The app ID is com.google.android.verifier, which I assume will be used for the upcoming developer verification program for installing 3rd party apps.
Starting September 30, developers (signing authors) need to be verified from Google to distribute apps in the following app stores:
- Google Play Store
- Honor App Market
- OPPO App Market
- Samsung Galaxy Store
- Transsion Palm Store
- vivo V-Appstore and
- Xiaomi GetApps
only in the countries of Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
F-Droid is not included for this time.
It is planned to be rolled out globally across all markets/app stores by January of 2027.
Relevant sources:
https://developer.android.com/developer-verification/guides
https://keepandroidopen.org/
I used App Manager (io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager) for the screenshot; you can use your regular 'Installed Apps'/'Apps' menu to see if it's been rolled out automatically for you as well.
edit: First link was originally a typo, my bad. Fixed it.
My kids' phones (Pinwheel-managed Moto G Play models) attempted to install this in the background as well. I only found out about it because I got an app request from the devices; the kids had zero knowledge of it.
I blocked the installation.
Hold up, what magic is this? You can gatekeep installations of any app on their phones? I've looked into doing this with Google Play but as far as I can tell they only enable it for mature content. Which doesn't help to stop my old father in law from installing trash "security" apps on his phone.
Yes. It's a company called Pinwheel, they provide phones pre-setup with what is essentially MDM, but geared towards child usage.
I can do the following remotely from the "caregiver portal":
...all remotely.
If your FIL can't handle smartphone stuff, I would absolutely recommend something like this for him.
The catch is that Pinwheel costs about $15/mo per device. Worth it IMO. They also have their own optional MVNO plan, with everything rolled into one price. I forget how much it is - I just put my kids on Mint Mobile.
Spying on every text and call your kids make is wild, I'm glad I didn't grow up in an era where it's normal to have 0 privacy as a kid, y'all crazy parents.