Google wants to control all software on Android

Google will force all developers that write software for (nearly all) Android devices to be “verified” by them, with roll out of the “verification” system starting in September 2026. This “verification” will involve giving Google personal identifying details including your legal name, home address, email and phone number. And $25 whilst their at it.

Google will additionally force all developers to give them their app signing keys. These cryptographic secret keys are used to prove that the app came from the developer and not someone else (such as a malicious hacker distributing malware) and that the app has not been tampered with.

Google already has this information for nearly all developers on the platform as it has all been required for publishing on Play Store since 2023. The new policy is an extension of this control to all app stores on Android.

This is done under the guise of “making Android safer” but in reality this is not the case. Android devices already have Play Protect, which scans apps when they are installed and also frequently scans the entire device in order to find malware. It then deactivates or even deletes any apps that it finds suspicious.

In fact, Developer Verification may make Android software more dangerous due to the risk that a hacker could steal the secret keys from Google and use them to distribute malware. Google could also, potentially, use the keys to distribute its own malware such as user tracking.

Why are they really doing this?

What this will do is give Google a huge amount of control over developers, even those that chose not to use Googles own app store (Play Store). It will suffocate other app stores such as F-Droid, which currently provides a superior service compared to Play Store with additional features such as clearly stating negative aspects of apps and having many fewer scam and/or advert-filled apps as well as Epic Games who charge a much lower sales fee - nothing for apps that make less than $1 million and then only 12% after that compared to the 30% that Google takes out of every Play Store purchase.

It will also force users to comply with Googles assessment of what apps are permissible - Play Protect can be turned off but Developer Verification enforcement will be mandatory (for nearly all devices).

Thirdly, this may even allow Google to track what apps users are installing even when they are installed from app stores that they don’t own because their phone will ask Googles servers to check if the app developer is “verified” every time an app is installed. This data is undoubtedly valuable to Google - they are primarily an advertising company.

Why now?

Google may be choosing to do this in response to the recent-ish US Supreme Court ruling that Play Store has an illegal monopoly. The court will now force Google to share its app library with Play Stores competitors in order to (hopefully) end Play Stores monopoly over app distribution on Android.

If this happens, Google will not want to give up the near total control over apps that the monopoly gave them and are looking for other ways to preserve it using their control of the Android operating system.

Solution?

It seem that lately companies are acting more and more dictatorial. If we don’t do anything about it, soon Google and Apple together will have complete control over what we do on out phones.

To get around the coming restrictions, you could use a de-Googled Android distribution such as LineageOS or CalyxOS, or a Linux distribution for phones such as PostmarketOS but both options come with trade-offs - some apps don’t work on de-Googled Android and if you go with Linux then you will need to use Linux apps rather than Android ones - and they are are often not made for phones. You could also connect a computer to your phone and use the Android Debug Bridge to install apps without restrictions, but it is command-line heavy and inaccessible to most people. In reality the majority of people aren’t going to do these things.v

A much better solution would be a the breaking up of the Google-Apple duopoly over phones so that they have less power to do things like this.