How do you feel about the impending lockdown of Android?
It is bad but it is not the end unless we decide to not fight.
@terminaltilt @keepandroidopen I highly doubt google is doing this absent pressure.
Giving the right person inside Google the right reasons and numbers to write the right letter to the right person is what could turn it around.
Is that what you mean by "fight"?
That is part of it, but fighting is also about creating social pushback. When we’re loud, bring attention to these changes, and refuse to accept them as the new normal, we change the math for them. Google needs to know that locking down Android is a PR disaster that drives their loyal users and developers away.
@terminaltilt
"Away" where would we go?
It's kinda spooky that Google announced the new rules right around the same time that they started pushing Android's Desktop Mode into the limelight.
The main reason I didn't vote for option 4 is because I expect Windows to abstain from similar actions*: many of their users still expect the ability to install software that isn't part of the Microsoft Store mothership.
(I recall the MacOS people also announced a new policy regarding 3rd party apps, but it didn't involve pestering devs for their government ID:s)
* for the better part of a decade, at least
@keepandroidopen
It's terrible because I can't change to a free OS. My phone would allow it, but I would loose banking and mobility apps.
Based Plant
@keepandroidopen This is one of the key advantages of android compared to iOS 
@keepandroidopen Good, it puts pressure on the free/libre/open folks to build something better.
@keepandroidopen This is the moment to realize that developers contributed to the wrong company "Google" and left Linux behind, yet better late than nothing. Linux is there truly free and open.
@keepandroidopen this is definitely a VERY bad thing
@keepandroidopen This sounds tethered to internet, contradicting their Nov 2025 blog promise "ultimately, it puts the choice in their [users] hands." In some areas, esp during or after wars, internet is not avail. Tethered =/= open. I really hope I'm wrong.
It still doesnt completely rule out scammer attacks,
So why even so harsh
Like scammers could just use a verified app for their use case
Besides I have never heard of a scammer making people sideload apps on android
@keepandroidopen Well, from what Ive saw on SOG at least the Advanced Workflow or whatever name is decent enough after we pushed.
I dont think google would do anything like that without pressure. Now we have to keep pressure to make sure they keep their promisse.
@keepandroidopen With Samsung recently sneakily making it impossible to root their phones thus impossible to run an alternative operating system; and now the Google antics I can safely say if I bother with one at all, my next phone will be a Linux phone.
@keepandroidopen
Let's hope it will just pish people to buy an degoogled phone...
I feeling I was lied to and cheated on in a relationship I spent YEARS defending #degoogle
@keepandroidopen No one trusts Google? Weird, I thought there will be at least one Google maniac lol
@keepandroidopen I'm a contractor at Google, currently (reluctantly) writing documentation to support the verification rollout. Was full time with Android before the mass layoffs started.
I stopped trusting Android to be better than iPhones when they stopped selling Pixel phones with headphone jacks.
I stopped trusting Google to care about its users when they added genAI to their codebase.
And I still have to get up and go to work and pretend I'm happy to be there.
@keepandroidopen honestly I feel like the harbinger at this point. I was also required to document Manifest v3, which killed adblockers on Chrome.
I really hope y'all can at least pressure them to provide a real opt-out process, because it's hard for me to imagine them walking this back entirely. There's folks in there who really believe it'll be good for protecting users with no downside.
@keepandroidopen as a contributor to non-Android open source projects, there will never be an end to software freedom. It's just that freedoms will be removed from specific projects, like Android, while the rest of the open source world continues on as if nothing ever happened.
Not "terrible" because we need a push to have googleless devices. Other than this, yes, it is really bad.
@keepandroidopen more than a solution, this is more of a "ok, we'll allow you to do it but in our own terms" kind of thing. Combined with propaganda to scare people from doing it and a ton of handicaps to actually do it.
@keepandroidopen my feelings aren't one of the options: "A hassle for me, might deter low effort scams, doesn't address the scams and malware present in the official store, but not the worst solution". is that too-nuanced an opinion?
