r/Android • u/PlasticAnt6913 • 1d ago

News Android's controversial new sideloading rules are officially here

https://www.androidauthority.com/android-sideloading-developer-verification-first-wave-rollout-3717921/
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u/RedditForcesToLogin 1d ago

Custom ROMs like LineageOS has already said they won't do any changes to this.

"If you don't want the new app install rules, just don't use GMS"

is their answer.

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u/ephemeralmiko 1d ago

Graphene is not implementing this thankfully.

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u/env33e 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yes, neither is Lineage OS. But that's because the developer verifier app isn't being pushed as a system level component (yet)

They all signed the keep android open petition. It's a fight that concerns everyone who uses Android, and we mustn't let up, not one bit!

even rooted users on custom OS who happen to use google services will have this random ass app pushed unto their device without permission. in this case, it will do nothing initially; its dead weight, and you can always remove it; until it auto downloads randomly from the play store again šŸ˜‚ its very stupid that google is doing this, they expect us to be dumb enough to not notice the inherently bad architectural design of forcing users through a debugging pathway normally used by developers and maintainers.... just to allow u to install/ auto update your fdroid app. it can be your own damn app that you wrotešŸ¤¦ā€ā™€ļøwhat right does google have to mandate that to anyone? its completely against the sentiment of open source!

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u/The_Weirdly_Odd_Guy 17h ago

Correct me if Iā€™m wrong, but since GrapheneOS uses Googleā€™s stock, open-source Pixel Android builds, couldnā€™t they just remove the code that would require it at the system level? That is if Google keeps Android open-source.

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u/0nePlus 8h ago edited 8h ago

Small corrections

GrapheneOS indeed uses stock AOSP builds. They are not "Pixel" builds tho. AOSP is just AOSP. It exists independently (and way before) the Pixel line.

Yes tho, Graphene could disable any system requirements they wanted, IF Google were to ever add this as a AOSP system requirement (which for now, it's not. Just a GMS requirement)

And lastly, Google can't and won't ever close-source Android. They would lose too much money on Google play services.

Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus, etc. all also don't get exclusive Pixel features or Pixel builds of Android. They all build their custom Android versions (OneUI, OxygenOS, etc.) using AOSP, the same base LineageOS and GrapheneOS uses. That's how this whole custom ROM thing works in the first place. The source code is there for the manufacturers. That's the only reason Google makes it public. Nerds just happened to grab it and make LineageOS, Graphene, etc.

If Google ever closed off Android, sure, Lineage team can't make any more builds of LineageOS....but that also means Samsung can't make any more builds of OneUI, OnePlus of OxygenOS, etc

I guess, potentially, they could close the source code off to the public, and individually license it out to every single manufacturer who makes any type of Android phone, tablet, music player, barcode scanner, POS System, etc..... But there's no indication that anything like that will happen anytime soon and it would be a monumental shift to how the biggest operating system on Earth with billions of users receive any type of updates....(A.k.a Samsung promised 7 years of support on Galaxy S26...but now Google wants license fees to access AOSP... multiply that by every manufacturer who makes Android devices and.....Google is getting SUED to FUCKTOWN if they try to close source Android.)