How do you feel about the impending lockdown of Android?

[keepandroidopen@techhub.social]

How do you feel about the impending lockdown of Android?

[terminaltilt@climatejustice.social]

@keepandroidopen

It is bad but it is not the end unless we decide to not fight.

[yoasif@mastodon.social]

@keepandroidopen Missing "Good, it may propel interest in real open devices".

EDIT: Thanks for the boosts! Obviously Android should remain open -- but I think we should also try to break free from Google entirely with projects like @postmarketOS

I'm thinking about trying to blog/make videos about #Linuxphones -- follow me and my blog (linked from profile) and add a like if you have interest (trying to keep the spam low here, folks)!

[stonykark@mstdn.ca]

@keepandroidopen @Em0nM4stodon don't care. I'll write my own OS before I build an android app.

[grob@mstdn.social]

@keepandroidopen I'd be interested how many people vote for the option with "Google prioritising user interests" and I salute your humour. 🫡

[cmars@infosec.exchange]

@keepandroidopen Good if we see more diversity in Linux phone alternatives as a result.

[voxel@infosec.space]

@yoasif @keepandroidopen Sadly this is not the reality.

[yoasif@mastodon.social]

@voxel @keepandroidopen Thinking about trying to create content about it... any interest?

[lugh_clyde@mastodon.social]

@keepandroidopen

The question isn't right. Android is going to be there bigger and better AND blended with a lot of what is in ChromeOS today. They needed to be blended to the betterment of both of them.

[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.