It's obvious that is an attempt to take complete control, **but** from my perspective [free software/independent developers] communities has not build the appropriate infrastructure nor tools to propose a decent security level. Which Google has.
@keepandroidopen maybe it will finally focus peoples minds on directing adequate resorces to refining (to consumer ready level) a linux mobile os. And focus the minds of lawmakers to break the duopoly by legislating that apps must be available to download and run outside the US duopoly (banking and id apps).
I was hoping a tech conglomerate would emerge to fork android and maintain a free version, but that's unrealistic. I think Android is a gonner at this point.
Whoever voted "Good, it's necessary for our safety and security.", should have their drivers license taken away. For safety and security. Stupid is as stupid does.
@rusty__shackleford @keepandroidopen
They're the kind of people who would water plants with Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator.
Other:
No problem, I'll move to /e/os, bye bye Google
@keepandroidopen I feel that at best, it is an attempt to solve a "people problem" with a software fix. I have worked in IT support long enough to know that that never works. It only compounds the problem by creating even more new ones (while not actually solving the original problem).
The illusion of security will be quickly shattered as soon as scammers figure out how to work around it anyway.
@keepandroidopen I'm happy to have preordered the next gen jolla phone!
I never felt the desire to sideload an app, so why should I care either way?
@sibrosan@mastodon.social @keepandroidopen@techhub.social
It's about installing apps.
Sideloading is a propaganda term.
I use #Android without a #Google account. Almost all my apps are being installed using the F-Droid repository.
Why should i create a contract with this weird US company, give them a lot of personal data and let them decide, what i'm allowed to install and use?
I don't want to be a digital slave.
Think about digital sovereignty.
@nick @sibrosan @keepandroidopen If all journalists reporting about this used the correct term "install software", I think the outrage would be a lot bigger.
@nick @sibrosan @keepandroidopen
Imagine getting a new phone and waiting a whole day before you can start using it
@ZenXArch @nick @keepandroidopen
OK, imagined that. What now 
@sibrosan @keepandroidopen You sound like a MAGAt when someone is discussing someone's rights and they say "Doesn't affect me, why should I care?". Makes you sound like a shitty human.... Where there's smoke, there's fire.
@keepandroidopen It's a good feature for a certain threat model, but it should be opt-in.
Motorola has announced on their official site that they will be using grapheneOS for newer models.
@keepandroidopen Google has finally rolled out a “solution” for downloading APK files outside of Google, which, in my opinion, is absolute garbage.
@keepandroidopen What impending lockdown of Android?
@anne_twain@theblower.au @keepandroidopen@techhub.social See https://keepandroidopen.org/
Google announced that as of September 2026*, it will no longer be possible to develop apps for the Android platform without first registering centrally with Google* five months from now
You're replying to the social media presence of a website dedicated to pushing back against this decision by Google.
The question isn't right. Android is going to be there bigger and better AND blended with a lot of what is in ChromeOS today. They needed to be blended to the betterment of both of them.
@keepandroidopen Good if we see more diversity in Linux phone alternatives as a result.
@keepandroidopen I'd be interested how many people vote for the option with "Google prioritising user interests" and I salute your humour. 
@keepandroidopen @Em0nM4stodon don't care. I'll write my own OS before I build an android app.
@keepandroidopen Missing "Good, it may propel interest in real open devices".
EDIT: Thanks for the boosts! Obviously Android should remain open -- but I think we should also try to break free from Google entirely with projects like @postmarketOS
I'm thinking about trying to blog/make videos about #Linuxphones -- follow me and my blog (linked from profile) and add a like if you have interest (trying to keep the spam low here, folks)!
@yoasif @keepandroidopen Sadly this is not the reality.
@voxel @keepandroidopen Thinking about trying to create content about it... any interest?
@yoasif @voxel @keepandroidopen I'm interested