Make that decades…
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Maybe worth asking this in on the next Community meeting on 12th March 2026 !
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What? Please explain this. All my recently installed GrapheneOS + LineageOS devices do have normal working keyboards by default and then also installing Heliboard for improvement was no problem.
Graphene and Lineage are BASED on AOSP. If you have a working keyboard it is part of those OS’s. Google now only allows their own employees to submit changes to AOSP which are only visible AFTER the change had been made, so it is open source in name only. The mandatory four factor authentication is restricted to specific devices approved by Google. There is comprehensive information readily available, it is worthwhile taking a little time to look into the matter. The specifics are beyond the scope of this Forum.
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Then I see a situation coming, where it will become important to prevent devices from updating, and simply use them for harmless purposes as long as they keep working and then forget it. Under condition the user doesn’t want to potentially catch some G* spyware with some updates.
This permanent update mania anyhow sucks! Why can’t software be sufficient functional, save and stable al least for half a year without this permanent bugfixing?
edit: relating SFOS, the base AOSP is relatively old and Jolla Boys are not the the fastest implementing the last BS into SFOS, so this is exceptionally an advantage in this situation.
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That’s one approach. I still use a 2016 Meizu M5 Pro with UT. Completely useable although the Morph brower is well… as it remains with devices supported to the latest updates. Another is a Lilygo T-Deck Pro 4g . Just managed to configure to phone/txts, basic browser with duckduckgo search, wifi, gps and maps and mesh messaging epaper display. As far as I can judge Sailfish is the only properly functioning LinuxGNU phone supported by full time devs that is currently available. There was the Liberux phone last year with a failed £1200 each crowdfunding campaign. Thank you Jolla/Sailfish
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good Mornig, Yes, I see it that way too.
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So, Android is due to become a locked down platform in September.
Some developers are warning that their apps that are developed outside of the Play Store will no longer work on Android unless they are registered with the Android Developer Verification Program.
App Stores like F-Droid will be affected badly, I believe and apps like NewPipe will cease to run on Android.
What does this mean for the end user of these apps?
Will we see an exodus of Android app developers jumping ship?
What does it all mean for App Support?
Pretty much nothing directly, I’d say. AAS will (most probably) not implement this Developer Verification like Google does on their Google Certified Android Devices. Same for custom ROMs.
Indirectly, there may be consequences, as developers which do not want to get Google Verified may cease development of their apps, if they don’t see a big enough user-base in non-google android environments.
But that’s stuff for a crystal ball. We’ll see how bad it gets once the changes are implemented.
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Some additional information at…
https://keepandroidopen.com/
Best case scenario (imo) for us would be that those devs would transfer their apps to Sailfish and become active developers for Sailfish 
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Duplicate of: Relation between Sailfish and Keep Android Open
Read more here.
Good morning, attached…
there’s some new information
regarding Android developer verification
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What version is Android proper on now? Until AAS reaches that version, nothing.
After that:
I don’t know how these new restrictions are implemented but knowing Google I wouldn’t be surprised if they are baked right into the OS, which could pose difficulties.
Android is on v16 now I think, but from what I gather from developers is that unless they sign up for the Android Developer Verification Program and pay a fee for the privilage, their apps will not work on Android devices, which I believe could spell problems for Aurora Store, F-Droid etc.
The main issue is developers that develop outside of the Android sphere of control. The FOSS community that distribute their software through their own web sites and rely on the end users to donate whatever they want for the app rather than the developers crippling it with ads and restricted features. It’s these developers that Android are out to kill or drag into their sphere of control.
Even on Android versions that don’t have that feature enabled (yet)? That’s impossible.
AAS is currently at Android v13.