After the news cycle recently exploded with the announcement that Google would require every single Android app to be from a registered and verified developer, while killing third-party app stores and sideloading in the process, Google has now tried to put out some of the fires with a new Q&A blog post and a video discussion (also embedded below).
When we first covered the news, all that was known for certain was the schedule, with the first trials beginning in October of 2025 before a larger rollout the next year. One of the main questions pertained to installing apps from sources that are not the Google Play Store. The answer here is that the only way to install an app without requiring one to go through the developer verification process is by installing the app with the Android Debug Bridge, or adb for short.
The upcoming major release of Android 16 will feature a new process called the Android Developer Verifier, which will maintain a local cache of popular verified apps. The remaining ones will require a call back to the Google mothership where the full database will be maintained. In order to be a verified Android developer you must have a Google Play account, pay the $25 fee and send Google a scan of your government-provided ID. This doesn’t mean that you cannot also distribute your app also via F-Droid, it does however mean that you need to be a registered Play Store developer, negating many of the benefits of those third-party app stores.
Although Google states that they will also introduce a ‘free developer account type’, this will only allow your app to be installed on a limited number of devices, without providing an exact number so far. Effectively this would leave having users install unsigned APKs via the adb tool as the sole way to circumvent the new system once it is fully rolled out by 2027. On an unrelated note, Google’s blog post also is soliciting feedback from the public on these changes.
Freedom-embracing goverments will hate this. Those with clout may force Google to make exceptions within their bordes. Freedom-hating goverments will love this, it’s one more step of a long march towards making it hard to do things anonymously online.
I wrote my own Android recipe app and have used it for a decade now. It’s just for me and my family (although you can use it if you want because I like to give back to open source in any way possible.) I have no interest in being a professional developer or applying for approval from the big G. This policy sucks.
Might as well just buy an iPhone at this point.
It sounds like this is just a way to stop people installing Revanced Manager unless the devs out themselves so Google’s lawyers can harass them for making 100% legal and non-infringing software.
The only way we can work around this on stock roms I think is https://shizuku.rikka.app/ .
Long live custom roms!
I would imagine that rooting and de-googling the phone would also work, at least for current Android versions. That’s what I will be doing. Unfortunately, there are no custom ROMs available for my phone.
Looks like my comment that used a 4-letter word starting with the letter “F” has been sent to a moderation queue. That’s totally fair enough. But I will state again, that anything on a phone that requires me to upload a photo of my ID will not be tolerated. In the name of some vague idea of “security” for some other party, it genuinely reduces my own security. A drivers licence is for driving. A passport is for passing through ports. Any other use is contrary to their design and insecure. I’d be happy to show ID to a human. But I would not let a business, or a bar, or a restaurant, take a digital copy.
I’d love someone to automate making fake pictures for these kinds of services. Some kind of script where I can input a photo and receive a plausible-looking “ID” in return. Seems like something ripe for an AI.
*-holes doing *-hole things.
More news at 11.
I’ll probably ditch my phone completely and instead build a linux pocket computer with 5G modem.
Google can revoke your developer account for the apps they don’t like (security, insert another excuse here). Sorry folks, but the security of the app i develop for alternative stores (including websites) is none of your business.
Goodbye F-Droid.
We need an upgrade of the EU DMA to tackle this.