How do you feel about the impending lockdown of Android?

[travisfw@fosstodon.org]

@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"?

[moses_izumi@fe.disroot.org]

@terminaltilt @keepandroidopen
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

[terminaltilt@climatejustice.social]

@travisfw @keepandroidopen

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.

[iguana09863@mastodon.social]

@keepandroidopen Google has finally rolled out a “solution” for downloading APK files outside of Google, which, in my opinion, is absolute garbage.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/19/google-introduces-a-new-way-for-users-to-sideload-android-apps-that-still-protects-against-scams/

[Gæst]

@keepandroidopen

Motorola has announced on their official site that they will be using grapheneOS for newer models.

[sibrosan@mastodon.social]

@keepandroidopen

I never felt the desire to sideload an app, so why should I care either way?

[dreamos82@mastodon.world]

@keepandroidopen I'm happy to have preordered the next gen jolla phone!

[rez@social.ultimaterez.com]

@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.

[vosje62@mastodon.nl]

@keepandroidopen @fdroidorg

Other:
No problem, I'll move to /e/os, bye bye Google

[manyroads@mstdn.social]

@keepandroidopen I did not know Android was open.... always has seemed crummy and hard to access when I use it. In this world of information sequestration and closure what else should we expect... I guess.

[sodiboo@gaysex.cloud]

@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.

[rusty__shackleford@mastodon.social]

@keepandroidopen
@draken

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.

[draken@masto.nyc]

@rusty__shackleford @keepandroidopen
They're the kind of people who would water plants with Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator.

[leanderlindahl@social.folkdata.se]

@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.

[diegovsky@fosstodon.org]

@yoasif @voxel @keepandroidopen I'm interested

[alexsw101@tech.lgbt]

@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?

[juangames@mastodon.social]

@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.

[arh@expressional.social]

@keepandroidopen

Not "terrible" because we need a push to have googleless devices. Other than this, yes, it is really bad.

[lattera@bsd.network]

@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.

[wizardofdocs@wandering.shop]

@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.