Partnership between GrapheneOS / OEM and end of the Play Integrity API saga

ChemicalWonka1

Recently the GrapheneOS team is posting on X (formerly Twitter) that they are in the initial process of negotiating with an OEM that meets the security requirements for a device that has native support to the system.

My question is: If this happens, will the problem we have today with the Play Integrity API finally be closed?

wizoatk

ChemicalWonka1 will the problem we have today with the Play Integrity API finally be closed?

I think it more likely the first device(s) would still be GrapheneOS signed images like we have today.

Tandara

If said OEM will get a license - then yes.
I'm more concerned about G not caring and blocking them anyways under pressure.

Equal2024

You need to agree to onerous terms like not shipping your own app store in order to get access to Google Play / Services. It's why Amazon, with their Kindle devices and own version of Android, does not ship Google Play; they ship an "incompatible version of Android", and so are not allowed to license any of Google's apps.

It wouldn't be surprising if you had to agree to ship Google Play Services the way Google wants you to ship them, and GrapheneOS reduces their access, so that might be a problem.

There are surely other terms. See the Locking in Manufacturers section of this article: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/

While it might not be an official requirement, being granted a Google apps license will go a whole lot easier if you join the Open Handset Alliance. The OHA is a group of companies committed to Android—Google's Android—and members are contractually prohibited from building non-Google approved devices. That's right, joining the OHA requires a company to sign its life away and promise to not build a device that runs a competing Android fork.

Your device needs to be "Android-compatible". This is achieved through the CTS (compatibility test suite), which you've probably heard of if you've done any digging into Play Integrity on GrapheneOS.

Acer was bit by this requirement when it tried to build devices that ran Alibaba's Aliyun OS in China. Aliyun is an Android fork, and when Google got wind of it, Acer was told to shut the project down or lose its access to Google apps. Google even made a public blog post about it:

While Android remains free for anyone to use as they would like, only Android compatible devices benefit from the full Android ecosystem. By joining the Open Handset Alliance, each member contributes to and builds one Android platform—not a bunch of incompatible versions.

If GrapheneOS and the OEM they partner with licensed the apps/services, I think it would be a very tenuous relationship that Google could sever at any time for any number of reasons. GrapheneOS's approach of taking without asking for approval has allowed them to develop in any way they like until now.