"or if they are a custom ROM user (such as with LineageOS 15.1) then they will need to enter their Android ID at this page in order to be white-listed."
How about no?<p>Thank God I left the Google Ecosystem completely on my now years old and trusty OnePlus One, awesome battery life and all with no google play service alive.<p>I understand and share the wish to combat fragmentation in the Android experience, it can indeed be daunting for newcomers. Treble was a great step in the right direction, but this is not.
Where is the spirit of free customization?
Android is not Google, their grasp on OEMs seems disproportionately dangerous.
This news comes in the wake of Nvidia using their monopolistic position and screwing Graphics card OEMs into a one-sided agreement to serve only them and not to align their Gamerbrands with "competitors".
So an OEM that does not bend over to Google's rules will get a user experience, where Users have to jump through white listing hoops.<p>I scramble to see the good intentions here.
This is the crux:<p>"this move by Google is to ensure that device makers can’t simply bypass Google’s CTS and ship devices with the promise that users can simply side-load Google Play apps and services. Doing so will now bring up these warnings which will shame device makers and force them to go through the proper certification channel."
I'm interested what the response will be to this. I personally don't use GAPPS on my phone, so the optimist in me hopes this leads to more community effort on FOSS replacements for GAPPS. Realistically, everyone will probably just go through the registration process.