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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Here is the https://keepandroidopen.org/
From what I understand the new, more closed way Google adds patches to AOSP does make Android more closed albeit technically open.
Many FOSS apps support UP and there’s a vibrant open source community outside of Google’s walled garden. Have you browsed Izzy’s repo? That’s not the problem as i see it.
My Fairphone runs e/os, a lineage-based ROM. So no certification. But my device is certified… I wouldn’t put it past the big evil to bake in some sort of cascading dependence that will block certified devices from even AOSP.