How do you feel about the impending lockdown of Android?

[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.

[wizardofdocs@wandering.shop]

@keepandroidopen honestly I feel like the harbinger at this point. I was also required to document Manifest v3, which killed adblockers on Chrome.

I really hope y'all can at least pressure them to provide a real opt-out process, because it's hard for me to imagine them walking this back entirely. There's folks in there who really believe it'll be good for protecting users with no downside.

[urun@mstdn.social]

@keepandroidopen No one trusts Google? Weird, I thought there will be at least one Google maniac lol

[thetearmiser@mastodon.social]

I feeling I was lied to and cheated on in a relationship I spent YEARS defending #degoogle

[liberteouvriere@h4.io]

@keepandroidopen
Let's hope it will just pish people to buy an degoogled phone...

[thanatos@techhub.social]

@sibrosan @keepandroidopen You sound like a MAGAt when someone is discussing someone's rights and they say "Doesn't affect me, why should I care?". Makes you sound like a shitty human.... Where there's smoke, there's fire.

[h0m3@mastodon.social]

@keepandroidopen Well, from what Ive saw on SOG at least the Advanced Workflow or whatever name is decent enough after we pushed.

I dont think google would do anything like that without pressure. Now we have to keep pressure to make sure they keep their promisse.

[spacekite@mastodon.social]

@terminaltilt
"Away" where would we go?

[zenxarch@mastodon.social]

@keepandroidopen

It still doesnt completely rule out scammer attacks,
So why even so harsh

Like scammers could just use a verified app for their use case

Besides I have never heard of a scammer making people sideload apps on android

[jjr90@techhub.social]

@keepandroidopen This sounds tethered to internet, contradicting their Nov 2025 blog promise "ultimately, it puts the choice in their [users] hands." In some areas, esp during or after wars, internet is not avail. Tethered =/= open. I really hope I'm wrong.

[onlykievv@bonito.cafe]

@keepandroidopen this is definitely a VERY bad thing