this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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Does anyone here actually support Google's Developer Verification?

I don’t. I’ve put a warning about it in my repo because I’m against policies like sideloading restrictions, forced ID verification.

Curious what other devs here think. Is Play Store still worth the hassle?

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[–] ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 89 points 1 month ago

I think if Google (or Apple for that matter) wants to play this game, then everyone from the reviewer to the CEO should be held legally responsible when malware ends up not only verified but distributed by them. And by legally I mean also as accessory to the crime.

[–] foremanguy92_@lemmy.ml 77 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Continue publishing app freely, do not verify yourself

Fuck google

[–] jksalcedo@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (3 children)

I have getgoogleoff.me email domain 👍🏼

edit: from disroot

[–] erictile@lemmy.world 4 points 4 weeks ago

Why would you want to pleasure them?

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] artyom@piefed.social 24 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Is Android Studio forcing you to register?

Does anyone here actually support Google's Developer Verification?

At best some are indifferent but I've never heard of anyone who actively supports this.

Is Play Store still worth the hassle i?

Never has been 🔫

[–] forbiddencherry@lemmy.today 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I paid the fee for a dev account near the beginning of Android. Haven't had any apps published in over a decade, but from what I understand my account is grandfathered in so I don't have to jump through as many hoops to get something published if I chose to, compared to newer accounts. Anyhow, since I have an account I suppose I'm unaffected by this decision. Still, it goes against the original spirit of Android as a free and developer-centric platform and I condemn it.

[–] jksalcedo@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I think you still need to register/verify since it will require a valid ID and app IDs (package names).

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[–] inari@piefed.zip 10 points 4 weeks ago

If I were a mobile dev I'd make GTK apps for Linux phones and use Pixiewood to create Android builds:

https://github.com/sp1ritCS/gtk-android-builder

[–] lil_tank@hexbear.net 9 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Is Play Store still worth the hassle?

If you're a for-profit business yeah more or less, if not hell no just publish on f-droid or something

[–] Little1Lost@gehirneimer.de 3 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

f-droid needs the app to be foss. maybe something like codebergXobtainium will work for closed source. There is also itch.io with the inofficial mitch client which could be worth a upload pipeline but i dont know

[–] Remy@lemmy.today 4 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Are there any relevant/common reason to keep an app closed source if its NOT for profit?

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[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Does that mean this app won't be available on app store, but can be installed from other places? I know there are on going changes regarding this topic, but I'm not fully informed. And researching will bring probably ton of Ai generated articles I'm not willing to look into. Could F-Droid still be used on a "regular" Android?

[–] DarkMetatron@feddit.org 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What it means can be read, for example, in Detail here: https://keepandroidopen.org/en/

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Holy mother of duck! This is worse than I thought. I assume custom firmware like LineageOS or e/OS don't have these restrictions. But most people have stock Android off course.

[–] DarkMetatron@feddit.org 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

This rules are part of and enforced by the google play framework, so I would assume that as soon as Google Play and/or Google Play Services are installed on Lineage or other custom roms that then the same limitations come in effect. This is only an assuption by me, based on how I understand it, so I may be, and I hope that I am, very wrong.

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There is an alternative service called microG, an Open Source alternative to Google libraries to replace Google Play Services in example. This makes it possible to use the Play Store without Googles proprietary stuff. However I don't know how compatible it is, but it is big part of alternative custom roms to replace Google as much as possible. I don't use the Play Store, so cannot say first hand how good it works. More info on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroG .

Maybe this new policy and stuff could affect this alternative implementation of Google Services?

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[–] lime@feddit.nu 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

they're going to make it more difficult too. you basically need to enable dev mode a second time, then for every application that can install ap, you need to re-approve then wait 24 hours.

[–] Phantaloons@piefed.zip 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Fuck that, I'll stay unverified/nogapps. They can keep their malware.

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