In 2026, Google will implement a new policy that is all but guaranteed to hit the emulation community hard (albeit slowly at first). Starting with next year’s mainline Android releases, Google will be blocking sideloading of unverified Android apps. The updated policy requires that developers verify their identity with Google. With companies like Nintendo becoming increasingly aggressive toward developers these days, it’s unlikely that developers of apps like Eden and Azahar will jump at the opportunity to give their information to a company more than happy to pass it along to Nintendo’s lawyers.
Sideloading has been a major facet of emulation on Android for years. Developers of apps such as Eden, Winlator, Azahar and GameNative develop in a legal grey area. Instead of releasing these apps to the Play Store, devs instead use direct distribution channels like GitHub to bypass Google’s erratic Play Store policies and update processes. Direct distribution allows for fast development with nightly builds, streamlined collaboration with community members and easy forking of open source code.
Changing the verification requirement changes everything. Many emulator developers are hobbyists that work and develop under a pseudonym to avoid prosecution by console manufacturers. Linking their identity to their development projects could scare many of them away, leading them to discontinue development altogether.
This comes at an especially frustrating time, as we’ve finally reached a performance plateau with the hardware being released by companies like Retroid and AYN. The only thing holding back new performance gains on Android-based devices is the current state of Android emulation.
For people who use emulators, this means that emulation progress could all but stall once handheld manufacturers start adopting these new versions of Android. Google may call this security, but for the retro gaming community, it’s putting the brakes on an open platform that is increasingly being closed. The freedom that made the Android platforms the platform of choice for emulation is now under threat.
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Google claims that it’s for security, but it’s really just for controlling what people can do with their devices.
Sounds to me Linux is going to become even more popular.