- cross-posted to:
- opensource@programming.dev
- cross-posted to:
- opensource@programming.dev
Keep Android Open
In August 2025, Google announced that starting next year, it will no longer be possible to develop apps for the Android platform without first registering centrally with Google.
This registration will involve:
- Paying a fee to Google
- Agreeing to Google’s Terms and Conditions
- Providing government identification
- Uploading evidence of an app’s private signing key
- Listing all current and future application identifiers
Sign the open letter. And get active to help oppose the enactment of the policy in other ways listed on the website. Are there any more ways to oppose this?
There really should be a focus on government-level efforts in the EU, to force mobile manufacturers to standardise and open source all firmware sold in its jurisdiction. All OSS mobile OS’s (not on custom OSS hardware) rely on Android solutions because mobile hardware is bespoke, closed source, and non-standard from device to device; the opposite to the PC ecosystem that enabled Linux. The Apple/Android duopoly won’t be broken if mobile hardware vendors can continue creating custom closed-source firmware for their hardware, and there’s simply no reason to allow this anti-competitiveness to continue.