Haters gonna hate, but I personally think this keeping #Android truly open—and open anonymously—while balancing the threats we see in the real world is a _great_ compromise: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/android-developer-verification.html. Think outside of the Mastodon bubble, almost none of us here is a typical user.
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RE: https://toot.cafe/@tomayac/116266348670617662
Oh this is good.
I realise that the locking down, the verifications, the increased occurrence of magic links and 2FA drives people nuts - but I also see how fast and deep fraudsters can get into systems, and that something has to be done.
The new flow described in the linked article to allow you to continue side-loading apps onto your phone is acceptable to me as someone who wishes to keep that freedom, whole still increasing the hurdles for fraudsters trying to hack their way into a phone.