Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- F-Droid has warned that Google’s new developer verification rules could effectively kill alternative Android app stores.
- The platform says that Google’s rules are monopolistic and harmful to competition as well as user freedom.
- F-Droid says the new rules would make Google the gatekeeper of all Android apps, but Google maintains that developers will still be able to distribute their apps directly to users through sideloading or use any app store.
If you’re an Android enthusiast, you’re probably very familiar with F-Droid, but for those who don’t know, it’s a fairly small but respected alternative to the Google Play Store. Unlike Google Play, F-Droid only hosts free and open-source apps and deploys checks to throw out any trackers, ads, and hidden data-collection tools in apps. The project has been around for 15 years and is a popular resource for privacy-conscious Android users. That said, it’s nowhere near as big as the Google Play Store and hosts a little over 3,000 apps compared to the millions of apps and billions of users on Google Play.
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In its blog post, the F-Droid team explained that Google’s new “developer registration decree” would require every Android app to be tied to a registered developer identity verified through government IDs and other personal details. Developers would also need to declare all of their app identifiers and signing keys directly to Google, making it the central authority for verifying Android apps, even those that are not on the Play Store.
So, if Google’s rule takes effect, alternative app stores like F-Droid will no longer be able to offer apps directly because they won’t control those keys or IDs.
The platform said it can’t take over app identities on behalf of open-source developers or force independent contributors to register with Google.
“The developer registration decree will end the F-Droid project and other free/open-source app distribution sources as we know them today,” F-Droid warned.
According to Google, developer verification will improve security and stop malware, but F-Droid disputes that claim. The group points out that the Play Store itself has repeatedly hosted malicious apps, while Android already has built-in protections like Play Protect that can remove harmful apps from devices. The platform argues that its open-source approach is more transparent and trustworthy than commercial stores like Google’s.
The bigger worry is that Google’s new policy could restrict how Android users get their apps and make Android a more closed ecosystem. “If you own a computer, you should have the right to run whatever programs you want on it,” F-Droid wrote.
The platform is now urging regulators in Europe, the US, and other regions to investigate Google’s plans, calling them monopolistic and harmful to competition and user freedom. Google plans to start rolling out its new developer verification requirements in phases starting September 2026. The company says developers will still be able to distribute their apps directly to users through sideloading or use any app store.
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]]>It increasingly feels like Google’s AI assistant is omnipresent across our devices, and from next month, it could also be in your home.
In an X post on Tuesday, the company teased, “Gemini is coming to Google Home” and told us to “Come back October 1.”
At its Made by Google event in August, the company announced Gemini for Home amongst a slew of other product announcements, so this has been in the works for a while.
Tuesday’s X post teaser appears to show an image of a Nest camera, which Google last upgraded four years ago, suggesting the security camera could be set for a refresh. An upgraded Nest speaker and doorbell, both with 2K camera support, could be also part of the Oct. 1 unveiling.
Google did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.
The company announced just last month that Gemini for Home will eventually replace Google Assistant in its smart home devices. You’ll still activate Gemini with “Hey Google,” but the advanced AI tech will be able to better interpret more complex and nuanced instructions and questions.
Maybe you’re stumped as to what to make for dinner, so it could be: “Hey Google, what quick pasta dish can I cook in less than an hour?” or “Give me a recipe for Caesar salad.” Gemini is also designed to work with thermostats and smart lights, so you might tell it to “turn the temp to 68 degrees” and “turn off all the lights except in the kitchen.”
The market for smart home technology is expected to grow by 23 percent over the next five years, according to Grand View Research.
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Andrew Ferguson, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Trade Commission, recently expressed concern that “Alphabet’s administration of Gmail is designed to have partisan effects.”
In a letter addressed to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Ferguson pointed to a recent story in the New York Post describing complaints by Targeted Victory (a consulting and PR firm that’s worked with the Republican National Committee and Elon Musk’s X) claiming that Gmail flags emails linking to the Republican fundraising platform WinRed as spam, without doing the same to emails linking to the Democratic platform ActBlue.
“My understanding from recent reporting is that Gmail’s spam filters routinely block messages from reaching consumers when those messages come from Republican senders but fail to block similar messages sent by Democrats,” Ferguson wrote.
He warned Alphabet that if Gmail’s filters “keep Americans from receiving speech they expect, or donating as they see fit, the filters may harm American consumers and may violate the FTC Act’s prohibition of unfair or deceptive trade practices,” adding this could lead to “an FTC investigation and potential enforcement action.”
In response, a Google spokesperson told Axios that Gmail’s spam filters “look at a variety of objective signals – like whether people mark a particular email as spam, or if a particular ad agency is sending a high volume of emails that are often marked by people as spam,” and they said the company applies this approach “equally to all senders, regardless of political ideology.”
The spokesperson also said, “We will review this letter and look forward to engaging constructively.”
Conservatives frequently complain that they are being censored or otherwise treated unfairly by digital platforms, including Gmail. In 2023, the Federal Election Commission dismissed a complaint from Republicans over Gmail’s spam filters, and a federal court also dismissed an RNC lawsuit with similar complaints. (The RNC seems to be reviving that lawsuit.)
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Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked the FTC’s investigation into the left-leaning group Media Matters over its research into antisemitic content on X, describing the investigation as “a retaliatory act.”
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Paul Jones / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has launched a new Android Canary release channel for developers to test experimental features.
- A new “Parental controls” setting has appeared in Pixel devices running the Canary build.
- The setting may be linked to Android 16’s upcoming “Supervision” tools for managing screen time and web content for children.
