EarMaster

I totally agree with you that having Google as the only one able to assign these certificates is a problem. This needs to change (and I rely heavily on the EU to enforce this), but I still think that everyone who is publishing an app to an undisclosed number of people (and therefore there is no implicit trust by design) should identify him- or herself to some authority.

My argument isn’t “it could be worse” - my argument is “that’s how it should have been from the beginning”.

At the moment (I am willing to change my opinion if that changes) Google has announced that for your personal use you won’t need to submit any ID. This just shows me you haven’t even read the whole thing, but just the headline and your opinion on this was set.

That freedom is still there. The only thing going away is installing from an undisclosed source.

If you want to distribute an app to a larger audience you should be willing to do so. Sure you could say it’s everyone’s personal risk installing an unsigned app on their phone, but making these people compile the app themselves isn’t too much to ask for. Tools to automate this to the max will appear.

I know I will get downvoted for this opinion, but I like this.

Developers who decided not to use Play Store can still do so, but are required to identify themselves. I get that not everyone is willing to do this, but there still is a free way to compile apps yourself and put it on your phone.

I am a developer myself and I have published apps for iOS and Android in the past and this process still is way easier than anything an iOS developer has to do to just install an app on his personal phone.