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Google is requiring mandatory developer verification for all Android apps in 2026
(keepandroidopen.org)
If you haven't seen this yet, Google is planning to require mandatory developer identity verification for all Android apps, including apps distributed outside the Play Store, taking effect September 2026. This affects every independent and open source Android developer directly.
This is not just about the Play Store. After September 2026, on any certified Android device, applications from unverified developers will be blocked by default. The only proposed bypass, the "advanced flow", exists only as a blog post and has not appeared in any beta, dev preview, or canary release. No one outside Google has seen it.
The community has been fighting back at keepandroidopen.org:
- Read the full breakdown of what this means
- Sign the open letter (organisations only)
- Contact your national regulators — contacts listed by country on the site
- Add the countdown banner to your project
September 2026 is closer than it looks. The time to push back is now.
Opinions invited.
I currently have a Motorola Edge 50 Neo. It's a great phone, a little more than a year(?) old. It can't have LineageOS due to it's Dimensity chipset.
I'm considering buying a Fairphone 6, then put LineageOS on it.
Is the Fairphone decent? How's the camera?
Are there any other phones that I should consider (decent camera, will run LineageOS or similar)? Maybe the new Jolla phone?
You should definitely consider the Jolla, but cameras are basically never great on degoogled devices, because flashing a new rom also deletes the OEM proprietary firmware, which was tailor-made for that device. What you get instead is a generic software that never comes close to matching the original quality. I think the hardware makers who sell degoogled phones, like Fairphone, would have chance to make good cameras, but none of them have actual years of experience making cameras, as companies like Samsung and Sony do.
Well that sucks, a decent camera is basically half of what a smartphone is. The ARM ecosystem is such trash.
I don't need fancy processing on my photos as longs as it lets me capture some kind of raw format. For photos that I actually care about the quality, a raw is better anyway.
No offense, but you're part of a niche audience there. The vast majority of consumers just want their photos to look good (even when good means "not like reality"). "I need it to have a good camera" ia something you hear over and over again when people tell want it is important to them in a phone.
Maybe an old Xperia? There is official support for unlocking the devices from SONY.
I like Fairphone, it's definitely a phone. But I couldn't tell a difference between phones anymore.
Just rip the band aid off and go for Jolla. Keep your current phone as a backup if some apps break
Couldn't tell you, because they refuse to sell them in my country. 😡
I am currently using the Fairphone 6 with e/OS and I am very happy with it.
Not a heavy phone user though, as in I don't really take pictures or play hardware heavy games etc, so I wouldn't know how FP6 competes on those fronts.
But for everything else it has worked really well!
But not comparing the FP6's camera with other phones: How happy are you with yours? Do you like the photos?
I'm not one for taking pictures, so I can't really comment on that, sorry.
What I can say, compared to my previous phone (Iphone 14), is that the front camera is a little worse than that of the Iphone 14. I notice it during Video Calls.
Not camera specific, but it's maybe worth mentioning that it sometimes also runs into small issues. For example it will sometimes not connect to my WiFi and I'll have to restart the phone in order for it to connect again. Not a big issue, since it restarts quite fast, but for someone coming from a well established phone brand it might be a little irritating. (And it also might just be a problem for me specifically)
But these downsides are well worth it (for me) in order to have a more privacy focused mobile and also not be supporting big American Tech Companies.