Part 1 - Google’s new QR bullshit
You basically can’t make a new Google account with just SMS anymore. Now they force you to scan a QR code with your phone, and the moment you do that, the account is tied to that specific device. That kills the idea of an account that’s separate from your main phone and private life. What are they actually checking there, just the phone number, or also device IDs, IMEI’s, Integrity/attestation stuff, etc.? Either way, they get enough signals to fingerprint the device, create a nice profile around you and lock that account to it.
This is the equivalent of doing a KYC just to create a google acc.
Part 2 - Apps that won’t run without Play Store sign‑in
Beginning of 2024 I updated one of my telephone apps and suddenly it just opens Play Store and forces me to sign in before I can even use it. I rolled back to the previous version, then months later they killed that version until I updated, so I had to remove the app completely. Same thing happened recently with TuneIn after an update. Both were installed via Aurora Store with root, so they look like “installed from Play Store” in app info, but the new versions clearly just refuse to work unless there’s a logged‑in Google account.
So what’s going on here? Is Google tightening Play Integrity and forcing devs to require a valid Play Store session, basically punishing anyone who sideloads or refuses to log in? And is there any real way left to use these apps without signing into Play at all, or are we just being pushed into full Google profiling if we want them to work?
Also, how is microG for example handling this? how are people using play services if apps are starting to create this problem that forces them to login? it seems one by one of these apps are starting to insert this extra security check and are screwing the rest of the users in the open source community.