In August 2025, Google announced that starting next year, it will no longer be possible to develop apps for the Android platform without first registering centrally with Google. This registration will involve:
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Paying a fee to Google
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Agreeing to Google’s Terms and Conditions
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Providing government identification
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Uploading evidence of the developer’s private signing key
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Listing all current and future application identifiers
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The link is https://keepandroidopen.org/
Because if google kills side loading on all non custom os devices, that removes the incentive for open source developers to make software if there is no way to distribute it. So even custom OS’s will feel this unfortunately. We might still have viable options, but nothing like we see today.