2mo ago

Google Play’s latest security change may break many Android apps for some power users. The Play Integrity API uses hardware-backed signals that are trickier for rooted devices and custom ROMs to pass.

www.androidauthority.com

Google Play’s latest security change may break many Android apps for some power users

2mo ago

www.androidauthority.com /google-play-integrity-hardware-attestation-3561592/

Android @lemmy.world

abobla @lemm.ee

2mo ago

www.androidauthority.com /google-play-integrity-hardware-attestation-3561592/

63 comments

This trend of being actively hostile toward your user base is so confusing to me.
- They project that they'll make more money by forcing people to accept surveillance so they can run their apps, even if they lose a few users and app developers by doing so.
  
  I've always been of the opinion that apps are almost always useless because there is usually a way to do it through a web browser and if there isn't I don't need it. And its usually better because then I have more control (in firefox anyway).
  For example the youtube app is entirely unuseable but if I open firefox and use ublock and no script then suddenly I can actually use the website.
  
  Is users stop using custom ROMs, Google loses nothing.
- One of the reasons to always cheer on (new) competitors and why we should give new companies a fair chance to establish something
  
  The problem is that systems like this have strong network effects working in favor of the established options, nobody develops for platforms without users, nobody wants to use a platform without apps, development has more resources (existing libraries, tutorials, reference documentation,...) on existing platforms,...
- Their user base is not who you think they are. The people you think are users are just assets, it's okay to be hostile to your assets
- Their goal is to ensure OEMs only bundle Google-approved Android for which Google charges licensing fees and which funnels users into Google services. If a phone won't run your banking app, you probably won't buy it.
- It would be confusing if everyone didn't simply tolerate it.
- That´s standard enshittification. They know they´ve got users locked in without any alternative.
Time to get downvoted to oblivion.
I see a lot of people questioning why Google would do this and the answer is pretty simple.
Google created a tool a long, long time ago which was meant to make sure traffic from a device was "legit". This tool is 100% optional and app developers can use it if they would like. However, the tool was easy to bypass, so over the years Google has been making the tool harder and harder to bypass.
This article is just sharing news that Google is once again making this tool harder to bypass.
So why is Google doing this? They are doing this because they don't want their tool to be bypassable. Their tool is worthless if it can be bypassed.
The tool in question here is the Play Integrity API (previously known as the SafetyNet Attestation API). This is a tool that is offered to app developers that app developers can take advantage of if they want. The selling point of the tool is if you have operation in your app that is critical, you can try to prevent some abuse by verifying that the app is running on a "trusted build of Android" and that the app itself has not been modified from the original. That's all the tool does.
This isn't a new API. This isn't something Google is trying to force app developers to use. No. From Google's point of view, they are just making sure their tool does it's job properly.
As for why companies might choose to use this tool, a big reason is because Android is a huge target for fraud. Apple has locked all their stuff down so it is much harder to commit fraud on iOS (not impossible though). Although Apple offers something similar, there is generally less fraud coming from iOS devices vs Android. It's the double-edged sword of having a more open platform.
Companies are obviously not going to be happy to be the target of fraud so they have to weigh their options. Either they block a small percentage of their users that are possibly legit by implementing Play Integrity API or they risk losing a % of their income to fraud.
Now you can disagree with the tool's job, I'm not trying to argue whether the tool is good or bad. That is extremely subjective, but hopefully this answers why Google is making this change.
- Yeah except that bot farms already use hardware that will pass the checks, unlike regular harmless users who will get hurt by this. Google comes after the good guys
The reason I felt forced to iOS. No more choice. No more GrapheneOS or CalyxOS for me. Or at least that would make my life very difficult. National ID authentication, banking apps had stopped working.
GG Google. Destroy what made Android.
RIP banking apps and Mc Donalds on GrapheneOS
If they break custom roms my next phone will have iOS, not stock Android on it.
- So instead of completely using FOSS softwareonly, you just give in to the corps?
  
  This has nothing to do with FOSS, of which plenty exists on iOS
- If you don't need any Google malware, you aren't at risk.
  GrapheneOS comes without them by default.
on devices running Android 13 or later.
Sounds easy then: stay on the latest Lineage that does not incorporate A13.
While I wouldn’t say Google is actively hostile towards these power users,
Author is obviously sold out. Are they even trustable?
- on devices running Android 13 or later.
  Sounds easy then: stay on the latest Lineage that does not incorporate A13.
  This isn't viable. You can't run an older android version than a device ships with and eventually older hardware will become obsolete enough that it won't be able to connect to current gen mobile networks.
  For now, sure, you can run android 12 on an older device and bypass integrity easily, but sooner or later that won't be viable.
  
