's interest. The moment we accept that a corporation decides what software you can run on a device you paid for, we have accepted something our ancestors would have recognised immediately as control.

They fought kings for less - and you know this, alright? I know you do. History is not some abstract, vague concept. History is not just meant to be in just be read in your history books. History is not made of people who waited, history is full of hope and spite and stubborness and life, and you are part of history, and you are alive.

Overview

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Android_Open

https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Android_Developer_Verification

Editorials and Blogs

“An Open Letter Opposing Android Developer Verification” — https://f-droid.org/en/2026/02/24/open-letter-opposing-developer-verification.html

“Keep Android Open” — https://f-droid.org/en/2026/02/20/twif.html

“Your Smartphone, Their Rules: How App Stores Enable Corporate-Government Censorship” — https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/app-store-oligopoly

“Application Gatekeeping: An Ever-Expanding Pathway to Internet Censorship” — https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/application-gatekeeping-ever-expanding-pathway-internet-censorship

“What We Talk About When We Talk About Sideloading” — https://f-droid.org/en/2025/10/28/sideloading.html (Hacker News Thread)

“F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree” — https://f-droid.org/en/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html (Hacker News Thread)

“Pluralistic: Darth Android” — https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/01/fulu/

“Google plans to block side-loading like Apple, declaring war on Android freedom” — https://tuta.com/blog/android-side-load-apps-google

“Keep Android Free and Open” — https://www.swechaap.org/blog/keep-android-free-and-open/

“Join The Protest Against The Closing Of Android” — https://www.i-programmer.info/news/193-android/18419-join-the-protest-against-the-closing-of-android.html

Press Reactions

“F-Droid says Google’s Android developer verification plan is an ‘existential’ threat to alternative app stores” — https://thenewstack.io/f-droid-says-googles-android-developer-verification-plan-is-an-existential-threat-to-alternative-app-stores/

“With developer verification, Google’s Apple envy threatens to dismantle Android’s open legacy” — https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/with-developer-verification-googles-apple-envy-threatens-to-dismantle-androids-open-legacy/

“37 groups urge the company to drop ID checks for apps distributed outside Play” — https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/24/google_android_developer_verification_plan/

“'Keep Android Open' movement fights back against Google sideloading restrictions” — https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/keep_android_open_movement/

“Resistance to Google's Android verification grows among developers” — https://www.techzine.eu/news/devops/135878/resistance-to-googles-android-verification-grows-among-developers/

“'Keep Android Open' Movement Challenges Google's Developer Verification Rule” — https://www.opensourceforu.com/2025/10/keep-android-open-movement-challenges-googles-developer-verification-rule/

“Google kneecaps indie Android devs, forces them to register” — https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/android_developer_verification_sideloading/

“Open-Source Android Apps at Risk Under Google's New Decree” — https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-f-droid-warns-google-developer-decree-open-source-android/

“Google's New Developer ID Rule Could Harm F-Droid, Says Open-Source Advocate” — https://reclaimthenet.org/googles-android-id-rule-threatens-f-droids-future

“Google's developer registration 'decree' means the end for alternative app stores” — https://cybernews.com/tech/googles-developer-registration-decree-end-alternative-app-stores/

“Open-Source Android Apps Threatened by Google's New Policy” — https://www.datamation.com/open-source/android-apps-google-policy/

“Google's new ID requirements could destroy independent app stores” — https://www.techspot.com/news/109728-google-confirms-new-android-rules-significantly-restrict-app.html

“Google's Requirement For All Android Developers To Register And Be Verified Threatens To Close Down Open Source App Store F-Droid” — https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/07/googles-requirement-for-all-android-developers-to-register-and-be-verified-threatens-to-close-down-open-source-app-store-f-droid/

“Google's new developer rules could threaten sideloading and F-Droid's future” — https://www.gizmochina.com/2025/09/30/googles-new-developer-rules-could-threaten-sideloading-and-f-droids-future/

“Google is restricting one of Android's most important features, and users are outraged” — https://www.slashgear.com/1962802/google-restricting-important-android-feature-reason-why-users-outraged/

“Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move yet” — https://www.makeuseof.com/androids-sideloading-limits-are-anti-consumer-move-yet/

“Google's dev registration plan 'will end the F-Droid project'” — https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/googles_dev_registration_plan_will/

“F-Droid says Google's new sideloading restrictions will kill the project” — https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/f-droid-calls-for-regulators-to-stop-googles-crackdown-on-sideloading/

“Google will require developer verification for Android apps outside the Play Store” — https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/25/google-will-require-developer-verification-for-android-apps-outside-the-play-store/

“Google will verify Android developers distributing apps outside the Play store” — https://www.theverge.com/news/765881/google-android-apps-side-loading-developer-verification

“Google will require developer verification to install Android apps, including sideloading” — https://9to5google.com/2025/08/25/android-apps-developer-verification/

“Android Security or Vendor Lock-In? Google's New Sideloading Rules Smell Fishy” — https://news.itsfoss.com/new-android-sideloading-rules/

“Google Demands Dev Identity For All Android Apps” — https://www.i-programmer.info/news/193-android/18276-google-demands-dev-identity-for-all-android-apps.html

“Google Defends Developer Verification” — https://www.i-programmer.info/news/193-android/18356-google-defends-developer-verification.html

“Keep Android Open – Abwehr gegen Verbot anonymer Apps von Google” — https://www.heise.de/news/Keep-Android-Open-Abwehr-gegen-Verbot-anonymer-Apps-von-Google-10965483.html

Video Responses

“I Signed a Letter to Google. Here's Why.” — Techlore — YouTube | Invidious

“Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now'” — Louis Rossmann — YouTube | Invidious

“F-Droid Will Die in 2026 Unless We Act Now” — Techlore — YouTube | Invidious

“Google is Removing Sideloading” — LMG Clips — YouTube | Invidious

“Google's changes to sideloading could end F-Droid” — Linux Weekly News — YouTube | Invidious

“Is F-Droid in Trouble? Google Developer Verification” — YouTube | Invidious

“Google is Applefying Android: The End of Openness” — ChiefGyk3D — YouTube | Invidious

Discussions

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47091419

https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/1ralfa2/googles_sideloading_lockdown_is_coming_september/

https://www.reddit.com/r/fossdroid/comments/1rallch/googles_sideloading_lockdown_is_coming_september/

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45742488

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45409794

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45507173

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45569371

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45742488

https://lobste.rs/s/x1sdu5/f_droid_google_s_developer_registration

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1n1m699/horrible_news/

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1n3jtrf/google_you_royally_screwed_up/

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1n0uy6g/just_received_this_email_now_you_can_get/

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1n2im4j/this_may_mark_the_end_of_android_development_for/

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1n0f41c/google_will_require_developer_verification_to/

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1km8jof/google_play_developer_verification/

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1mzw877/android_developers_blog_a_new_layer_of_security/

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1n7g0cc/to_all_android_devs_speak_up_now_before_you_lose/

https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1oaj908/collection_of_actions_we_can_take_to_stop/

Official Documentation

Initial announcement — https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html

Let's talk security: Answering your top questions about Android developer verification — https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/09/lets-talk-security-answering-your-top.html

Android developer verification: Early access starts now as we continue to build with your feedback — https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/11/android-developer-verification-early.html

Android developer verification: Guides — https://developer.android.com/developer-verification/guides/android-developer-console#complete-identity

Android developer verification: Frequently asked questions — https://developer.android.com/developer-verification/guides/faq

Introducing the Android Developer Console: A first look — https://developer.android.com/developer-verification/assets/pdfs/introducing-the-android-developer-console.pdf

Download an early look of the new Android Developer Console — https://support.google.com/android-developer-console/answer/16450960

API Documentation — https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/pm/PackageInstaller#DEVELOPER_VERIFICATION_FAILED_REASON_DEVELOPER_BLOCKED

How the advanced flow works for users — https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/android-developer-verification.html

Miscellaneous

Android Developer Verification Discourse by Termux developer agnostic-apollo

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

And it can also state inaccurate fact with CORRECT sources that contradict it.

So even 91% is being generous. They searched factual information multiple times, and even the same query could come back with different results.

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