If you have removed Google from your smartphone, you will not be able to use any apps or services due to EU age verification regulations.
By Rhoda Wilson
At the end of June, the European Union launched a pilot project to test a prototype of an age verification app in five member states: Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain. The reason? To protect children online.
The app is based on the technical specifications of the proposed European Digital Identity Exchange Platform and is designed to be open source, user-friendly, and secure. However, as Take Back Our Tech points out, it is less secure than other options. Additionally, age verification can only be done on Google-approved Android devices or iPhones, which essentially requires a Google or Apple account.
This means that if you are in the European Union and have removed Google from your smartphone, you will not be able to verify your age.
On Monday, Take Back Our Tech (“TBOT”) published a video and accompanying article to raise awareness about an age verification app that the European Commission is currently testing in five European countries.
The commission is pitching the app as a private age verification solution. But there’s a catch: TBOT warned that it recommends the app use a Google certificate, which means it won’t work on alternative phones.
The app only works on Google phones because it requires Google authentication, although it is less secure. All EU citizens could be forced to use phones from large companies if they use apps integrated into this age verification system.
In the following video, Hakeem Anwar explains more about TBOT and shows what app developers think about the European Commission’s latest move in the digital ID program.
EU breaks its own law and forces Google to use age verification | Take Back Our Technology, August 11, 2025 (5 minutes). You can also watch it on Substack HERE.
The EU is breaking its own law and forcing people to use Google to verify their age
Take Back Our Technology, August 11, 2025
Earlier this month, the European Commission introduced a new age verification app and a framework for other apps that require age verification.
The EU prefers to present data protection as one of its principles. That’s why their system is open source and tries to minimize data leaks.
How it works
EU Member States can develop their own age verification apps based on this app.
They are then published in the app stores of those countries.
Other smartphone apps may ask for age verification.
The applicant receives a simple “yes” or “no” answer and little additional information – the design complies with the EU design principles.
There’s one catch, though. This app requires the Play Integrity API, a Google-managed service that verifies that a smartphone is running a version of Android approved by Google. Alternative operating systems, such as GrapheneOS and other “de-Google” operating systems, are excluded.
The open-source application was published on GitHub, and developers were quick to note this section in the README file:
An important point is the Google Play Integrity API, which according to the EU will be part of the application.
It was originally released in May 2025, and each app developer could decide for themselves whether to integrate it into their app. When enabled, your smartphone communicates with Google Play servers, which send a response asking whether:
- the application is real,
- it was installed from the Google Play Store and
- The smartphone runs on the licensed Android operating system (commercial partnership with Google).
Basically, it checks whether you are in a Google-shielded area with a Google account or one of its partners, such as a Samsung account.
If an app uses this API, users of smartphones that have been removed from Google will not be able to use it at all. Therefore, if age verification is required in the EU, these apps will be unusable for users of smartphones that have been removed from Google.
GrapheneOS founder Daniel Micay also created a ticket on this topic in the same project, which received a lot of support.
Micay was quick to point out that Android’s hardware authentication API would be more secure while eliminating Google’s monopoly.
This is a hardware-based API that does not require communication with an external server. It controls:
- Hardware authenticity/integrity
- Operating system authenticity to ensure up-to-date security updates
- App authenticity
The EU ignores the more secure option and prefers one that doesn’t even check if the phone is still receiving security updates.
They enforce Google’s monopoly while neglecting security.
Since the release of the Google Play Integrity API, many large companies have started enforcing these checks in their apps. These are most often apps from banks, financial service providers, and government agencies. Users of smartphones that have been removed from Google have workarounds, such as loading the service through a browser or computer.
Despite overwhelming support from hundreds of developers for removing the Google Play Integrity API requirement, EU developer representatives rejected it, arguing that they had only created a reference app and that member states could make their own decisions.
A few weeks later, they deleted that part of the README file and replaced it with the following:
As Micay ironically points out, another EU regulation – the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – prohibits a foreign technology provider from maintaining a monopoly. According to the DMA, this requirement would be illegal.
Summary
Developers around the world agree: we need to move away from Google. They made arguments for “better” digital ID solutions, supported the project, and asked other developers to contact their EU representatives.
If you’ve watched my show, you know that I think that’s unrealistic. I’ve reminded everyone on this thread that this is happening all over the world. Software companies are beholden to their investors and financial firms, which are run by the same people who attend Davos and Bilderberg every year.
I am grateful to have seen Chapter 17 of Derrick Broze’s book “Pyramid of Power,” which was a perfect introduction to exploring this topic. [Note from The Exposé: You can watch the first 16 chapters of “Pyramid of Power” HERE on YouTube and HERE on Odysee. You can find a list of the chapters HERE.]
It doesn’t matter what country you’re in. This happens everywhere.
Anyone in the EU who uses or wants to use a phone independent of Google is at risk of being left without basic services.
We need to start by transforming the world’s technology services so that they cannot be controlled or taken over. Agorism and voluntarism are the next steps.
