Is this just a signature check when installing? Could it be bypassed by getting your dev cert and just signing everything you want to install? Things like obtainium and fdroid could even have a "load your own cert" option and automate this.
My blood glucose monitor is not on the play store. So one dy next year I'll wake up and no longer be able to get that data...?
Sorry, your survival is incompatible with this version of Android.
You are probably half-joking, but.... yeah.
I fucking hate this timeline. Actually, scratch that, that is way to placid and abstract.
I hate the assholes in charge. Fuck all of them. Luigi did nothing wrong.
The terrible risk that you install apps which don't use google-tagmanager, googleanalytics and don't send logging and user data to Alphabet.
Won’t someone think of the ~~children~~ shareholders
It seems Google has been tightening control over Android in recent years and this looks like the next major step. Most people probably won’t care and the only realistic option for users who value software freedom and privacy is to wait until Linux or another free and open-source OS becomes a viable alternative. Overall a disappointing turn of events for the mobile computing space
mobile computing space
I'm starting to feel like the Mobile Computing space died somewhere around when the Subnotebooks and the PDAs died and we've been living illusions ever since.
It's the Mobile Appliance™ space now.
FairPhone with /e/OS by default is the EU answer by the e-Foundation
They're closing in on alternative ROMs with their fucking shitty device integrity checks, I'm afraid it's only getting worse. I literally had to switch back to stock Android because none of the e-government apps of the country I live in NOR two out of my three banks work on /e/. Literally impossible to participate in society unless I sell my soul to Google, sadly.
I really hope we're able to fight back and win the war.
That's sad, and so backwards...
If they really wanted to make sure the data on the phone is safe, the integrity checks should be about making sure the phone is built from FOSS with available source code, that can be publicly audited and even the banks themselves could check it for security.. which should actually rule Google services out, not the other way around!
My personal favorite is how they are doing it to prevent data theft and malware. All they have ever done is trick people out of data. All of their shitty apps that I can not remove from my Samsung phone ARE the malware I do not want. Fuck Google and every person that works there!
Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the actual fuck, Google‽
I swear to Hephaestus, at this point I'm considering switching to UBPorts or Sailfish OS or something...
And, just like that, no more modded apps, no more custom stores, everything is tightly under control unless you install a custom ROM (and then it's no more banking apps,etc.). And it's all for our own good, after all, big brother Google knows what's best for us!
Some banking apps do work so it would be helpful not to spread that misconception.
True. Also, most banks offer a web interface.
For now... :(
I'm probably going to spam this around a bit, since most people don't seem to know about it, but a reminder that FuriLabs has a (GNU+)Linux phone with decent spec.s and the ability to run Android app.s (from what I've heard) pretty decently: https://furilabs.com/
Biggest drawback is it's based on Halium. Usual growing pains of a new product/company apply but apparently the company is pretty responsive and their dev.s have worked with customers to get things like calling working with the carrier and bands of their country where it hasn't worked before so improvements move pretty quickly.
Collection of different experiences I've variously seen online over the last year or so:
I don't own one, myself, so I can't give any personal experience but I've seen it around for a few years now but most people don't seem to even know about it. Maybe there's a reason for that? But none I've ever seen anyone say.
With a microSD slot and a 3.5mm jack, too. I'm just gonna go ahead and save this
Why does every interesting / unique phone have to be phablet sized. ;(
While I won't tell people exactly what to search, I can guarantee that I can find malware first try on Google Play. Google Play Integrity is just as dodgy.
Yawn. Guess more people will just have to not install gapps..
Wish we lived in a world where open source was funded even at a single percentage of what this oligopoly pulls in each year. We'd have a viable alternative to the duopoly by now.
Let Google know what you think about this: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfN3UQeNspQsZCO2ITkdzMxv81rJDEGGjO-UIDDY28Rz_GEVA/viewform
yup, they are closing in. i wonder why the surveillance wing of the fascist regime wants to control everyone's digital life that more tightly.
you guys may have the power to protest this before it goes worldwide. i wonder if there will be real pushback.
Time to fund /e/OS GraoheneOS etc but also bridges like Waydroid until we can use e.g. PmOS and avoid Android altogether.
Time to fund /e/OS GraoheneOS
no.
those are just android with some modification. two years from now google can easily disrupt them too.
phones need a copyleft new OS. not a foss one, an actual copyleft one. with an independent group managing it.
an OS that a company can decide what app I can run on it is just a surveillance apparatus gadget.
google never wanted user to have control of their phone even 10 years ago.
the easiest way to check this is to see if you can stop an installed app to ever do stuff without you explicitly opening it. they are so many "triggers" that apps can register and run based on them that user cant do anything about them. "wifi connected" "wifi disconnected" and so on.
if an app can "listen" to these triggers and I cant disable it from listening to them (even for non-system apps) them I don't really own my phone. then android is just a attention stealing spam machine at best and spying and terror gadget for world's supremacist regimes too.
I think even apple iOS has that option (disabling backgournd refresh per app ) and in that regard is better than android. If I wasn't against non-foss software and I didn't live in Iran, at this point apple iOS is not that different fro google and is more polished too.
So I guess my next phone will be a Chinese phone. Even if it spies on me, I'll have the freedom to install whatever I want from anywhere.
The Chinese have a golden window of opportunity. Let's hope they don't mess this up.
Custom ROM usage is gonna explode
Probably why Google is also taking steps to make custom ROM development significantly more difficult. They evidently want to kill off all Android ecosystems except the ones they control and watch.
setting up walled garden using security excuse. What's the next excuse?
Won’t somebody please think of the children!
To be clear, developers will have the same freedom to distribute their apps directly to users through sideloading or to use any app store they prefer.
They’re fucking with us
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html
Wow thanks for posting this. I read the whole thing but what I'm not getting is the fact that their started concern is apks "side loaded". This is aimed directly at the foss community as normal people already won't I stall anything outside of the play store. No non tech enthusiasts go straight to git hub ...
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.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
