Seriously, what is wrong with Google?

Bit hyperbolic, don't you think? Rooted/Custom ROM users are so tiny, and they typically use security vulnerabilities to obtain root access. It's not exactly surprising that Google closes those vulnerabilities when it can.

Google can't exactly make root access and custom ROMs easier to use in 2025. It isn't 2010 anymore - as soon as rooting becomes easy again, and people are bypassing security measures you know the big orgs, copyright holders and children's apps will complain to the media and suddenly Google has a shitstorm to deal with.

Just wait until they find another vulnerability, lol.

Nothing anti-trust about genuine un-rooted and un-modified devices having secure access to the play store.
It's when you lock out phones that come from Huawei/Oppo etc. because they are Chinese, that you might be able to make a point.

This seems like it'll break things like revanced, which honestly makes me sad mostly for Duolingo

Really hope folks find a way of spoofing this too. I'm hoping to switch to a custom ROM in the future and this doesn't bode super well

Nothing anti-trust about genuine un-rooted and un-modified devices having secure access to the play store.
It's when you lock out phones that come from Huawei/Oppo etc. because they are Chinese, that you might be able to make a point.

can confirm, I'm running GrapheneOS right now with F-Droid and some extra repos as my only app store, it works fine for me. but I don't use banking apps (web browsers do fine for that), and I'm using a de-Firebase-d version of Signal (Molly F-Droid) so no issues so far with no GMS and no SafetyNet.

edit: I should add that a new GrapheneOS update just released, this is in the release notes:

• disable anti-competitive code being injected by the Play Store into apps choosing to enable "App integrity > Automatic protection" when there's a valid Play Store source stamp signature (proving that it's an unmodified app from the Play Store, so we aren't disabling an integrity check) since it prevents using the apps on GrapheneOS when apps also choose to enable "App integrity > Store listing visibility" with either the "Device integrity checks" or "Strong integrity checks" values enforcing having a device licensing Google Mobile Services and running the stock OS (circumventing this is protected by the DMCA exemption for jailbreaking)

so it looks like the devs are actively working around this issue and making changes to allow those checks to pass even without the ROM licensing GMS.

I've always been of the opinion that apps are almost always useless because there is usually a way to do it through a web browser and if there isn't I don't need it. And its usually better because then I have more control (in firefox anyway).

For example the youtube app is entirely unuseable but if I open firefox and use ublock and no script then suddenly I can actually use the website.

Their goal is to ensure OEMs only bundle Google-approved Android for which Google charges licensing fees and which funnels users into Google services. If a phone won't run your banking app, you probably won't buy it.

Already does. Some apps just don't work. It'll notif. And say Google api failed to validate login to your Google account. Example app
EBay.

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If they break custom roms my next phone will have iOS, not stock Android on it.

Interesting. If I just don't use any apps from the play store and only use stuff from fdroid with no play services I should see no issues though yeah?

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This trend of being actively hostile toward your user base is so confusing to me.

This trend of being actively hostile toward your user base is so confusing to me.

They project that they'll make more money by forcing people to accept surveillance so they can run their apps, even if they lose a few users and app developers by doing so.