this post was submitted on 07 May 2026
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  • Google is making it mandatory to have Play Services for its next-generation reCAPTCHA system on Android.

  • Your phone will need to be running Play Services version 25.41.30 or greater when the system asks you to scan a QR code for verification.

  • This hurdle means that de-Googled phones will fail the verification test by default.

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[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 279 points 5 days ago (10 children)

If you're a web dev, and you implement this, just know you won't receive my web traffic. Ill go live with the other robots and we will start our own internet with blackjack and hookers.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 62 points 5 days ago

how do you do, fellow human

I too, enjoy the company of blackjack and to play hookers

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[–] x00z@lemmy.world 58 points 4 days ago (1 children)

A lot of Android bot devices simulate (or even ARE) a full phone with a legit Play Store and other Google services.

This requirement is enforced vendor lock in. Nothing more.

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[–] tristynalxander@mander.xyz 40 points 4 days ago

I'm getting real tired of the escalating corporate-mediated fascism.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 184 points 5 days ago (4 children)

That means if Google’s verification system gets widely adopted, browsing the web could become a headache.

Using a phone to scan a QR code in order to access a website on my desktop is a headache even if it has no dependencies in particular.

[–] limonfiesta@lemmy.world 48 points 5 days ago

Unless it was the website I needed inorder to receive an organ donation, I would just close it.

I could claim that's an act of righteous protest, but really I just know that absent my needing a new liver, there's no website I would ever care enough about to get me to scan a QR code just to keep browsing.

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[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 33 points 4 days ago (8 children)

There is a fucking huge market for non Google non iPhone come on somebody get the fuck on it

[–] LuminousLuddite@lemmy.world 16 points 4 days ago (1 children)

And de-enshittified analog cars. They need to hurry tf up.

[–] blargh513@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 days ago

I really hate the idea that any car I buy in the future is going to come stuffed with fucky software that I don't want. Software defined car my fucking brown asshole.

I don't want some old jalopy with a carburetor and crank windows, but there's so little benefit to the individual for all the shit that I can't imagine wanting it.

I do my own repairs and I hate that half the time I need to get my laptop out to reset a thing, clear a code, re-initiate some shit. Pulling the battery cable off used to work for most things, but not anymore and for a long time.

I bought the car, but they own the software? So if I want do change or repair something, I have to pay them, but if the software shits the bed, I have to pay them? Everything ends with me paying them for something I already paid for.

Fuck that.

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[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 94 points 5 days ago (1 children)

This is awesome news for scammers:

  1. Fake page will say "you need to scan this qr code to verify you're human"
  2. Users normally dismisses this shit, but it has become normal nowadays, take out the phone to scan it
  3. Qr code opens a page on totallynotascam.com that say "you need to install this totally safe APK on your device for verification 😉"
  4. APK passes the new useless developer "verification" as the scammer either used a hacked dev account or just paid $25 with a stolen id + stolen credit card
  5. User see the message "APK verified by Google play protect" and would totally believe the bullshit, giving all the possible permissions to the app
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[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 56 points 5 days ago

I won't install an app to access a fucking website.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 16 points 4 days ago

Fuck that. One of the biggest offenders of web scraping and bot traffic wants to force us all to install their spyware just to verify that we're human when there have already been much simpler ways to do this without that bullshit captcha for years...

[–] thejml@sh.itjust.works 113 points 5 days ago (10 children)

Ignoring the de-Googled phones for a sec: I assume if you're using a desktop, then the QR shows up and you have to drag out your phone to scan it in the camera app that then prompts to open the google play store. Dumb, but possible for people who have a phone with Android. What about those that don't? Would you need a google account?

Now if it's all on phone (using Chrome or Firefox or whatever) and pops up a QR code, you can't scan it... but the browser would have to open the play store directly and thats a huge security no-no. The browser shouldn't even know I have the Play Store.

I have a feeling the hundreds of us that are de-Googled ad just going to stop using these sites all together.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 51 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Yeah, so the hundreds of us won't be able to use the internet anymore if this passes

Awesome

[–] XLE@piefed.social 69 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Google doesn't care about screwing up the lives of thousands of people, as long as it can capture the information of millions.

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[–] fizzle@quokk.au 39 points 5 days ago

At this part I'm genuinely starting to wonder which parts of the internet I really need.

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[–] zerofk@lemmy.zip 57 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Wait wait wait. To prove you’re human you have to read something designed for computers to read?

