F-DroidSep 29, 2025

Broken links aside (fix incoming), #FDroid raises the case against the #Google developer forced registration once again.

We'll skip the small talk, go read, and better yet, spread this wide and far: https://f-droid.org/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html so people are made aware, actions can be taken and #Android is kept truly open!

F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

For the past 15 years, F-Droid has provided a safe and secure haven for Android users around the world to find and install free and open source apps. When co...

Show threadSabrina Web  πŸ“ŽSep 30, 2025
@fdroidorg this looks like the best place to ask this question.
Hypothetically, if a developer chooses not to register with gooooogle, but still writes apps and publishes their code on gitea or codeberg or some other repository, can they still have their apps on fdroid? Maybe not on play store, but in fdroid?
Show threadF-DroidSep 30, 2025
@sabrinaweb71 They can, but then their friends and family can't install their app. Who wants that?
Show threadJonesSep 30, 2025

@fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71

So, correct me if i'm wrong, the matter is this: if the google diktat will be actually enforced, no app not signed by google will be able to run on android.

Show threadF-DroidSep 30, 2025
@jones @sabrinaweb71 We see this confusion a lot. Google will only hold "a list of application ids and their associated signatures" that they *approved*. The signing part continues as usual. Play apps after Nov 2021 will be signed by Google, older ones will be signed by the developers. On F-Droid, apps are signed by the developers (reproducible builds) or by F-Droid.
Show threadJonesSep 30, 2025

@fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71

Thank you. So it would be technically possible to keep f-droid.org running, even if google will actually enforce their diktat (as is very very probable, i seem to understand), to distribute the apps of those developers who would not register with google, right? And maybe also the apps of those developers who would?

Show threadF-DroidSep 30, 2025
@jones @sabrinaweb71 We sure do can, but we are also aware that the wast majority of our users is not running Google-free devices.
Show threadJonesSep 30, 2025
@fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71
So these apps that f-droid.org could still distribute, regardless of whether developers will choose to register with google or not, will *not* run on any phone with... what? The "google play services"?
Show threadF-Droid
@jones @sabrinaweb71 On the so called "stock" phones that come with Google apps, yes.
Sep 30, 2025 at 2:32pmWeb
Show threadJonesSep 30, 2025
@fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71
Thank you :)
So f-droid would still work only on fairphones and other very costly degoogled phones, right?
Show thread🌸 lily πŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈ   ΞΈΞ” ⋐ & ∞Sep 30, 2025
@jones @fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71 only on murena fairphones, not the normal google ones. it would also (from what i understand) work on any android phone running a non-google rom, like a pixel with grapheneOS
Show threadJonesSep 30, 2025
@tauon @fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71
Thank you :)
So, it would run only for an even smaller user base of people with lots of money.
Show thread🌸 lily πŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈ   ΞΈΞ” ⋐ & ∞Sep 30, 2025
@jones @fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71 i wouldn't say "lots of money", you could get a phone that can run a non-google os for relatively cheap, if your own phone can't do it (although, would you really want to wipe your phone to unlock the bootloader?)
it just means people can't use their existing setup to run the apps, which is mega bullshit (and yes, they shouldn't have to pay more to be able to)
Show threadJonesSep 30, 2025
@tauon @fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71
I've searched many times for a degoogled rom supporting the 3 phones i have had (a ~100 euro samsung phone, another one, and the one i currently use, a nokia c-20 that i've bought for 60 euros), and never found one, so it is evident to me that this google diktat, when enforced, would cut out the vast majority of the people of the world from the possibility of running on their phones free and open source and much much more secure apps that don't spy on them.
Show threadkainisenniOct 1, 2025

@jones
Fairphones aren't degoogled by default, you have to do that yourself. If the Fairphone is running the stock Google-certified ROM, apps from devs not approved by Google (so most on F-Droid) won't install.

Degoogled phones don't have to be costly though, I'm running LineageOS on a budget Motorola from 2019. There are less and less phones with unlockable bootloaders though, and that's a problem because you need that for degoogling.
@fdroidorg @sabrinaweb71