253
From F-Droid to emulators, here's who's hit hardest by Android's new verification rules
(www.androidauthority.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2026
253 points (98.8% liked)
Technology
83098 readers
2693 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Ironically, this may be a catalyst for better Linux Phones
Just in time for them to be practically outlawed, if my gut can be trusted. I hope not.
Dark times ahead...
It took 6-10 years for Android to take shape.
On Linux, every app has full access to your browsing history, clipboard (passwords), photos with geo-tags, music, list of other installed apps, contacts. Unrestricted battery and network access -- it's a tracking paradise. And all it takes is one supply chain attack on npm install with typical 4000K dependency packages
Thats why flatpaks exist for those kind of apps and sandboxes are very much possible on linux (even if not widely used for normal programs)
Flatpack is only a piece of the puzzle. I remember in early Android version, an app could increas gyroscope query frequency (i.e. a racing game demanding precise phone tilt), then crash and the gyroscope would drain battery within hours. And again — this is only one example.
The ecosystem must grow — to this day, I cannot set Immich as my default gallery app on LineageOS. So I take a photo, and can't immediatelly look at it. And Android is already mature. There must be a standard and secure way of exchanging calendar events, notes, photos. Developers must adopt this new ecosystem — it takes years.
The best option we have right now is to pressure Google to allow alternative to Play Services and also sponsor AOSP development outside of Google. There are numerous Linux distros, including commercial ones, I don't see why we can't have numerous Android flavors.
Honestly I would much rather long term have decent Linux for phones, as AOSP derived programs will always rely in some way on google code. I would prefer having one large FOSS Linux ecosystem
From the pure technical standpoint, AOSP is better in every way. Fully managed runtime gives better control over resources scheduling, better app sandboxing. Battery life. Uniform hardware support.
All obstacles for it to be open were artificially made by lawyers.
Like Jolla runs Android emulation layer. Same Android but without its benefits.
Linux phones have already been around for many years. Right now we're very close to Linux phones that are usable on a daily basis. Not as close to decent Linux phones, of course, but with the right (not at all unrealistic) resources it could be completely within reach in a year or two.
Also, Flatpaks exist and work pretty much just like Android apps.
I made a full comment in this thread. The bottomline is
It all takes years.
Linux phones are around for enthusiasts since Nokia N900 (which was/is a masterpiece) — yet nothing is remotely close to a mainstream phone.
When I hear 'mainstream phone', in my mind I picture an iPhone or a Samsung. So yeah, Linux phones are definitely not achieving that this decade. Though personally I don't think they necessarily need to, at all.
Point 4 is probably not happening any time soon, if ever, either. Rest is slowly being done and progressing, so I'm not seeing any major problems there.
I don't think anyone realistically expects a Linux phone to compete with an iPhone in terms of ease of use, quality of life features or UI/UX. As far as I've seen, people just want a decent phone with basic functionalities like long battery life, good camera, easy to use and smooth UI, maps and navigation. All while being more private and secure, of course.
Mainstream phone as in "I don't need to debug it via terminal"
The issue I'm pointing at: safe, long battery life, snappy maps while driving is what took AOSP more than 5 years.
It would be very unfortunate to discard all that work and start from scratch.
You cannot sideload on Linux, not unless you're some sort of mutant freak who can reverse engineer C code.
Yeah we can do that. What do you think side loading means? Changing the name of an install doesn't make it different. Back in my day we called it installing a program. Things changed. Then we called it downloading an app. Things changed. Now if it's not approved it's called side loading? Blow it out your ass.
Its a program. Take the training wheels off of the Internet. I grew up when this was a cautionary tale. But up and deal with the consequences or get out.
“Side load” is just language used to mean installing software outside of the official approved vendor store. Linux lets you install software from wherever you want, you’re not locked into a vendor or manufacturer ecosystem. So in a sense all you do is “sideload,” it’s just normal non-corporate OSes call that “installation”
Indeed, it's just called installing there
I guess you are joking? And mean "side-loading" as in injecting custom code via LD_PRELOAD and not the strange definition phone makers use for describing 'installing an app'.
How would reverse engineering c code be side loading? You can get .deb, .rpm etc and install them on your distro as long as it supports the format, regardless of who developed the app, and honestly even if it doesn't support the format there are ways. You can even compile the source code of more Linux apps, at least the FOSS ones, with just a few commands. If anything it would be more realistic to say you can ONLY side load on Linux
Yeah the people who are against linux these days and claim its more difficult im real suspicious about.
Funny how they are just blatantly false fear mongering. Is it Slopya Nadellas alternate account? MICROSLOP! (Hopefully that scared them).