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[–] MuteDog@lemmy.world 32 points 4 days ago (6 children)

This requirement will kick in the moment the system suspects suspicious activity. At that point, reCAPTCHA will forgo the old image puzzles and require you to scan a QR code with your smartphone to prove you’re human.

How is this going to work if you're browsing the internet on your phone??

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

How is this going to work if you’re browsing the internet on your phone??

Easy, they force you to install an app, just click the link and agree to all the permissions and cookies and stuff. It might be malware, it might be legit, who knows?

official Google screenshot

Google copying UI workflows from literal malware developers...

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[–] tinfoilhat@lemmy.ml 29 points 4 days ago (1 children)

We need to move away from Google. Just make them obselete.

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[–] WeLoveCastingSpellz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

Would this pass in EU? Seems anti competition. Do we need another movement like stop chat control to mobilize people?

[–] WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today 41 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

It's not just anti-competition, but anti-privacy - Google will know exactly who is going to what sites, regardless of your browser.

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[–] Skankhunt420@sh.itjust.works 31 points 4 days ago

I was wondering how they would screw the new Motorola phones coming out since they couldn't do the whole "factory operating system has been tampered with" mode of whining and being little bitches.

Glad to see their engineers came up with another way to fuck us! Thanks google!

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 67 points 5 days ago

Once this is implemented, Google will have finally succeeded in closing the entire fucking internet. That is, assuming this will become anywhere successful and smaller websites will be using it as well.

[–] systemglitch@lemmy.world 22 points 4 days ago (4 children)

I've scanned 4 QR codes in my life. 2 were not what I was told they would be.

I will never scan a QR code again.

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[–] diegantobass@lemmy.world 60 points 5 days ago
[–] ennof@feddit.org 45 points 5 days ago (6 children)

"Google's next-gen reCAPTCHA system could spell trouble for any website that implements it as no de-Googled phone user will care to use it"

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 34 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That demographic is so small as to be irrelevant to the majority of companies.

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[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 49 points 5 days ago

And any service that uses it can fuck off.

[–] RedIce25@lemmy.world 42 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Then I'll just not use the services that use it, very stupid, as this shouldn't be necessary

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[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 28 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I would never scan a qr code to verify that I'm not a bot. I'd simply close the page

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[–] PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml 41 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

It turns out reCAPCHA has been a privacy nightmare from the beginning: from silently monitoring user activity in the background, to sending payment information to Google; in order for an AI to assess the data, and return a risk-score to the website. But that apparently wasn't bold enough, and now an effective 2FA is required, which provides additional telemetry to Google (but not to the website or app: which is obviously the privacy concern). So get ready to 2FA with Google upon registration, login, updating your cart, and payment; or to skip the hassle, you should just let an approved "shopping assistant" make purchases for you ("that drive a projected 25% increase in average order value"). I don't even own a modern Android or iOS device, so how am I supposed to solve these?

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[–] smeg@infosec.pub 15 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Embrace

Extend

Extinguish <- Google is here with Android as an open platform

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 37 points 5 days ago (5 children)

This is evil. Fuck it. I want nothing to do with these cunts anymore. I'm degoogling this year.

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[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 23 points 5 days ago (12 children)

At that point, reCAPTCHA will forgo the old image puzzles and require you to scan a QR code with your smartphone to prove you’re human.

What is that supposed to mean? What QR code? Just any? I'm supposed to find some QR code laying around and scan it? Or will the webpage display a QR and I'm supposed to scan it with my phone using a mirror or something?

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[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

There's already the app published and it has already blatantly fake reviews

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[–] zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 4 days ago

Fucking assholes

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 34 points 5 days ago

Monopoly, anybody?

Naaaahhh, this is just good old fashioned American freedoms

[–] zjti8eit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 5 days ago (1 children)
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[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 31 points 5 days ago

It SHOULD spell bad news for the people that use this verification method because it just means they lose those customers.

[–] ryan_@piefed.social 22 points 5 days ago

Surely this would be nearly impossible for visually impaired people, which makes me question the ability for governments to implement this on their websites.

I know about screen reader software for visual impairment, but to expect a blind person use a separate device with a camera to take a “photo” of a QR code on another screen is beyond comprehension. Well, at least it would be in the normal timeline.

I guess I’ll have to switch to a dumb phone out of spite now.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

if legit users fail Google’s captcha, then site owners will stop using Google for captcha

[–] ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world 21 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Only if it's a sizable and vocal number of users unfortunately.

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[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 29 points 5 days ago

Time to degoogle for good, then.

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