In August 2025, Google announced that starting next year, it will no longer be possible to develop apps for the Android platform without first registering centrally with Google. This registration will involve:
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Paying a fee to Google
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Agreeing to Google’s Terms and Conditions
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Providing government identification
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Uploading evidence of the developer’s private signing key
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Listing all current and future application identifiers
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Here is the https://keepandroidopen.org/
The Android alternative can be Android. I think you mean a Google alternative. Android is FOSS, only Google Mobile Services (GMS) is proprietary. GrapheneOS for instance, is an alternative to Google’s Android.
You’re right. But they already started keeping their internal dev branch private this year, which hinders everyone else working on the AOSP, including GrapheneOS. While in theory AOSP is still FOSS, they are doing everything they can to gain more control and keep rom developers and other stakeholders out of date.
And even though Android is FOSS, more and more Android device manufacturers are locking down their bootloaders, thus leaving no option to switch to an alternative.