this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2025
326 points (97.7% liked)

Android

20389 readers
131 users here now

The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!

Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.

πŸ”—Universal Link: !android@lemdro.id

πŸ’‘Content Philosophy:

Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.

Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: !askandroid@lemdro.id

For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: !lemdroid@lemdro.id

πŸ’¬Matrix Chat

πŸ’¬Telegram channels / chats

πŸ“°Our communities below

Rules

  1. Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.

  2. No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to !askandroid@lemdro.id.

  3. Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to !androidmemes@lemdro.id.

  4. No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.

  5. No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.

  6. No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.

  7. No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.

  8. No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.

  9. No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!

  10. No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.

Quick Links

Our Communities

Lemmy App List

Chat and More

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
ijeff@lemdro.id
ladfrombrad@lemdro.id
Paradox@lemdro.id
multimoon@lemdro.id
mikestevens@lemdro.id
Devgard@lemmy.world
limerod@reddthat.com
Netrunner@lemdro.id
326
Google is Killing Open Source Android Apps (Here's Why) (techlore.tv)
submitted 3 days ago by Blaze@piefed.zip to c/android@lemdro.id
102 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Zink@programming.dev 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

These companies and their enshittification have kinda killed the broader concept of phones in my mind.

What is my phone? It's my worst computer, proprietary and closed, and which I have been actively avoiding using all year long in order to improve my mental health. It's a tool that makes it easier to exist in modern society, not something that enhances my quality of life.

So I'm not thinking about whether I need iMessage vs Android openness like I might have a decade ago. I'm sitting here wondering if I even need a phone number in the first place! But, even with some wonderful Linux phone device that's like a 6" laptop with a touch screen and LTE/5G, I guess you'd still just have a number associated with your service.

[–] weirdo_from_space@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I think this is an exaggeration. Smartphones are one of the greatest inventions in human history, the problem is corporate control, the actual device is amazing.

I have a smartphone, just like there is no more need for a dedicated music player and a portable game console, I can play games and music on this as much as I want. A question popped into my head? I can look it up immediately. Love reading books? You now have effectively infinite space for them and don't need to carry them around, trying to make sure they don't get damaged. Want to watch a movie or a series? You got it. You even used to be able use it as a VR viewer! How cool is that?

If you suffered from social media addiction and just can't use the device without risking a relapse I can sympathize with that. But that's big tech's fault, nothing necessitates smartphones being that way apart from corporate desire for infinite wealth.

Most of the world will not have access to phones that put freedom first, but if you have access to them they can remind you how amazing these things actually are.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

I have actually made comments very similar to yours. Basically how phones are a technological marvel but are ruined by greed.

[–] HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 53 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Reasons:

  1. Mass surveillance

  2. 30% on app sales

  3. Sell all your data

  4. Remove any and all ad blockers

Etc

[–] PodPerson@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

the other reason that they're killing something - it's a day ending in a "y".

[–] artyom@piefed.social 72 points 2 days ago (1 children)

To get more control and more money. Saved you a click.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Yeah it's a real same thing we do every night pinky vibes.

[–] Freakazoid@lemmings.world 79 points 3 days ago (9 children)

Is there any partition in the E U to stop Google from implementing their developer verification system?

Like Stop Killing Games?

[–] Tzeentch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 61 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Telling people to file DMA complaints may be a start, ostensibly it was passed to prevent monopolists from locking things down like this, a stick that has already been used on Apple with some success: https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/contact-dma-team_en

[–] rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

When will this game of endless ping pong with big tech overreaching human rights end

[–] Enkrod@feddit.org 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

As soon as big tech ends, no sooner.

[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 15 hours ago

It's the very nature of power. I don't understand why people are still surprised by this stuff.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The EU hasn't even been able to stop Apple, who's been doing this for 20 years.

[–] iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And yet the EU did force Apple to goddamn finally use USB-C in their phones. It wasn't out of their own goodwill.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

And to allow installing non-market apps. Apple wasn't happy about that in the slightest.

[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And implemented it in the shittiest way possible

[–] pirat@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And got away with it, which probably assured Google that they can do something similar (though coming from the opposite direction) without upsetting the EU...

[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 5 points 2 days ago

Rumor has it that sideloading will still be possible using ADB, that is the shittiest way possibile

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] sadness_nexus@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This kills Aurora store and other alternate play store frontends that are entirely based on spoofing your identity when you download an app. Of course, you can still install these things on Custom ROMs I assume, since those aren't going to be verified Android or whatever google is calling this bullshit, right?

[–] lemmyknow@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

Shi, this kills Aurora too. Didn't occur to me. My whole phone might just become unusable, if I can't get apps semi-officially or from alternate sources

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 25 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Google made Android to get a foothold into the market. The free and open model was only because they were up against Apple. Don’t nobody kid yourself into thinking their intent was all along anything other than being able to rake it in and have total control just like Apple. They just needed an in to get big. Now Android is huge and now they wanna slam the door and lock everyone down and start really fucking the cash out of everyone’s asses.

[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Embrace. Expand. Extinguish.

I started using Android in 2011, IIRC, the enshittification has hit hard.

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Indeed, it has. If we really want it to stop, there needs to be a boycott on buying new devices. Only buy used, and encourage others as well. Educate them how google is turning android slowly into another iOS with closed walls.

[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

True. IMO, Google should see a drop in the usage of its services, but digital literacy is so low that talking about it is rather discouraging.

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

Most people don’t care about their privacy anymore. They don’t think there’s any value in it.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 29 points 2 days ago (16 children)

Everyone is suggesting LineageOS, but my big questions are:

  • Won't ROMs/forks be affected too if this becomes mainstream? Google closed Android's source (probably exactly for this)
  • Should I just try going full Linux phone?
[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 days ago

  • Maybe - the community tends to patch out these kinds of things

  • probably not as they aren't very mature

load more comments (15 replies)
[–] brax@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I hope this leads to a LOT of people moving to iOS.

If we have to pick between two overpriced Fisher Price Phones, I'll go for the one that was always against its users on the hope that there's still a chance they'll change...

Ideally, we need affordable Linux phones ASAP.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago

While I do not prefer either of them to an open platform, I think the more common draw of iOS is that you know what you're getting versus the bait and switch that Google always seems to bring.

[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (7 children)

Next version of Android 14 Graphene OS flavored with desktop mode and Linux apps will give plenty of time to wait for my next phone.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] RedSnt 13 points 3 days ago (26 children)

Yeah, I'm fixing to move to either /e/OS or LineageOS. I'm leaning /e/OS, but I'm worried it's less supported than LineageOS for a newbie like myself. On a side note, I also need to go through all my Authy 2FA keys and refresh them because Authy is too locked down to work on anything but a "real" android phone. That's going to be another PITA.

load more comments (26 replies)
load more comments
view more: next β€Ί