Does anyone here actually support Google’s Developer Verification?
I don’t. I’ve put a warning about it in my repo because I’m against policies like sideloading restrictions, forced ID verification.
Curious what other devs here think. Is Play Store still worth the hassle?
I think if Google (or Apple for that matter) wants to play this game, then everyone from the reviewer to the CEO should be held legally responsible when malware ends up not only verified but distributed by them. And by legally I mean also as accessory to the crime.
Continue publishing app freely, do not verify yourself
Fuck google
I have getgoogleoff.me email domain 👍🏼
edit: from disroot
Why would you want to pleasure them?
Did you actually have to calculate the price of 12 coffees (if the extra g is a typo)?
Any apps that were on play store already get automatically added to the verified list without them even asking you.
I paid the fee for a dev account near the beginning of Android. Haven’t had any apps published in over a decade, but from what I understand my account is grandfathered in so I don’t have to jump through as many hoops to get something published if I chose to, compared to newer accounts. Anyhow, since I have an account I suppose I’m unaffected by this decision. Still, it goes against the original spirit of Android as a free and developer-centric platform and I condemn it.
I think you still need to register/verify since it will require a valid ID and app IDs (package names).
Went to https://play.google.com/console and it all seems to be okay. The two derelict apps already have package IDs and my info is on the identity tab. I think I may have visited that page a year or two ago in response to an email from Google. Or is there something else?
we’ll see in the next months
With any luck there will be pushback somewhere that Google can’t ignore.
Is Android Studio forcing you to register?
Does anyone here actually support Google’s Developer Verification?
At best some are indifferent but I’ve never heard of anyone who actively supports this.
Is Play Store still worth the hassle i?
Never has been 🔫
deleted by creator
If I were a mobile dev I’d make GTK apps for Linux phones and use Pixiewood to create Android builds:
Does that mean this app won’t be available on app store, but can be installed from other places? I know there are on going changes regarding this topic, but I’m not fully informed. And researching will bring probably ton of Ai generated articles I’m not willing to look into. Could F-Droid still be used on a “regular” Android?
What it means can be read, for example, in Detail here: https://keepandroidopen.org/en/
Holy mother of duck! This is worse than I thought. I assume custom firmware like LineageOS or e/OS don’t have these restrictions. But most people have stock Android off course.
This rules are part of and enforced by the google play framework, so I would assume that as soon as Google Play and/or Google Play Services are installed on Lineage or other custom roms that then the same limitations come in effect. This is only an assuption by me, based on how I understand it, so I may be, and I hope that I am, very wrong.
There is an alternative service called microG, an Open Source alternative to Google libraries to replace Google Play Services in example. This makes it possible to use the Play Store without Googles proprietary stuff. However I don’t know how compatible it is, but it is big part of alternative custom roms to replace Google as much as possible. I don’t use the Play Store, so cannot say first hand how good it works. More info on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroG .
Maybe this new policy and stuff could affect this alternative implementation of Google Services?
They’ve been continually removing things from that and making actual Google stuff more required. To be fair, they had a good reason because it let them get around the carriers never updating anything.
Few Android phones have stock Android, some get close to stock, most have branded Android, with bloat.
they’re going to make it more difficult too. you basically need to enable dev mode a second time, then for every application that can install ap, you need to re-approve then wait 24 hours.
Fuck that, I’ll stay unverified/nogapps. They can keep their malware.
No it means you won’t be allowed to install the app on any certified devices at all. Regardless of where it’s obtained.
@thingsiplay@lemmy.ml is right, it just means Google will refuse to publish it on the Play Store. It can still be installed by going through a convoluted process to enable sideloading.
Yes I am.
I spend a long time of my career in IT Sec.
80% of android users will freely install whatever APK from wherever.
Info stealer infected fake apps are a massive risk to a huge part of the user base.
Yes, it will get a little bit more complicated to sideload. But nobody is prevented from it.
And everybody that is against user protection (and yes, this is fucking user protection, just not for you) is invited next Christmas to de-worm the android devices of my family without wiping them.
EDIT for all those that only read the memes. Sideloading will NOT be disabled. You have to jump though extra hoops.
Yes, the way they do this is not even testable yet and we can argue over details.
I support the principal idea, as someone who had to live with the fallout of people who installed “it support apps” because someone told them to
Most scam apps are in the Google Play Store btw
maybe because it was to easy to upload to the googleplay store. Maybe there should be some kind of verification of the person uploading. How could this be accomplished?
Joking aside I don’t think side loading should be encoumbered like this, but for the official app store it makes sense.
If their IA was so great, they would use it to curate the mess that is their app store…
Spoken like a true Microsoft and Google agent.
