SFC signs open letter to keep Android open

February 24, 2026

Today, Software Freedom Conservancy joins many other organizations sign an open letter to Google calls for Android to continue to allow people to install whatever they want on their phones. Recent policy changes within Google will limit installation options by requiring developers to register their legal names, adding new gatekeepers who can arbitrarily deny app installation or delete existing apps from your phone. F-Droid has already written about the importance of this change. This violation of developer privacy is not only an overreach of Google’s authority over Android, but also endangers developer safety and limits user freedom. Google said “sideloading is not going away”, but even the framework of “sideloading” pushes user and developer freedom to the sidelines and classically hides the removal of freedom for vague security measures.

Free and open source software (and the ability to install it!) was essential to the spread of Android. A reversal of such a critical part of the policy that allowed user freedom and software openness would be disastrous for users and the FOSS community at large. There is of course pressure from big tech companies to limit installation options on their locked hardware. We’re not only seeing this in the mobile space, but increasingly on desktops where both Apple and Microsoft have made it difficult to install free software; refuse to allow distribution outside their app stores, or show vague warnings about security when software is not signed in their preferred gatekeeping ways. Allowing the installation of free software is absolutely necessary to ensure freedom to keep our devices running, protect user and developer privacy, and keep an open market of innovation.

We urge you to speak up about this issue as this is just the most recent decision by large corporations to limit the control we have over our own devices. If you are part of an organization outside of the organizations that have already signed, we encourage you to sign up and make our collective voices heard. Software was not created to be shepherded by proprietary app stores; software is meant to be shared and work together for the betterment of humanity.