  That's true of anything in technology (that is not designed to last; see: typewritrs and radio still work), so not really a variable. By that poiont you'll either have a dedicated "updated" phone for current-gen slop, or have shifted over to a more private stack, or even have gone fully off-grid.
Google’s updated Play Integrity API
How can these people talk about "integrity" when they break real existing phones?
I call this the opposite of integrity.
- Bit hyperbolic, don't you think? Rooted/Custom ROM users are so tiny, and they typically use security vulnerabilities to obtain root access. It's not exactly surprising that Google closes those vulnerabilities when it can.
  Google can't exactly make root access and custom ROMs easier to use in 2025. It isn't 2010 anymore - as soon as rooting becomes easy again, and people are bypassing security measures you know the big orgs, copyright holders and children's apps will complain to the media and suddenly Google has a shitstorm to deal with.
  Just wait until they find another vulnerability, lol.
  
  Many devices, including Google's own Pixel devices have user-unlockable bootloaders. No security vulnerabilities are involved in the process of gaining root access or installing a third-party Android distribution on those devices.
  What's going on here isn't patching a vulnerability, but tightening remote attestation, a means by which a device can prove to a third party app that it is not modified. They're selling it as "integrity" or proof that a device is "genuine", but I see it as an invasion of user privacy.
  Google can’t exactly make root access and custom ROMs easier to use in 2025.
  Sure they can. They're in a much stronger position to dictate terms to app developers than they were in 2010 when it was not yet clear there would be an Android/iOS duopoly.
  They don't want to though, because their remote attestation scheme means they can force OEMs to only bundle Google-approved Android builds that steer people to use Google services that make money for Google, and charge those OEMs licensing fees. A phone that doesn't pass attestation isn't commercially viable because enough important apps (often banking apps) use it.
  
  Many people use LineageOS and GraphineOS for security, privacy, and features that base Android simply doesn't ship.
  
  Rooted/Custom ROM users are so tiny,
  That's what I told her to tell you.
  
  Or is it rather your definition of security or vulnerability that is questionable.
  
  The fuck did you just call me? Ill have you know im actually HUGE
EU Antitrust when?
- Nothing anti-trust about genuine un-rooted and un-modified devices having secure access to the play store.
  It's when you lock out phones that come from Huawei/Oppo etc. because they are Chinese, that you might be able to make a point.
  
  Google using market power to push "trust" technology bound to their Play Services (which is one of the requirements for their "Android" certificate).
  
  It absolutely is, forcing people to use one OS on their device is insane. Fuck Google, they can take my GraphineOS Pixel 9 from my cold dead hands.
I ain't clicking on an android authority article. Does anyone know if/how this would effect Graphene?
- Already does. Some apps just don't work. It'll notif. And say Google api failed to validate login to your Google account. Example app EBay.
  
  Interesting. If I just don't use any apps from the play store and only use stuff from fdroid with no play services I should see no issues though yeah?
This seems like it'll break things like revanced, which honestly makes me sad mostly for Duolingo :(
Really hope folks find a way of spoofing this too. I'm hoping to switch to a custom ROM in the future and this doesn't bode super well
- At this point I'm leaving a paper trail in my comments. Sigh, I'll keep it short and sweet.
  If you're using ReVanced to hack and get through Duolingo, then I think you should just drop the service. There are countless free resources out there that do a better job, and aren't predatory or make you hate learning. Duolingo is good for beginners and about a month or two of learning. Please let that app go, especially since the CEO thinks AI is a suitable replacement for the education system...
  
  At some point I will but I'm not currently ready to make that transition. My friend and I are using Duolingo together and the social aspect plus the familiarity of the structure have been really helpful
  They walked back the ai thing (at least that's my understanding about it, I think there was a statement about it, not that that means much) but it's very clear it wont be something that's likely to work for me long term
  But for the time being the structure that it provides and its format has helped me build a routine and actually stay pretty consistent, and I don't think I'm at a place yet where I can transition away from it
  But I have checked out the Foss options and there were some neat supplemental tools on f-droid, and at some point I'll go through the play store and try out direct alternatives
Okay? Like, ive been rawdogging this no Google GrapheneOS thing for 2 Years now, and Ive Bad not a single Problem until now
- Same. The vast majority of my apps are from F-Droid or directly from the dev, and only a handful are from Google Play, and those are all on a separate profile. There's only 2 or 3 I actually need, and I can probably work around those.
  Screw you Google, my next phone will probably be a Linux phone so I don't need to deal with this crap anymore.
If I don't have Play Integrity spoofed, my iPhone friends get an error when they try to RCS message me. This pretty much breaks communication for me.
- This is the future of the Big Tech Internet if we're not careful. Attestation to be able to use communications and other websites.
- I have zero problems with this on Lineage. ?? No spoofing either, just Lineage.
Seriously, what is wrong with Google?
- Google is doing this because they have incentives to do so. They want to block malicious actors like attack their platforms.
  Other companies want to lock down their own apps because they don't think users should be permitted to do anything other than use their apps exactly as they want.
  I don't like it as a user, but I also see the reason why companies want this by being on the security side of software.
- Too big and entrenched
It doesn't make it "tricky", it makes it impossible.
- Stares at rooted A13+ phone passing 2/3 new integrity checks
  It's possible, but it's annoying.
  
  Those are the wrong integrity checks
- Troja has been impossible to conquer. Until.

63 comments