We’ve spotted a new “Parental controls” setting in Pixel devices running Google’s new Android Canary build. It appears under the Digital Wellbeing option within the Settings menu, and we think it could be linked to the “Supervision” tools we previously spotted in the Android 16 Beta 4 release.
Google’s new Android Canary release channel gives developers early access to in-progress Android features. In this initial Canary build, the new “Parental controls” setting hints at future updates to child safety tools on Android.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
The description of the setting reads, “digital ground rules & screen time limits.” However, tapping it currently doesn’t open up anything in the Canary build. Like we said, the feature appears similar to a “Supervision” page we previously found in Android 16 Beta 4.
In the earlier beta, the “Supervision” page included a toggle to enable device supervision and an option for web content filtering. Once supervision was turned on by entering a PIN for the supervised account, filters could block explicit sites on Chrome and explicit content in Google Search. These tools aim to hide inappropriate materials online, though they may not be able to block everything.
The Android Canary channel is aimed at developers, and Google warns that these builds aren’t suitable for daily users. The first release is available for several Pixel models, including the Pixel 9 series, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet.
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Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google Play Services shows evidence of an in-development “App Cast” tool.
- While its full functionality is unclear, it appears able to gather info about remote Android devices and access their installed apps.
- One possibility could be the ability to remotely stream apps from one Android device to another.
Google’s always working on something new for Android, and we spend a fair amount of time digging through app and system updates in the hope of getting an early look at some of those developments. When we’re lucky, evidence is abundant and we’re able to easily infer what Google’s up to. Other times, however, it’s a bit harder to get the full picture of what Google might be working on — even when it seems clear that developers are definitely up to something. And today, we’re finding ourselves much more in the latter camp.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
We’re looking at a recent update to Google Play Services, and as you may know, this software is how Google implements a lot of system-level functionality in Android — like we looked at just last month when we spotted new device backup settings. This time we’ve been crawling through the 25.24.31 beta release, and have spotted evidence of a new “App Cast” feature.
We see references to App Cast popping up in code related to multi-device sync. We’ve also identified a number of text strings that appear to have been added in preparation of App Cast support:
Code
Starting app cast for package %s
Fetching app list from remote device.
Unable to get icon: %s not found
Starting cast session for ' ' from '
Launching '%s' on remote device '%s'We haven’t been able to surface a UI for App Cast, and so we can’t see any of this in action, but one possibility could involve Google giving Android devices the ability to stream apps installed on other hardware linked to your account. We can tell that there are elements in place for choosing devices from a list, and showing a progress bar. And as mentioned in the strings above, we see code for pulling up a list of installed apps.
Admittedly, the need for an app streaming mode feels a little narrow — in a lot of cases, it seems easier to just install the app on multiple devices — but we can appreciate times that require access to data that lives on a specific phone or tablet. We also wonder if this casting might extend to bigger screens, letting you view Android apps from your phone on Google TV.
But as we said, right now we just don’t have enough of the puzzle to really say with any kind of certainty what Google is building here; this is all vibes at the moment. We’ve also spotted work in Play Services on some manner of new notification sync support that appears in proximity to some of this App Cast stuff, but we’re not sure if that’s just a coincidence, or if they’re really meant to be related.
That’s a little frustrating, but we’ll keep digging into future Play Services builds in the hopes that we can soon nail down Google’s intentions for App Cast.
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]]>Meta’s big investment in Scale AI may be giving some of the startup’s customers pause.
Reuters reports that Google had planned to pay Scale $200 million this year but is now having conversations with its competitors and planning to cut ties. Microsoft is also reportedly looking to pull back, and OpenAI supposedly made a similar decision months ago, although its CFO said the company will continue working with Scale as one of many vendors.
Scale’s customers include self-driving car companies and the U.S. government, but Reuters says its biggest clients are generative AI companies seeking access to workers with specialized knowledge who can annotate data to train models.
Google declined to comment on the report. A Scale spokesperson declined to comment on the company’s relationship with Google, but he told TechCrunch that Scale’s business remains strong, and that it will continue to operate as an independent company that safeguards its customers’ data.
Earlier reports suggest that Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale for a 49% stake in the company, with Scale CEO Alexandr Wang joining Meta to lead the company’s efforts to develop “superintelligence.”
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Stephen Schenck / Android Authority
TL;DR
- NotebookLM now lets you share your notebooks publicly.
- The tool lets you create a shareable URL that allows anyone with a Google account to view your notebook.
- The public sharing feature is not available for Workspace Enterprise and Education users.
NotebookLM is undoubtedly one of the best AI tools in Google’s arsenal. The tool makes it incredibly easy to organize notes collected from various sources, draw information from them, and even generate podcasts based on your notes featuring AI hosts. Google recently released NotebookLM on mobile, bringing these features to Android and iOS users. Now, the company is adding a highly requested feature that simplifies how you share your notebooks with others.
So far, NotebookLM has required users to provide the recipient’s email ID to share notebooks, and users with personal Gmail accounts could only share their notebooks with up to 50 other users. Google has now dropped this limitation and added a link-based sharing feature that lets you share your notebooks publicly.
The feature works much like link-based sharing in Google Docs and Sheets, allowing you to create a shareable URL that lets anyone view your notebook, so long as they have a Google account. You can generate this link by selecting the “Share” button in the top-right corner of your notebook and then setting access to “Anyone with a link.” Google notes that viewers “won’t be able to edit source content, but can still interact with a public notebook by asking questions or exploring generated content, such as audio overviews, FAQs, or briefing documents.”
A support page highlighting the sharing feature reveals that only owners and editors can generate a public share link, and public sharing is not available on Workspace Enterprise and Education accounts. It adds that while users with free personal Google accounts can publicly share notebooks, only those with a paid subscription can view usage analytics for public notebooks.
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