In August 2025, Google announced that as of September 2026, it will no longer be possible to develop apps for the Android platform without first registering centrally with Google. This registration will involve:
Paying a fee to Google
Agreeing to Google’s Terms and Conditions
Providing government identification
Uploading evidence of the developer’s private signing key
Listing all current and future application identifiers
3. Privacy and Surveillance Concerns
Requiring registration with Google creates a comprehensive database of all Android developers, regardless of whether or not they use Google’s services [emphasis added]. This raises serious questions about:
What personal information developers must provide
How this information will be stored, secured, and used
Whether this data could be subject to government requests or legal processes
To what extent developer activity is tracked across the ecosystem
What this means for developers working on privacy-preserving or politically sensitive applications
Developers should have the right to create and distribute software without submitting to unnecessary surveillance or scrutiny. [emphasis added]
As someone who has gotten .apk’s from f-droid.org and github and who is considering developing a simple app for the Mudita Kompakt, I have a question:
What is Mudita’s stance on this plan by Google?
If Google continues with its plan, which will affect not only app makers for Google Android but also makers of apps for AOSP-based but deGoogled (Google-apps-free) cellphones such as the Mudita Kompakt, then Android will become a locked-down platform in six months.
I guess it would not directly affect MuditaOS but would eventually make the alternative stores less viable and thus ultimately exhaust the source ?
A switch would be possible, maybe, to a different OS, like Plasma Mobile based on PostmarketOS… That would be a massive re-work. But that would be 100% open source / community based.
Good News: App makers targeting deGoogled cellphones need not care!
Here are two transcript excerpts that I created from “Is Google Closing Android?” – recorded last night at Rumble by Rob Braxman, who led the creation of the deGoogled (via iodéOS) BraX3 cellphone:
Transcript Excerpt Starting at 20:01
Each app creator can decide if they are going to use this upper-level attestation that says, “We’re not going to run, if you’re not running Google [Android].”
My Interpretation:
If an app creator makes an app that includes the so-called upper-level attestation, then the app will NOT run on deGoogled (AOSP-based, Google-apps-free) cellphones, such as the Mudita Kompakt, given that those cellphones are NOT running Google Android.
An app creator who wants to ensure that people use his or her app on a Google Android cellphone SHOULD include the attestation.
-vs-
An app creator who is targeting deGoogled cellphones SHOULD NOT include the attestation.
Transcript Excerpt Starting at 22:20
The new change from Google is that they’re saying that app developers need to be verified, so app developers have to do KYC [Know Your Customer], meaning, you know, ID, you know, show corporate papers, and, you know, Social Security numbers and employer IDs, and all that good stuff. Otherwise, if you don’t do that, then your app is blocked from the app store [Google Play Store]. Okay, so that’s the issue. So, because of that, you know, there’s rebellion, because they said, “Well, app developers are being restricted, so they can’t come up with a special app that’s not listed and you can’t do what is called sideloading.” So, if you have a Google Android [cellphone] and, let’s say, you have a [Google] Pixel, and you want to sideload an app for a particular purpose, or even ‘do’ a test app that you made yourself, you can’t do that on a Google Android [cellphone] now. Can’t do that now [starting in September of 2026]. Okay, that’s the change that Google made. So, that then went to the rumor that the reason that they’re doing this is because they want to shut down Android.
My Interpretation:
An app creator who wants his or her app to run on Google Android cellphones MUST – as of the upcoming change from Google – provide lots of KYC credentials to Google.
-vs-
An app creator who wants his or her app to run on deGoogled cellphones NEED NOT provide any KYC credentials to Google.
I hope your interpretation is correct. If so, it would be really nice. Otherwise… I guess it would be time to abandon Android and create more Linux phones… ones that actually work.
Dont developers that write apps aimed at AOSP mainly get used by people running de googled phones anyway?
I’m not a programmer but I’m guessing, this further attacking of privacy from google, will lead to more open source apps. Long term I suppose there would needs to be a way for app writers to be able to monetise these apps, so that would need to be considered also. More people will hopefully move away from google based handsets when they realise how intrusive they are.
I guess it’s not a matter of developing apps, it’s a matter of distributing them.
One major issue I have with the Mudita Kompakt is banking, I’m still looking at solutions to solve it. It’s not because of Mudita, it’s because of banks requiring to have their app, on a smartphone, for strong authentication, and the same app needs Google Services.
These banks would have the resources to build apps compatible with alternative stores or sideloading, they choose not to.
Could you access your bank through their mobile website on a browser on the Kompakt? Or are you looking for specific features (like check deposit) that must be done on the app?
I have the same issue. My bank told me to gtfo. I think I’ll switch from a big boy to a local bank, they should be more open to that idea. It will become more of an issue because not just Kompakt, but all other degoogled/Linux OS brands that gain traction.
One of the 3rd pty stores is said to be safe in general but banking apps are still a fragile topic. So I’ve been thinking about one option that’s a bit painful but could somehow work:
Install apk on a regular smartphone,
Do some tricks to extract apk from the smartphone file system,
Import to MK via Mudita Center.
That would probably require doing so for every update, unless installing such legit .apk and updating via Aurora would be working fine.
They do enforce using their strong authentication system via their app only, not the browser.
That sucks, I can always switch to an SMS in the app (99.5% of cases).
that as of September 2026, it will no longer be possible to develop apps for the Android platform without first registering centrally with Google. This registration will involve: