People should be able to write software for Android, and distribute it outside Google’s Play store, without having to:
- pay Google
- give government ID to Google
- agree to Google terms and conditions
People should be able to install the software they want on their phone, from sources other than Google’s Play store, without having to jump through Google-imposed hoops.
e.g. via F-Droid.
We’ve got until September this year to stop Google squeezing the open Android ecosystem.
These questions are always asked in the opposite direction. What’s right with making devs verify? What does it gain an end user?
You think AI app slop is good? Cause that’s all you’ll have if literally anyone can just put an app into whatever store they want.
This isn’t about the play store: it’s about installing anything at all. I couldn’t care less if AI slop is on the play store though to answer your question
So let the app stores sort that out. If Google wants signing on play store then fine. Don’t force it on people who don’t want it.