These apps are still required to comply with Google Play’s existing policies but allow users to experiment more directly with building apps for Android.
Gawd, I hate this timeline.
Google blocks/cripples the ability to “sideload” apps, but I’m free to have AI generate some slop app, as long as it fits with Googles vision of what I’m allowed to do with my device and I’m not allowed to share it.
Good times /s
And that’s the alternative they give to having to pay a fortune and dox yourself in order to upload an app to the Play Store? Having to rely on Gemini?
pay a fortune
$25, one time.
I was under the impression it was more like $100-150.
$99 per year at apple is probably what you remember
And what happens if you put “android developer fee” into your favorite search engine?
Degoogled ROM + F-Droid. Because fuck Google and their Play.
F-droid has tons of vibcoded apps on their main repository. F-droid has an AI chat category, most of the included apps require connections to proprietary services without proper anti-feature disclosure.
F-droid is better in so many ways and I use it. But it alone not the solution to the problem of slopware on phones.
It’s not a solution to the problem of slopware, it’s a [partial] solution to the problem of total control that Google has over all not-degoogled phones (and all the bullshit they impose using that control).
