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C. Scott Brown \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n
TL;DR<\/p>\n
A new European initiative called UnifiedAttestation aims to build an open-source alternative to Google\u2019s Play Integrity checks.
\nMany banking, financial, and government apps use Play Integrity checks as a security measure, but this measure isn\u2019t available on custom ROMs.
\nThe initiative is backed by smartphone maker Volla, along with partners like Murena.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest issues with running a custom ROM<\/a> or a Google-free version of Android is that banking clients and other financial apps often don\u2019t work. That\u2019s because most of these apps rely on Google\u2019s Play Integrity API<\/a>. This security measure is meant to combat fraud and protect users, but it typically doesn\u2019t support devices with custom ROMs or Google-free Android forks. Fortunately, a European initiative might have a solution.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n A new European initiative dubbed UnifiedAttestation<\/a> (h\/t: Heise<\/a>) aims to build a free and open-source alternative to Google\u2019s Play Integrity checks. The initiative is backed by smartphone maker Volla, while other partners include \/e\/OS maker Murena and the team behind iod\u00e9 OS. The feature will be distributed under an Apache 2.0 license.<\/p>\n Many banking, financial, and government apps don\u2019t support custom ROMs and Google-free Android forks as these platforms typically don\u2019t support the Play Integrity API. So UnifiedAttestation could potentially solve this issue. However, app developers will need to specifically support this alternative to the Play Integrity API. That means you shouldn\u2019t hold your breath for your desired banking app to work out of the box. For what it\u2019s worth, Volla claims that the feature can be added to apps with \u201cjust a few lines of code.\u201d It adds that consortium members will \u201cmutually\u201d check and certify their operating systems and device models as part of a peer review process.<\/p>\n What’s stopping you from using a custom ROM?<\/p>\n 213 votes<\/p>\n The installation\/setup process<\/p>\n 11%<\/p>\n I can’t use some apps (e.g. banking)<\/p>\n 72%<\/p>\n Lack of features compared to Android skins<\/p>\n 5%<\/p>\n Lack of polish (e.g. battery life, camera)<\/p>\n 7%<\/p>\n Other (leave a comment)<\/p>\n 5%<\/p>\n Not everyone seems to be a fan of UnifiedAttestation, though. The Graphene OS team has criticized the initiative<\/a> on Mastodon (h\/t: r\/android<\/a>), saying that smartphone makers shouldn\u2019t be deciding which operating systems people can use for their apps.<\/p>\n \u201cPlay Integrity API should be regulated out of existence rather than making another system where companies permit their own products while disallowing others,\u201d the team explained. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be legal when Google does it and it shouldn\u2019t be legal when Volla and Murena do it either. This is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n UnifiedAttestation clearly isn\u2019t without its detractors, then. But this might be one of the few ways to get your sensitive apps running on a custom ROM or Google-free Android OS, so we\u2019re keen to see how this initiative pans out.<\/p>\n![\"google](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png\"\/ "\\"google"){kind=icon}
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