from https://9to5google.com/2026/03/30/android-developer-verifier... -

> Starting in April, Android Developer Verifier will be installed on devices.

so they're rolling out a system app that will call home to check whether any sideloaded apps have been "verified" with the developer's government ID? and this process will happen regardless of whether the user has enabled the "advanced flow" in Developer settings?

Sorry, but absolutely not.

I stuck with Android for years as a dev as I once did Android apps and occasionally do tinker.

This is my last Android phone and Jolla is my next phone.

I don't see a way out of this except government regulation. The EU has the most motivation to do it, as a huge economic bloc with a lot of motivation right now to become as independent from the US as possible.

I guess I can sort of manage to keep my head above water and keep buying secondhand phones which I unlock and install a supported version of LineageOS. But it's cumbersome, it gets more difficult and more restrictive every time. And I literally have a doctorate in computers for crying out loud! Is there any hope for Granny? For a kid? For >99% of people? Of course not.

This is so clearly a matter for government oversight: prevent abuse, monopolies, protect the citizen's safety, rights, welfare, etc. It's not reasonable to expect consumers to figure out if the meat they buy is tainted, just as it's not to figure out if their phone spies on them, manipulates information, or sells their data (especially when there's a duopoly). That's why we have laws and food inspectors, paid for by the public, working for the public. Same thing with digital rights.

Yeah, no, going back to web native. Keep your verification and your 20%.

Yeah, no. No one needs your spyware.

What % of Android users actually want this? Do they know or care?

I've been using Android since 2010 because it was open in ways that the Apple ecosystem wasn't. I do not want this and imagine hardly any other power users (for lack of a better term) do. I'm already using a mostly deGoogled device but this really seals the deal. I have been longing for a true Linux phone for years and now seems like a good time to get serious about the search and migration plan.

That's seriously horrible. There are 5+ open source android apps that I use and want to continue using that are not available on Play Store, but rather through alternative stores (like Zapstore, Obtainium).

If I get a phone with preinstalled Graphene OS (like the upcoming Motorola phone), then does it avoid this stupidity? Or even with Graphene it prevents me from installing apks?

The sad thing is only a tiny minority of android users side load apps. The rest will feel their phone is one step more secure.

Hey boss: “40M users are running a cracked version of YouTube premium on mobile, what can we do ?”

> our recent analysis found over 90 times more malware from sideloaded sources than on Google Play

So what's the solution then? At the same time, I'm curious how this ends up happening to end users. Enabling unknown sources is trivial in a way (it's just one check box and if you try to install an APK from, say, Firefox, it'll take you right there), but how are people even getting to that point??

"However, our recent analysis found over 90 times more malware from sideloaded sources than on Google Play."

Has anyone seen the report for that analysis. I bet most people here would love to read it too.

It really seems like they are doing a lot to appease the tiny minority of us power users, adb load unaffected, one time toggle in settings to opt out, no change to alternative app stores as long as the apk was built by a verified developer. Crazy how harsh the sentiment is here, there are real people being harmed by scam apps intercepting sms one time codes and this will reduce the rate of that happening. It's not like we can't sideload anymore, though a lot of comments here seem to be implying otherwise.

The Android verification is such a broken experience. Recently I decided to purchase a dev account for my company, so far:

1) provided my company DUNS number etc. once to create the payment account. I did this some times ago, don’t remember the details but it was ab involved verification process and it is marked as verified business payment profile.

2) later on the payment step verified myself with a passport and bank statement to be able to actually pay with a proper bank card

3) After I paid I was told that now I need to verify my identity once more but this time with the passport and the incorporation certificate or some other company document.

fingers crossed that in few days it will be verified and it tells me that there are still website and phone number verification to do once the previous step is done. I already verified my e-mail a few times.

It’s painful, slow and annoying because if you fail at a step(i.e. needs verification that takes days at the payment) you have to start again the step.

I just remembered why I never use Android. It seems like no one owns the process and as a result you get unpolished shitty experience that fulfills the requirements of god knows how many people who work in the same company but don’t talk to each other.

It is way past time to build a 'people's phone', funding it through a platform like LiberaPay [1][2] or Open Collective [3][4], with a requirement for the device to be completely open-source.

[1] https://liberapay.com/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberapay [3] https://opencollective.com/ [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Collective

If we start today, we could have a new phone in 2-3 years. Future generations will thank us.

It's not just phones. There is a concerted movement by massively-moneyed folks to destroy the fabric of open society, so there are a number of different areas that need attention. A coordinated effort across the breadth of society to restore, maintain or improve the foundations of open society.