Because I think we should protect people that are not tech savvy. I am open for a debate
Total control and taking away freedom is not negotiable. Not literally, but: “Maybe we should ban programming languages on Windows and Linux too, because it could be used to program viruses. We should protect the not so tech savvy.” See what I mean? Instead we should look forward to a better way of helping them. The proposed way of Google is not acceptable.
Your heart is in the right place, but your mind is not.
Google et.al. is pushing for IDV in every segment due to lobby pressure from meta to build REAL user database for advertisement purposes in the age of LLM drivel. Every “protect the *” has meta’s government lobbyists behind it.
There could be alternative approaches, but meta’s goals just so happens to align well with a fascist government’s that thinks they need to stamp out dissenting voices and anonymity.
Not denying that there could be better ways, and also, that was never the question .
so the real-world id requirement is also user protection? play store is basically an info stealer at this point.
so your family’s devices get their apps from outside the play store?
people are effectivly prevented from sideloading. not “just a little more complicated”
of course nana uses adb exclusively to install apps on her smartphone, after all this is a totally real story about user protection right?
80% of android users will freely install whatever APK from wherever.
I should care because? Do they care about me not wanting google shoved in every aspect of my life?
Then just don’t use an android phone, that’s a choice isn’t it???
“Google shouldn’t have restricted Android, that’s their (anti-user) choice, isn’t it???”
The other party shouldn’t be able to unilaterally chance the terms. It is my phone, after all, and I strongly believe I should be able to do whatever I can with the devices I own.
Even then, what other choice for an usable but actually of property of the user phone do you suggest? iPhone?
It’s also extremely convenient for Google, a company lobbying ID laws, to add ID harvesting; or for Google, a company pushing for anti-user behaviour to add anti-user behaviour. If this was about security, they would stop shipping spyware, and take security seriously, something they do not.
Technically, you can always use the library and the post office, so yeah, it’s a choice. I guess.
How about an apple phone?
Or how about that: projects like Linux and Ubuntu phones died because there was no interest in it, because there was Google. And now, everybody wants an alternative.
They are out there, you can use opensource Android forks, you don’t have to use Google
Android forks
Soon to be locked out from participating in society because of play integrity, digital IDs and age verification. The EU is very likely to use strictly Apple/Google, the very monopolists they “despise”. Don’t give me the “just go to the post office by foot”… I could also “technically” live in a cave, I guess. Man stfu, your bullshit doesn’t stick here.
Ah another myth “the EU App”, I will not go I to detail, but each member state must implement its own app. Yes, the reference implementation uses Google services currently, but there is not a single , working , published app! Not one.
So I’ll be back at the end of the year, be proven right and you got your pay and your karma anyway.
At least make it a toggle, like you need to request access for your account for your phone.
Kneecapping everyone because idiots exist is idiotic.
It is a toggle. they just locked said toggle behind a 24 hour time lock. It’s ridiculous. I think if they kept it the way it was without said time lock it wouldn’t be anywhere near as controversial.
I don’t want Google to control how many and often I install apps or update them. Imagine having this 24 hour time lock on your PC. Do you know how many people get scammed or malware on PC? Should this be adopted everywhere, because its a good solution? Off course its ridiculous. 24 hour time lock is not acceptable solution. The is literally the worst toggle I have seen in my life.
That’s not even the only issue. Developers have to give their identity / pass to Google. That alone is a multi-worm-level of issue. Google doesn’t care about its users, they only care about controlling the market and everyone.
for all those that only read the memes.
For someone who possibly considers themselves better informed than others, you’re seem to be missing the fact that Google’s plan had no option for sideloading unverified apps until a sizeable outcry from us (a lot of professional developers and users). Unverified app installation was only allowed (via new hoops) after this action. For now. The fact that Google’s plan did not have an option for installing unverified apps shows us what they really want. Therefore it won’t be surprising if they make it increasingly difficult or impossible in the future.
I’m pretty sure they originally planned to allow sideloading through ADB, but I might be mistaken.
I think I recall the same. Otherwise development would be a nightmare. But then again, that isn’t remotely equivalent to sideloading (as colloquially understood) and would still kill F-Droid. Not saying you’re saying it’s equivalent.
What Apple does is they give you a temporary certificate that expires in like a week.
Works for development. Makes actually using your own apps impossible.
– Frost
Nobody asked if I would be fine with disabling sideloading. The answer would be no
Is there any way to build Android apps for Linux if you have the source code? I know Waydroid is a thing but that’s basically just a VM of Android. I was told Jetpack compose is supposed to be cross platform so there should be a way migrate it right?
Yes. Jetpack Compose is multiplatform. If you have the source code of an android app, you can port it to your preferred platform, but you have to adjust most of the code depending on the functionality since APIs are platform-specific unless it’s JVM only.
