Google announced that as of September 2026, it will no longer be possible to develop apps for the Android platform without first registering centrally with Google.

The Doctor

@jbz It would not surprise me one bit if everyone pushing back on them as suggested on that site lost their Google access entirely, from Gmail to appdev.

Did it anyway because it's the right thing to do, but have alternate plans in place.

gay_garstly

@jbz All talking about switching to a Linux-phone but Linux is much unsafer than Android. Android has sandboxes, app based permissions and nearly no root access for a reason.

Felix

@project1enigma @lianna @jbz

I don't know.

I hope they will see how google is just laughing at them now with such rules and take appropriate measures, but it seems this topic doesn't really get the noise it deserves.

Wenzel Massag

@jbz https://sailfishos.org/

Clero

@Dubikan @jbz @furilabs @postmarketOS
The Flx1s is probably the best Linux phone currently available on the market. You can purchase it at https://furilabs.com/.

Clero

@gay_garstly @jbz Today, with Flatpak, apps are containerized with app‑based permissions. With Waydroid you can even run Android apps in containers. It’s true the OS isn’t as optimized for a phone as Android or iOS, but if more people start using it, especially in the EU, developers could boost performance and build a safe and truly de‑Googled OS.

Kristin (vis.social Admin)

@jbz When I was in grad school, for Computer Science, I had a course where we programed apps on our phones to do some sort of sensor data collection.

Mine was focused on sound and noise pollution.

The students with apple phones were massively handicapped by Apple policies.

It's disappointing, to say the least, that Android will also be handicapping.

https://kristinhenry.medium.com/the-making-of-mycitysounds-a9757d59e3e4

yorgos

@jbz oh wow thats so bad. So, what is our response? move to iOS? GrapheneOS not mature enough yet and others are lacking behind by a lot..

Sami Lehtinen

@jbz@indieweb.social This increasing platform friction and centralization is precisely why Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are a better path forward. They bypass this kind of gatekeeping entirely. Unless a feature absolutely requires native integration - which is increasingly uncommon - the open web is the superior platform. #PWA #Apps

Uriel Fanelli

@jbz

Google announced that as of September 2026, it will no longer be possible to develop apps for the Android platform

for the android platform, or for their market?

njsg

@jbz Sometimes the smartphone world makes me really want to wipe the thing and figure out a way to install Windows 98.

(No, really, the way I see it, there are way too many things - at least in Android - that are a step backwards compared to Windows 98, and I'm aware that system is far from flawless (and that a non-locked-down UNIX-like system would be much better)... but at least you could install what you wanted to, you could access the whole filesystem, and you didn't need system changes to access application data).)