Alexia Aug 25, 2025
www.androidauthority.com/android-developer-verification-requirements-3590911/

I must reiterate. I really like open systems.

This is the opposite of that. It's yet more infrastructure for Google to force dependence on Google Play Services in the wider Android ecosystem.

It's also a great way to kill off a bunch of independent developers that make zero money from their project from publishing software for your platform.

This idea needs to be canned.
Google wants to make sideloading Android apps safer by verifying developers’ identities

Google wants to make sideloading safer on Android by verifiying the identities of developers who distribute apps outside the Play Store.

Android Authority
Show threadAlexia Aug 25, 2025
Software should not require permission to be written.

Software should not require permission to be distributed.

Software should not have a central entity controlling it.

The future is decentralized, fuck your centralized signature verification checks.
Show threadRyan HydeAug 26, 2025
@alexia @bigzaphod What’s cool about anarchy is that it always works because everyone is altruistic. See also libertarianism.
Show threadSean HeberAug 26, 2025
@RyanHyde @alexia it's not anarchy to want to be free to write and run software without permission. People don't need permission to write a novel or build a contraption in their garage.
Show threadRyan HydeAug 26, 2025
@bigzaphod @alexia False equivalency. Your garage contraption doesn’t have the same potential for harm as software. Your novel can never log my keystrokes.
Show threadzoeAug 26, 2025
@RyanHyde @bigzaphod @alexia cool story, I still don't want google deciding what software I fucking run on my devices and who's allowed to make it
Show threadRyan HydeAug 26, 2025

@zoee @bigzaphod @alexia That’s fine for you to want that. I don’t want that. Both things can be true.

Look, I’m not saying that <Big Tech Company> should have all the power in the world, or at they should be the sole arbiters. But I also don’t think <Whatever Developer> should have free rein. These forces need to be in proper tension for the industry and society to function well.

If you want to make the argument that the system is not currently balanced, I’d agree with you. But I’ll never agree to arguments for an unregulated market.

Show threadzoeAug 26, 2025

@RyanHyde @bigzaphod @alexia Yeah okay but that's exactly what this is doing? Google will have the choice to approve or not of a developer. That's absolute and they will abuse this, as companies always do.

What even is the "free rein" for developers you are talking about? That they can make and publish stuff without being forced to go through 50 hoops including revealing their identity to get the approval of your favorite megacorp? Maybe I, a user, don't want a corporation to have more power over my own hardware than me?

We're not even talking about an "industry", or a "market"? This is nonsensical

Show threadGlyphAug 26, 2025
@zoee @RyanHyde @bigzaphod @alexia this is the free reign in question, and probably why these stories are breaking at the same time: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/malicious-android-apps-with-19m-installs-removed-from-google-play/
Malicious Android apps with 19M installs removed from Google Play

Seventy-seven malicious Android apps containing different types of malware were found on Google Play after being downloaded more than 19 million times.

BleepingComputer
Show threadGlyphAug 26, 2025
@zoee @RyanHyde @bigzaphod @alexia My feelings about this are really complicated so please do not take this as a blanket defense of google (or for that matter, apple). If you like, you can assume that they are merely using this threat as a pretext for a power grab, rather than remediating it. But it is important to understand that the threat itself is real.
Show threadfoxAug 26, 2025
@glyph @zoee @RyanHyde @bigzaphod @alexia How is the threat real? I have a hard time imagining a user accidentally sideloading an app or even getting tricked into it. You have turn on sideloading in the settings, somewhere deep in the permissions setting. Then you have to find the apk file in the file manager. Most file managers that are installed by default on Android hide the internal directory and dont surface apks by default. So you most probably need to install an external file manager.
Show threadSandelinosAug 26, 2025
@pixelsfanryo @glyph @zoee @RyanHyde @bigzaphod @alexia It is not that complicated. You download an .apk, then you either click on the download notification, or find it in your Downloads folder and click on it. You get a popup saying "<your browser app>: For security reasons, your phone isn't allowed to install apps from this source...". There is a button on the popup that sends you straight to the correct settings page, you flip the switch and the app installs.
Show threadfoxAug 26, 2025
@Sandelinos @glyph @zoee @RyanHyde @bigzaphod @alexia Oh yeah I forgot you could install it from the download notification, but even then you need to flip the unknown apps switch. In the settings page linked you have to scroll to your browser (at least on my device) and then flip the switch. And even then Play Protect is on so Google scans the app before its allowed to be installed.
Show threadSandelinos
@pixelsfanryo @glyph @zoee @RyanHyde @bigzaphod @alexia Yes I agree with your point, just correcting the details.
Aug 26, 2025 at 8:22amWeb