cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/45277582
Opening my weather app this morning I was greeted by this warning:
Google has announced that, starting in 2026/2027, all apps on certified Android devices will require the developer to submit personal identity details directly to Google. Since the developers of this app do not agree to this requirement, this app will no longer work on certified Android devices after that time.
It’s the first time I hear about this, seems to be about:
Cirrus app: Github
Was this a big thing I somehow missed? I hope more devs will follow suit.
Degoogled android ROMs will not have this restriction, as they will just have googles verification system removed. So until linux for mobile is a bit more ready you can still use graphene/lineage/etc.
The issue with that is that fewer and fewer phones have unlockable bootloaders.
So long as you can still have GrapheneOS and others. Google’s handling of pushing updates and device tree shows how fragile that actually is. Linux phone is going to be the best solution so long as Google runs Android
Linux wouldn’t fix that
If you don’t have the source code you can’t do anything.
If you want to get technical, the source code for iOS for the iPhone X was never and will never be released
Aparrently they are trying to close the Sharing off android.
They can’t actually do that as vendors build off of the sources.
Luckily we have other vendors like Motorola who are very supportive of custom roms
“Very supportative” like making you wait 7 days before the option in dev settings become un-greyed lol (serious wtf, I was just about to install Lineage and learned about this bullshit, welp, guess I have to wait till next week)
It really sucks but at least the unlock process is simple and reliable.
Much better than Samsung and other companies
Idk if I’d call it “very supportive”, Motorola voids your warranty to install custom ROMs.
Are there any companies that don’t?
Anyway I’ve never had to use the warranty plus my most current phone is a eBay refurbished device
Google and Fairphone don’t. I can’t imagine Shift does either being a German company.
Yes they are. And it’s bleak.
I’d stay way from Graphene but Lineage OS is solid
Does your opinion come with a reason?
Louis Rossman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4To-F6W1NT0
Techlore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx7CZ-2Bajg
TL;DR: The Graphene devs are crazy. I wouldn’t trust them personally. If they were making something lower risk like a text editor I wouldn’t be a concerned but I take my phone seriously.
Thx for the context.
Why stay away from Graphene?