Category: Uncategorised

Taken from: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/11/android-developer-verification-early.html

“Empowering experienced users

While security is crucial, we’ve also heard from developers and power users who have a higher risk tolerance and want the ability to download unverified apps.

Based on this feedback and our ongoing conversations with the community, we are building a new advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified. We are designing this flow specifically to resist coercion, ensuring that users aren’t tricked into bypassing these safety checks while under pressure from a scammer. It will also include clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved, but ultimately, it puts the choice in their hands. We are gathering early feedback on the design of this feature now and will share more details in the coming months. “

Finally! In a year that I can only describe as demoralising for a tech enthusiast this may be the first bit of good news I’ve read. Google have clearly realised they had gone too far with the developer verification system and the removal of the ability to install unsigned APK’s. In theory this means all of us with APK collections for niche applications or legacy products are safe, at least for now.

Does this mean we can relax though? I’d argue not. Just because Google has backed off this time, doesn’t mean they won’t try again. We will all need to be ready to raise our voices, and be prepared to vote with our wallets when that time comes.

Unfortunately for myself in the UK this doesn’t offer much respite. Despite not being part of the EU anymore we seem to be in the habit of implementing their rules regardless of our membership status. Back in August the EU mandated that no new phones could be sold with an unlock-able bootloader. This is a disastrous ruling. Personally every Android device I own is rooted if I have the option. It gives me the ability to properly backup my apps and their data, I can use a proper firewall to control network traffic, I can access low level system files and I can make tweaks to my phones that I wouldn’t be able to with only user access. I fully understand the supposed risks of unlocking my bootloader, rooting my phone and even installing third party ROM’s on my devices, but these risks are mine to take. I don’t mind being warned about it, but removing the ability in my eyes is the same as removing my ownership. It’s like being back at school using the computers, you can use them, but not really.

Let’s also not forget that Google are withholding their source code for as long as they can and making it as difficult as possible for custom rom makers such as GrapheneOS, LineageOS, e/OS and CalyxOS (who have already put their entire project on hold for this reason among others). Google are desperately trying to shake off any openness they once promoted.

For now at least, I’m pleased for everyone that we’ll still be able to enjoy Android the same way we have for years, albeit with Play integrity and Safetynet hounding those users that still keep Google services installed (I don’t). My personal plan will stay the same. I’m amassing a collection of slightly older, affordable devices that allow me full control over them in an effort to weather the storm. So far I have the Samsung Note 9, a Pixel 6 and a Pixel 7a. All purchased very cheaply, I will repair them when needed and use them until support drops however many years in the future that’ll be. Thankfully all of them are running Lineage OS with no Google services, so I’ll be immune to Google’s restrictions if they change their minds. It seems even up to the Pixel 10 allow for a full bootloader unlock, so I can keep looking at later devices second hand as their value drops.

First came the Mini smartphones. The iPhone 12 and 13. If you believed everything you read online you’d think they were a massive success. But take a moment and think, when was the last time you saw one in real life? I’ve seen 2, not including my own iPhone 12 Mini, since they were released up until the current date. On the other hand, how many iPhone 12 and 13’s have I seen? Countless. The were a commercial failure. I am surprised Apple even bothered to release a 13 Mini after the flop of the 12 Mini. The vocal minority online would have you believe there are rafts of people that would run out a buy a new phone if only Apple would release a new mini phones, but the numbers just don’t reflect that. The sales wouldn’t even break even.

Then came the thin phones. First the Samsung S25 Edge, then the iPhone (17?) Air. Unbelievably slim yes, but why? Who asked for this? I can’t think of anyone I know in person that wanted an unmanageably large smartphone, just thinner and with lots of compromises to get to that point.

When you strip the marketing away the slim phones are budget versions of their flagship counterparts. They have smaller batteries, inferior cameras and questionable cooling performance. All in the name of being thin. Even the thin argument falls to pieces when you lay them on a table. They wobble all over the place because the camera modules protrude almost doubling their thickness in some places.

I’ll ask the question, who are these phones supposed to be for?

I don’t think even Samsung or Apple know the answer. With slowing innovation, forced longer update promises and the maturation of the market people are holding onto their phones for longer. These big companies NEED you to buy their devices more frequently and they’re getting desperate.

Apple vision, another desperate attempt to sell an additional product, and another failure.

I’d even argue that folding smartphones are another example of this. Selling a product that even today shouldn’t be out of the prototype stage with failing hinges, cracking screens and occasional fires (Pixel 10 fold I’m looking at you). No-one asked for a square inner screen that’s the wrong aspect ratio to get anything done, no-one asked for a phone that the screen cracks in half if you open it too many times. I’ll say it again, they’re getting desperate.

What we are witnessing is market saturation and late stage capitalism, with a few monopolies playing out in real time. There is nowhere left for them to grow into, and yet shareholders demand they must. If they stagnate, they die. Samsung can fall back on their other consumer electronics and appliances, and Google can focus on advertising and their digital services, but what about Apple? They’ve failed to make strides in digital services, in the shadows of Netflix and Spotify. They’ve failed at AI. Their Mac’s from 2020 are still more powerful than the average person needs, and their phones have essentially been unchanged since the iPhone 11.

It sounds strange to say about the third biggest company in the world, but I think Apple might be in trouble.