Not sure where #Google asked for feedback about their developer verification program, but they surely didn't talk with #FLOSS devs, civil society, privacy organisations or their #Android users
#FDroid did since September, and interacted with folks in the Fediverse, forum, email and in person
They all voiced one opinion: "developer verification must be stopped"
@marcprux has written an open letter, signed by likeminded organisations who want to #keepandroidopen
Click: https://f-droid.org/2026/02/24/open-letter-opposing-developer-verification.html
The world of Nostr isn't stressing out over this because we use the new Zapstore that allows developers to directly sign and release apps using the Nostr protocol.
F-Droid could release apps over the Nostr protocol, and offer their own Nostr appstore client, and bypass Google completely.
Zapstore just released version 1.0
Zapstore.dev
@firedragon It does not matter how the bits travelled through the ether.
Will #Zapstore bow down to #Google and become a registered dev? A registered store? If not... then 3.9 billion users can't install zapstore-1.0.0.apk. The end.
Zapstore will likely do both. One version for the Google zombie sheeple, and one version for Nostr freedom fighters.
