Google Will Leave Developers in Sanctioned Countries Out of Android Verification

Google is preparing to roll out its Android developer verification system, which is set to take effect just a month from now. Once it's switched on, devices with Google services — that is, virtually every Android smartphone outside Russia and China — will stop allowing the installation of apps from unverified authors. To keep shipping software even outside the Play Store, a developer will have to provide the company with an identity document and pay a small fee.

What happens to sanctioned countries

A separate question was raised by developers living in countries under U.S. sanctions: the current list includes Iran, Cuba, North Korea and the occupied territories of Ukraine. Google is legally unable to do business with them, and in a deeply buried section of its FAQ the company gave an evasive answer: devices in sanctioned countries will be excluded from the checks, so any developer will be able to keep distributing apps there without verification — though without the “heightened security” the program promises.

The wording sidesteps the main point. A Google spokesperson confirmed to Ars Technica that residents of sanctioned countries won't be able to get verified at all. And that means they'll lose the ability to distribute their software effectively through international channels. Today a developer in, say, Cuba can freely hand out an app all over the world; within the coming months, their unverified programs will be easy to install only inside those very sanctioned countries where no checks apply.

The paradox of greater freedom

Verification can theoretically be bypassed through an “advanced mode”: it requires numerous steps, alarming warnings and a 24-hour wait. Technically savvy users will manage, but most people won't even learn such an option exists. The result will be a two-tier system: verified apps, available to everyone, and unverified ones, which almost no one will install. Google explains all of this as a fight against fraudulent apps.

Paradoxically, it's precisely in the sanctioned countries that there will be more freedom to install — and we're talking about perfectly Google-certified devices. In that same Cuba or Iran, smartphones are mostly imported from countries where Google operates officially, so the company is effectively acknowledging that its mobile services are used and nominally supported there.

Google appears to see the situation as a tightrope walk: it can't engage local developers for verification, yet it has no intention of abandoning the program itself. The solution is to leave these regions without checks and without enforcement. The rest of the world gets a more restricted user experience, but most developers, once verified, will be able to distribute software anywhere. In essence, the ability to publish Android apps is now tied to the decisions of the U.S. Treasury Department, which maintains the sanctions lists.

The restrictions are slated to launch on September 30 in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, with a global rollout expected in 2027.

Source: Ars Technica