René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"New Announcement from Google","articleBody":"https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/11/android-developer-verification-early.html\n\nGoogle recently announced that while working on Developer Verification, they will add a way for users to bypass it if they tolerate the risk of downloading from unverified developers. I don't know how this will play out in practice, but this seems like Google bending to what we wanted. \n\nThis begs the question. What should we do with this site now?\n\nI think there are a couple of options:\n\n1. We continue to push for Google to rollback developer verification even more. While Google's recent announcement (assuming they actually follow through on it) is something I'm fine with personally (depending on how they implement it), I understand that this still might not be the case for third party app stores and developers who would rather developer verification be even more rolled back\n2. Now that Google has given us this inch, we take a mile and start advocating for other stuff. I personally think better boot loader unlocking and the ability to re lock boot loaders without forever tripping the device's security features is the next thing we should push for, though I'm not sure how much Google could influence individual OEMs to do this. We could also push for Google to reopen AOSP to be completely open source again\n3. We make an effort to meet with individuals at Google to ensure this system of allowing users to bypass developer verification will be implemented well (i.e. not be overly intrusive, not continue to kill third party app stores like F-Droid, etc.)\n4. We tackle other specific issues with developer verification, like the amount of personal data developers have to give Google\n5. We simply wait for developer verification to be rolled out and see how Google implements bypassing developer verification and then go from there, updating the site to reflect this info\n\nWe can also do a combination of these different options. \n\nUltimately, though, I think this announcement is good news. I'm cautious to say that the problem is completely solved (though it might be for some people), but either way this shows that Google CAN bend to community feedback. If anything, we should take this and try to demand more from Google now that we know we can influence their decisions in some way. ","author":{"url":"https://github.com/axendoax","@type":"Person","name":"axendoax"},"datePublished":"2025-11-14T01:53:15.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":1},"url":"https://github.com/66/keepandroidopen.github.io/issues/66"}