To everyone who may have an Android phone...
Hey guys, I'm coming on here to warn my fellow android users.
Starting September 30th 2026, Google will start forcing creators of apps to start forking over Government ID. And any apps that have not complied with this, will no longer work until they do from where I'm understanding.
It'll start in places such as Brazil and more. And then change to globally after 2027.
So I urge you all to contact your house of representatives and or your senates to stop this.
Because this? This just fucks up anominity on our internet.
Please. I beg you all to do this.
Because Google cannot win. We only have 86-85 days left.
Please everyone. I beg you to do this.
Do you really want apps that you love that are probably not connected to Google, be unusable after months?
I think not.
So, I urge you all to do this. For our safety. Because this? This is just greed on Google's part.
To keep us safe my ass.
Android was the only free type of phone you could get without all that shit. And now this?
This is just horrible.
So please, no matter where you are. Contact your house of representatives and or senates and make them take action against this. Because this? This is most definitely illegal.
To anyone with android phone or may have one like... anyone... or anyone else from the U.S.A with a Android Phone or any other creator with an android phone? I beg of you to do something about this.
I already sent mine in.
What Google is doing
In August 2025, Google announced a new requirement: starting September 2026, every Android app developer must register centrally with Google before their software can be installed on any device. Not just Play Store apps: all apps. This includes apps shared between friends, distributed through F-Droid, built by hobbyists for personal use. Independent developers, church and community groups, and hobbyists alike will all be frozen out of being able to develop and distribute their software.
Registration requires:
Paying a fee to Google
Agreeing to Google's Terms and Conditions
Surrendering your government-issued identification
Providing evidence of your private signing key
Listing all current and all future application identifiers
If a developer does not comply, their apps get silently blocked on every Android device worldwide.
Who this hurts
You
You bought an Android phone because Google told you it was open. You could install what you wanted, and that was the deal.
Google is now rewriting that deal, retroactively, on hardware you already own. After the update lands, you can only run software that Google has pre-approved. On your phone: your property, that you paid for.
Independent developers
A teenager's first app, a volunteer's privacy tool, or a company's confidential internal beta. It doesn't matter. After September 2026, none of these can be installed without Google's blessing.
F-Droid, home to thousands of free and open-source Android apps, has called this an "existential" threat. Cory Doctorow calls it "Darth Android".
Governments & civil society
Google has a documented track record of complying when authoritarian regimes demand app removals. With this program, the software that runs your country's institutions will exist at the pleasure of a single unaccountable foreign corporation.
The EFF calls app gatekeeping "an ever-expanding pathway to internet censorship."
Google's "escape hatch" is a trap door
Google says "power users" can "still install" unverified apps. Here's what that actually looks like:
Delve into System Settings, find Developer Options
Tap the build number seven times to enable Developer Mode
Dismiss scare screens about coercion
Enter your PIN
Restart the device
Wait 24 hours
Come back, dismiss more scare screens
Pick "allow temporarily" (7 days) or "allow indefinitely"
Confirm, again, that you understand "the risks"
Nine steps. A mandatory 24-hour cooling-off period. For installing software on a device you own.
Worse: this flow runs entirely through Google Play Services, not the Android OS. Google can change it, tighten it, or kill it at any time, with no OS update required and no consent needed. And as of today, it hasn't shipped in any beta, preview, or canary build. It exists only as a blog post and some mockups.
This is bigger than Android
If Google can retroactively lock down billions of devices that were sold as open platforms, every hardware manufacturer on the planet is watching.
The principle being established: the company that made your device gets to decide, after you've bought it, what software you're allowed to run. In software, this is called a "rug pull"; but at least you could always install competing software. In hardware, it is a fait accompli that strips you of your agency and renders you powerless to the whims of a single unaccountable gatekeeper and convicted monopolist.
Android's openness was never just a feature. It was the promise that distinguished it from iPhone. Millions chose Android for exactly that reason. Google is now revoking that promise unilaterally, on devices already in people's pockets, because they've decided they have enough market dominance and regulatory capture to get away with it.
Ars Technica: "Google's Apple envy threatens to dismantle Android's open legacy."
So, let me ask you all... is this truly about security?
Is this really about protecting the kids?
No!
It's about control!
So I beg all of you in the united States to spread the word.
Fight back
Everyone
Install F-Droid on every Android device you own. Alternative stores only survive if people actually use them.
Contact your regulators. Regulators worldwide are genuinely concerned about monopolies and the centralization of power in the tech sector, and want to hear directly from individuals who are affected and concerned.
Share this page. Link to keepandroidopen.org everywhere.
Push back on astroturfers. The "well, actually..." crowd is out in force. Don't let them set the narrative.
Sign the change.org petition and join the over 100,000 signatories who have made their voices heard.
Read and share our open letter
Tell Google what you think of this through their own developer verification survey (for all the good that will do).
Fight back!
















