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Recently Google decided that in the future for an app to be installable on an Android device, the developer of this app needs to be ID'd and registered at Google. They claim this is in order to "to better protect users". However, I think, this is a move to get more control over the Android ecosystem, and the data they can collect with it. If anyone who wants to develop an app for Android devices has to be registered with Google, this puts all the power of who to allow distributing an app to Google.

Furthermore F-Droid shows, that safe app stores can exist without registration, neither of users nor of developers. There is zero malware or spyware on the F-Droid store. What there is on F-Droid is thousands of beautiful, useful and, most importantly, safe apps. And this entire ecosystem is at risk, because Google wants to gain more control over its users and over the Android operating system.

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[-] Axolotl_cpp@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago

I think that they will leave the possibility to install apps from ADB

[-] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

you can install apps like that if they've been signed with a developer key. or im guessing if you've compiled them yourself, and signed them with your developer key.

f-droid could still work, but it would need to be signed with a developer key, and any apps on there would need to be signed with developer keys

this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2025
388 points (100.0% liked)

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