Google: pay and register as a developer with us, or your users must wait a day after deciding to install your app.
No surprise that the alternative to handing over ID, money, and contractual agreement to Google is a hostile experience for users.
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/android-developer-verification.html?m=1
@abmurrow @neil That isn't a "dark pattern", though. A dark pattern is trying to mislead you into doing something you didn't actually want to do.
And it doesn't really make it that much of a pain: You do this once, and then you can go ahead and install third party software as much as you'd like. For someone who likes to do so it'd just be an annoying extra step when setting up their phone for the first time.
@WAHa_06x36 @neil I think we're splitting hairs here on the definition.
Look-- why are we even talking about allowing someone else decide how you're allowed to use your device? Someone who has a financial interest in pushing you toward a software ecosystem that they control and can use to monetize your interactions with that platform? Why defend an obvious power grab by one of the largest corporations on the planet?
Sure, it starts with a mild inconvenience, and then, a year from now when no one is paying attention and for some abstract security reason they refuse to explain, a new update comes in that makes the day long wait mandatory for every download. Or maybe, they just disable side loading, like they've been talking about doing for ages.
It's not unheard of, and it's not being defended in good faith.
@abmurrow @neil Because having a device with strict security guarantees is actually a good thing for most people, much more so than having a device that can run arbitrary software.
It may not be for you and me, but to deny that it is an advantage for many is to blind yourself to the truth and to choose to be ignorant, and that is never going to get you anywhere.
It seems rather convenient that the necessary and proportionate solution to a problem (which is not clearly enunciated) just happens to entail Google taking more control over Android, locking out competing app stores, and requiring government-issued ID from everyone who wants to distribute software conveniently for Android.
@WAHa_06x36 @abmurrow Perhaps, one day, they will publish the analysis which shows that it is the only solution, or the most proportionate of all available solutions.
I am sceptical of this.
Neil Brown
A.B. Murrow
Dag Ågren ↙︎↙︎↙︎