keepandroidopen.org

In August 2025, Google announced a new requirement: starting September 2026, every Android app developer must register centrally with Google before their software can be installed on any device. Not just Play Store apps: all apps. This includes apps shared between friends, distributed through F-Droid, built by hobbyists for personal use. Independent developers, church and community groups, and hobbyists alike will all be frozen out of being able to develop and distribute their software.

Starting September 2026, a silent update, nonconsensually pushed by Google, will block every Android app whose developer hasn’t registered with Google, signed their contract, paid up, and handed over government ID.

might have to switch entirely to sidelaoding.issue is banking apps

as an android user, will i still get affected even if i use an older version of google play services?

Is this still going to happen? What can we do?

Is this still going to happen? What can we do?

Is this still going to happen? What can we do?

Advocating for Android as a free, open platform for everyone to build apps on.

Advocating for Android as a free, open platform for everyone to build apps on.

If you haven’t seen this yet, Google is planning to require mandatory developer identity verification for all Android apps, including apps distributed outside the Play Store, taking effect September 2026. This affects every independent and open source Android developer directly.

Rooting disables OEM updates and makes your device unofficial, so you will probably still be able to sideload apps. Depending on how this shitstorm turns out though, and if there will ever be a need for it, I would love to help people root their smartphones.

#Google will cut off independent developers to #Android if they do not register with Google first. This will kill independent platforms like @fdroidorg@floss.social and severely impede FLOSS devs from creating apps for Android.

#Google will cut off independent developers to #Android if they do not register with Google first. This will kill independent platforms like @fdroidorg@floss.social and severely impede FLOSS devs from creating apps for Android.

We, the undersigned organizations representing civil society, nonprofit institutions, and technology companies, write to express our strong opposition to Google’s announced policy requiring all Android app developers to register centrally with Google themselves in order to distribute applications outside of the Google Play Store, set to take effect worldwide in the coming months.

People should be able to write software for Android, and distribute it outside Google’s Play store, without having to:

People should be able to write software for Android, and distribute it outside Google’s Play store, without having to:

Ademais do que o próprio site explica, Brasil aparenta ser um laboratório do mundo, o que não faria estranhar ser um dos quatro primeiros países onde o Google testaria o mesmo que o Discord está tentando impor, identificação de identidade na contra-mão da privacidade e segurança. E ainda que no caso do Android numa parcela menor de quem está envolto nesse ambiente, é uma parcela de extrema importância.

People should be able to write software for Android, and distribute it outside Google’s Play store, without having to:

“Keep Android Open” is an informational page for Android users and developers regarding Google’s upcoming Android Developer Verification registration for third-party apps. It is also being updated to provide the latest and most-active information on who to contact and how to get involved.

Keep Android Open