The tech giant stresses that this does not mean developers can’t distribute outside of the Play Store through other app stores or via sideloading — Android will remain open in that regard. However, developers who appreciated the anonymity of alternative distribution methods will no longer have that option.

Google used to do very little curation of the Play Store (or Android Market, if you go back far enough), but it has long sought to improve the platform's reputation as being less secure than the Apple App Store.

Google wants to make sideloading safer on Android by verifiying the identities of developers who distribute apps outside the Play Store.