{"id":99449,"date":"2018-03-27T15:51:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T15:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=99449"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:34:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:34:59","slug":"some-android-users-might-soon-have-trouble-using-their-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/some-android-users-might-soon-have-trouble-using-their-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Android users might soon have trouble using their devices"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"sc-blockquote\">\r\n<blockquote>Google is restricting access to Google services via unlicensed versions of its preloaded apps. If you\u2019ve bought your mobile from an unlicensed vendor or manufacturer, have installed Google apps from unlicensed sources, or you\u2019ve installed a custom ROM you may need to take action.<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>It is well known that<strong> Google\u2019s Android operating system is open source,<\/strong> which means Google allows other developers to used the Android code to build mobile operating systems for their own devices. This is why we have a mainstream choice between iOS devices and Android devices. A little less well known is that<strong> the pre-loaded Google apps, handily named GApps, are not free to distribute<\/strong>. In fact, if developers want these GApps to be a part of their OS, they have to abide by some guidelines that Google has set out.<b> <\/b>Without adhering to these guidelines, the developers can\u2019t say their OS is Android. This is why GApps play a prominent role even on handsets made by huge companies like Samsung, LG, and Motorola who make Android devices.<\/p>\n<p>Not all companies who use the Android code, however, sell their devices as Android devices. As such, they use the code but <strong>the final operating system is known to Google as an unlicensed version of Android<\/strong>. The most well-known example of this would be Amazon\u2019s Kindle Fire tablets<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>but there are a lot more devices like this, mostly coming out of China. These devices and <strong>a<\/strong><b>ll other devices running unlicensed versions of Android could soon be affected by a significant change that Google is introducing.<\/b><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:center; width:100%; margin:12px 0;\">\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n  google_ad_client = \"ca-pub-8132844949421936\";\r\n  var google_ad_slot = '9677578764';\r\n  if (window.innerWidth <= 470) {\r\n    google_ad_width = 300;\r\n    google_ad_height = 50;\r\n  }\r\n  else if (window.innerWidth < 1360) {\r\n    google_ad_width = 468;\r\n    google_ad_height = 60;\r\n  }\r\n  else {\r\n    google_ad_width = 728;\r\n    google_ad_height = 90;\r\n  }\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\r\nsrc=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Unfortunately for Google, although it tries to maintain a level of control over the Android OS via its GApps adherence policy GApps themselves are still widely available on the internet via forums or third-party app stores. <b>Google is now moving to shut down this possibility by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xda-developers.com\/google-blocks-gapps-uncertified-devices-custom-rom-whitelist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blocking Google logins via Google apps<\/a> on devices that aren\u2019t licensed because they didn\u2019t meet the criteria Google laid out, relating to GApps.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span data-sheets-value=\"{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;&lt;!-- Shortcode [starred] does not exist --&gt;&quot;}\" data-sheets-userformat=\"{&quot;2&quot;:513,&quot;3&quot;:[null,0],&quot;12&quot;:0}\"><div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/10\/blue-google-192.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">Is Google Search Always the Best Option?<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/is-google-search-always-the-best-option\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">When should you use different search engines?<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/is-google-search-always-the-best-option\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u2019ve bought your device from an unlicensed vendor or you\u2019ve since installed GApps from an unauthorized distributor <b>you could be about to lose access to some of the most useful apps on your phone. <\/b>You could also be about to lose access to your phone if you\u2019ve installed a custom ROM on your mobile phone.<\/p>\n<p>This is bad news for anybody who bought their device with an unlicensed version of Google installed on, bought their phone from an unlicensed manufacturer, or who\u2019ve installed a custom ROM on their device. If you\u2019re one of the latter, it is possible to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/android\/uncertified\/\">register your device with Google<\/a> but if you\u2019re one of the first two,\u00a0<b>you may need to start looking for alternative apps to take over from the GApp suite. <\/b>Fortunately, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/android\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Softonic has you covered<\/b><\/a>\u00a0as we offer safe and clean access to over 150,000 mobile apps.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Softonic Android Apps\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/alcatel-192.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Softonic Android Apps<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Explore Now<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--100\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"100\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"10\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\">10<\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Follow me on Twitter:\u00a0<a class=\"ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PatrickDevaney_\"><span class=\"username u-dir\" dir=\"ltr\">@<b class=\"u-linkComplex-target\">PatrickDevaney_<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is well known that Google\u2019s Android operating system is open source, which means Google allows other developers to used the Android code to build mobile operating systems for their own devices. This is why we have a mainstream choice between iOS devices and Android devices. A little less well known is that the pre-loaded &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/some-android-users-might-soon-have-trouble-using-their-devices\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Some Android users might soon have trouble using their devices&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":92425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-99449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328133,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99449\/revisions\/328133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99449"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=99449"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=99449"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=99449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}