E: apparently it needs to be said that I am not suggesting you switch to Linux on your phone today; just that development needs to accelerate. Please don’t be one of the 34 people that replied to tell me Linux is not ready.

Android has always been a fairly open platform, especially if you were deliberate about getting it that way, but we’ve seen in recent months an extremely rapid devolution of the Android ecosystem:

  1. The closing of development of an increasing number of components in AOSP.
  2. Samsung, Xiaomi and OnePlus have removed the option of bootloader unlocking on all of their devices. I suspect Google is not far behind.
  3. Google implementing Play Integrity API and encouraging developers to implement it. Notably the EU’s own identity verification wallet requires this, in stark contrast to their own laws and policies, despite the protest of hundreds on Github.
  4. And finally, the mandatory implementation of developer verification across Android systems. Yes, if you’re running a 3rd-party OS like GOS you won’t be directly affected by this, but it will impact 99.9% of devices, and I foresee many open source developers just opting out of developing apps for Android entirely as a result. We’ve already seen SyncThing simply discontinue development for this reason, citing issues with Google Play Store. They’ve also repeatedly denied updates for NextCloud with no explanation, only restoring it after mass outcry. And we’ve already seen Google targeting any software intended to circumvent ads, labeling them in the system as “dangerous” and “untrusted”. This will most certainly carry into their new “verification” system.

Google once competed with Apple for customers. But in a world where Google walks away from the biggest antitrust trial since 1998 with yet another slap on the wrist, competition is dead, and Google is taking notes from Apple about what they can legally get away with.

Android as we know it is dead. And/or will be dead very soon. We need an open replacement.

  • Ulrich@feddit.orgOPEnglish
    6·
    10 hours ago

    Yeah this is bad but not even devastating for custom roms like GOS or LineageOS

    Not yet. It’s a concerning trend. It’s certainly put a strain on their already-limited resources.

    I highly doubt Google would lock the bootloader

    …why not?

    Also Samsung hasnt acturally allowed custom roms for a while now while Xiaomi doesn’t either.

    They had unlocked bootloaders. Now they don’t. That’s all I can say about that.

    Even if a developer used the Play Integrity API it doesn’t mean custom roms or other operating systems like GOS arent supported.

    That’s…exactly what that means. That’s the entire point.

    have had no issues with play integrity

    Oh well I suppose if you have no issues, no one else is either? No. You’re just not using the apps in question. But once again, it is a concerning growing trend. More and more apps are implementing it.

    I doubt this will be strongly enforced

    Why would Google lie about this?

    As of now

    As you might have read in the first sentence of the OP, I was not suggesting installing it now.

    • kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      12·
      8 hours ago

      My point is that the issues with mobile Linux is so numerous and severe that the timeframe for when the average person could use it is at least seven years or more.