Google is cracking down on what users will be able to side load on their Android phones, going forward. New plans laid out by Android developers have announced that by 2027, Google will require app developers to register with Google and verify their developer identity, for side loading APKs, even outside of the Google Play Store. Currently, users can freely install any app they find online, even to their own detriment. As a measure to improve security for the bulk of its customer base, Google is getting rid of that, which could notably impact how a lot of gamers use their phones as emulation devices.

Starting next year, Android will require all apps to be registered by verified developers in order to be installed by users on certified Android devices. This creates crucial accountability, making it much harder for malicious actors to quickly distribute another harmful app after we take the first one down. Think of it like an ID check at the airport, which confirms a traveler's identity but is separate from the security screening of their bags; we will be confirming who the developer is, not reviewing the content of their app or where it came from. This change will start in a few select countries specifically impacted by these forms of fraudulent app scams, often from repeat perpetrators.

Registering with a developer on Google would require app-makers to give their personal information to Google in order to release an app, including in some cases, official government identification. The initial changes will roll out to Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil, and Thailand, in September 2026, with other countries switching over in "2027 and beyond".

Source

 

[ZeroT21]

Google just became my most hated company ever.

So much for ''Don't be evil''

 

[Bladexdsl]

Man. If we let them get away with this, they'll probably start finding to lock us out of our house...

"alexa open the god damned door!"

alexa: i'm sorry you sideloaded the door lock i cannot let you in

 

[AlamosIT]

 

[DragonMals]

I expect most users don't install apks themeselves, most users won't care.

I'm one of the people that install apps by sideloading them.

 

[eriols]

This is worse than Windows.

 

[player594]

This is exactly why I left Apple 20 years ago. I don't like being restricted.

 

[phonz]

Oh cool the one reason I choose android over iOS.
Well hopefully we can still install custom ROMs

 

[SonyUSA]

This is just going to lead to rampant ID theft on the part of the people that pre-compile the binaries for people. What do they care if they are using stolen ID to sign the packages if it can't be traced back to them?

 

[HarveyHouston]

There will be jailbroken devices that re-enable sideloading after this gets passed everywhere. Mark my words.

 

[Treskatae]

google a lil bitch

 

[Exnor]

Well its time for another anti-trust lawsuit here in the EU.

Why the f**k cant i install what i want on my own phone, that i pay full price for? If i wanted to pay and own nothing i would buy an iPhone (!).

Post automatically merged: Aug 26, 2025

This isn't about security this is about control. You already get warnings when installing APKs and have to enable settings in order to do so.

They're protecting their revenue from the likes of Revanced and other system level ad blockers.

Vote with your wallet and don't support this.

I agree 100% BUT there is a huge problem: There are no alternatives.

The market is either iOS or Android.

For now we can still install open source alternatives on some android phones, but is getting more and more difficult since a lot of new devices have locked bootloaders, close source drivers, etc...

The only alternative is to fund a open source device, and hope that it does not suck or is too expensive.

 

[Greninji88]

Quality of Androids gone down recently, android 14, 15 and 16 all look the same, just buggy-er, and now APKs can't be installed soon...

 

[Bladexdsl]

just disabled auto updates on my shield forever

 

[CMDreamer]

With that move, more people will drop Android devices and go to that rotten apple products. They are already blocked/locked/controlled as much as possible.

Android is about freedom and free will to do with my device whatever I see fit, in any way I want.

Whoever came up with that stupid idea should be fired immediately.

 

[Viri]

Man. If we let them get away with this, they'll probably start finding [ways] to lock us out of our house...
Oh wait a minute...

You kind of deserve that, if you were dumb enough to install a "smart lock" to your front door. A normal lock/door knob is less than 20 bux. I always think of this story

Spoiler

https://www.newsweek.com/amazon-smart-home-brandon-jackson-echo-racial-slur-allegation-1806947

The amusing part was, that the guy was also black, and he didn't say anything racist.

A few years ago, I had Amazon put a hold onto my account, and demand to see my ID card to be able to use my account. They thought I was a bot, because I decided to buy a bunch of Ramen on sale. When they did that, I had to RELOG every Amazon account back in, on a bunch of devices. If I had a smart lock with Amazon, my ass would have been locked out. I told customer service about it, they said sorry, and made my next Subscribe and Save order free.

 

[Kioku]

With that move, more people will drop Android devices and go to that rotten apple products. They are already blocked/locked/controlled as much as possible.

Android is about freedom and free will to do with my device whatever I see fit, in any way I want.

Whoever came up with that stupid idea should be fired immediately.

I'm already struggling to drop my iPhone 16 for my Galaxy. It'll be a good couple of years before this rot hits stateside. Still.... You know they did it as a business move.

 

[cearp]

I'm one of the people that install apps by sideloading them.

I am with you, so am I!
But I'm aware that the majority of users are not.

 

[Plstic]

I've already switched to linux full time 7 years ago but motherboards don't have locked boot loaders. I can imagine that google is going make phone manufacturers have locked boot loaders if they want to have google play on their devices.

 

[cearp]

I can imagine that google is going make phone manufacturers have locked boot loaders if they want to have google play on their devices.

Play store is just an app really, easy to install. People do this for cheap android devices (Chinese ones etc)

But if your device is not "play store certified", you're not able to install some types of apps.
I think it's possible to get your device certified, I think I did it once, but that will probably get harder?

It's clear that none of this will get any easier lol...

 

[The Real Jdbye]

In theory, I'm kind of okay with this.

The risk is that Google will use this power to start requiring approval of each individual app, similar to Play Store apps.
Many apps aren't allowed on the Play Store for various reasons, users have legitimate reasons to want to use these apps and if similar rules start being enforced for sideloaded apps then that's going to upset every power user and many are likely to switch to iOS, since the openness of Android is the primary thing keeping many of us Android fans to begin with.

Or, even if they don't go that far, they could still choose to blacklist developers just for doing things they don't like, even if it's not malicious.

The power should *ONLY* be used to blacklist malicious developers. The moment it gets used for anything else, the system is broken. Seeing that uBlock Origin has been removed from Chrome, I don't trust Google not to misuse this power. They will likely use it to blacklist developers of root apps, system modifications or whatever else they don't agree with.

Revanced would 100% be one of the first things to be blacklisted, since it directly affects their bottom line. For non root users, that means everybody will need to sign the apk with their own developer account (but likely this can be automated on device similar to how things are on iOS)
Root users wouldn't be affected much, since Magisk will probably bypass this automatically or with a simple toggle. But not every device can be rooted.

Bottom line, this will likely negatively affect a lot of power users who can't or won't root for whatever reason.
I expect that test signing apps for yourself without a developer account will be possible, but maybe with severe limitations (like needing to be re-signed weekly or monthly or whatever) making it a hassle.