"Certified Google Device" and GrapheneOS

userx

I recently installed the Cirrus weather app from F-Droid on my phone and got this message:

Google has announced that, starting in 2026/2027, all apps on certified Android devices
will require the developer to submit personal identity details directly to Google.
Since the developers of this app do not agree to this requirement, this app will no longer
work on certified Android devices after that time.

How will this pertain to GrapheneOS? I'm going to assume the Pixel phones all have some level of "certification" WRT the hardware, but I don't understand this in the context of GrapheneOS. Will GrapheneOS become limited in what apps can be installed due to Google's policy changes?

userofgos

userx Will GrapheneOS become limited in what apps can be installed due to Google's policy changes?

userx How will this pertain to GrapheneOS?

It will not change anything. That app will still work. GrapheneOS is not a certified OS by Google.

Vincent96

F-Droid is not recommended.

GrapheneOS is unaffected.

tux_

Vincent96 Where are you supposed to get your apps from then?

Eumenia

Vincent96 F-Droid is not recommended.

Name another app store that offers repreducible builds and all the other features like detailed information about permissions, licenses, etc...
It also allows you to export any .apl installed via F-Droid

Vincent96

tux_ Accrescent, GrapheneOS app store, Obtanium, Google Play Store, Aurora Store. There are more.

Eumenia

Vincent96 Accrescent

- No reproducible builds (unless the devs do it by themself)
Has very few apps
Has no search function and no categories, so you need to scroll to find any app.
Has literally no information about the apps, despite the name, the picture and the version.

Vincent96 GrapheneOS app store

Has even less apps them Acreesent and is not a general purpose app store in general, so it's not r a replacement for an actual apl store

Vincent96 Obtanium

No reproducible builds (unless the devs do it by themself)
A lot of bugs and errors

Vincent96 Aurora Store

No reproducible builds (unless the devs do it by themself)
Lot of bugs and errors
Is against the Google ToS which introduces more errors because it needs to circumvent Google in some ways.

userx

@userofgos Thank you. This is very helpful.

F-Droid is not recommended.

@Vincent96 Thank you for pointing this out. I just read this post, kind of interesting. https://privsec.dev/posts/android/f-droid-security-issues/ . Now I feel like a fool for using FDroid all these years. I'm curious how accurate that post is today?

Vincent96

userx I haven't read that article. There are many posts and official posts that explain the serious issues with F-Droid here on the forum.

Your link looks like a living blog post that is continuously updated.

Vincent96

Eumenia You really need to search this forum for the dangerous of F-Droid. You're spreading misinformation.

dawt

Eumenia

You make a pretty big deal about "reproducible builds", but f-droid doesn't do that either. It does independent builds, but that's not the same as reproducible builds, nor does that mitigate a compromise of f-droid itself. For a random app with unknown developers I might trust f-droid over the developers, but for well known developers it's worth considering who you trust more, them or f-droid, especially given f-droid's history of security issues.