GoKawiilBoth Cupertino and Google are imposing ever stricter limits on their phones – but you have alternatives
As both Apple and Google introduce unwelcome changes in their phone OSes, here's a quick reminder that you do have alternatives to the Gruesome Twosome.
The Keep Android Open campaign is gathering attention and support as the big red numbers on its page count down. The good news is that you do already have alternatives, and The Register has been reporting on them. But if you are not the sort of person who reads phone reviews, or writeups of alternative phone OSes, and just wants to buy a new handset and retain control of it and its contents, we thought it might be a good time to remind you of where to go and who to talk to.
At the time of writing, the campaign says it's 123 days until Google's new measures preventing you from side-loading your own software will kick in. The campaign frames it in intentionally alarmist language:
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Your phone is about to stop being yours. 123 days until lockdown Starting September 2026, a silent update, nonconsensually pushed by Google, will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with Google, signed their contract, paid up, and handed over government ID. Every app and every device, worldwide, with no opt-out.
The Register has of course been covering both the looming Google changes as well as the campaign itself.
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It's worth noting, too, that the Mountain View massive is also taking steps to make life harder for the organizations creating these de-Googled Android variants – such as the changes to the Android Open Source Platform that reduce how often the source code will be made available. As The Reg noted at the time, Google dropped its old "Don't Be Evil" motto when it turned 20… and commemorated it by firing staff who stuck to the motto. It has changed its position on being evil, but it's not stupid.
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