So we have these regular announcements like https://lemmy.world/post/48341079
The app stores listed there are only from the big hardware vendors. Not a single mention out of the Open Source world. I guess ut means all these developers were reasonable enough not to play along.
What do you think is going to happen? Is Google really going to cut them all down?
No, open source is here to stay. Much of Google’s own infrastructure is based on open source.
What they are trying to do is limit people from installing apps non storefront sources. The thing Apple has just been slapped in Europe for.For technical people it won’t be an issue we have ways to ignore Google’s bullshit but for non tech people it may prevent some phone malware from getting installed. Although it doubt it.
The cultural effect will still be massive and deliberate.
I kinda agree, techy people will get around it and non-techy people do not install and use third party stores in the first place (does Samsung store count? They probably get a pass I assume). But it is still shitty and offensive and establishes a monopoly that the EU will have a problem with…
I have been thinking non the less to switch to other more open mobile os. I have tried a few, but my current phone is not well supported. When I upgrade in the future I will go for a more open platform.
I think if Google does this they kinda force devs in non-United Statean countries to develop their apps for other platforms too. If European government and banking apps can only be downloaded from United Statean app stores and the OS on United Statean Android phones are locked to only that store, they might have a problem with that…
Hopefully European government and banking apps become available on open source platforms like F-droid.
So far all the European digital sovereignty talk doesn’t mention mobile operating systems which are 100% controlled by the US. EU identity, banking, and even the new Wero payment app only works on iOS and Android.
That really is the craziest part. Doesn’t matter much if we change everything if the underlying stores and OS still is not sovereign…
The fact that I cannot do banking or log into government sites without a phone with a foreign controlled OS and app store still baffles me…
I’m still hoping SailfishOS will eventually gain more traction. Their functionality and compatibility are not yet where Android or iOS are, but they are Finnish and mostly open source. Their business model is based on users paying for a license, not selling data.
I don’t use the Goole play store or Google play services, and that will most likely be the issue for me :( Not every app I use is FOSS and most can be side loaded and work with microG and I block all the tracking. I fear not the app store accessibility but Google forcing apps to use play services and all the tracking.
They’re going to be more like Apple has been all along. It’s annoying, but jeez, Android is not the whole world.
Neither is Apple.
Like, god forbid people have an alternative. If everything was Apple, everyone would lose their devices that they paid for anyways because Apple doesn’t trust anyone enough anymore and will still force you to buy anyways after the fact.
Eh, it’s most of the world? Add apple to it, and it’s 99% of the world
I wouldn’t call that annoying, I would call that attempted annihilation
Mobile phones, sure, and they are important. But I’m typing on a Debian laptop right now. Not a phone. Phones aren’t the whole world.
There are about 6 billion smartphone users and close to 8 billion smartphones in 2026. Meanwhile, there are about 2 billion pcs in use in 2025. Smartphones aren’t the whole world, but they are most of it.
It occurs to me that everyone using phones might be why the quality of Lemmy posts is so low. It’s too big a hassle for people to write anything informative through the phone keyboard, so they post a youtube link instead.
I hope we start getting more Graphene and similar phones but I also see some benefits to adding a little friction to using them on text-heavy sites.
And yeah, 6 billion phones users, but most of them don’t give a crap about source code. So they’re not really affected.
This affects much more than Lemmy, and frankly the screen keyboard is only a little slower for me than a keyboard (the keyboard is way more convenient, though). Having an app that reduces friction for crafting Lemmy posts certainly helps.
And I would love for more open and secure smartphone OSes to be available, Graphene or otherwise.